Humanitech News

We are delighted to announce the top three finalists for the QBE AcceliCITY Resilience - Humanitarian Track Challenge.

Following a rigorous panel selection, we are proud to announce the final applicants for the QBE AcceliCITY Resilience Challenge - Humanitarian Track.

If you’re a tech entrepreneur who is passionate about enabling global communities to adapt to climate-related impacts, then this is an opportunity that you can’t miss.

QBE Foundation, Leading Cities and Australian Red Cross Humanitech have partnered to enable global communities to adapt to climate-related impacts.

A year ago, we wrote about what we were learning at Australian Red Cross through our Humanitech Lab about developing tech for good. We promised to continually share the insights learned along the way about what it takes to pursue ethical, safe and inclusive technology innovation. Here is a follow-up with our latest findings as we continue to evolve our understanding of what it takes to pursue responsible technology innovation.

More than 150 leaders will gather in Melbourne for the third annual Humanitech Summit to explore how the latest advances in technology can tackle the world’s biggest humanitarian challenges. Pioneered by Australian Red Cross and supported by the Telstra Foundation, the Summit sets the scene to spark new ways of working with technology to benefit people and society.

From a first-of-its-kind chatbot tackling racism to the ‘digital humans’ increasing access to sign language during emergencies, four cutting-edge projects have been announced by the Humanitech Lab innovation program.

Climasens, a climate intelligence start-up, has received a boost to scale its impact through the Humanitech Lab. The innovation program is spearheaded by Humanitech, an initiative of Australian Red Cross, focused on harnessing technology and social innovation to meet humanitarian need.

There is a long-standing challenge within the humanitarian sector – the slow process of onboarding and managing staff and volunteers for rapid deployment during a crisis. Australian Red Cross led an effort to solve this by establishing a verifiable digital credentials solution in order to remove some of the structural barriers and administrative burdens to onboarding.

Technology can help us tackle complex social challenges and empower communities. This prototype seeks to realise this potential by ensuring tools and systems are developed in ways that safeguard people’s rights and dignity.

Flood warning systems are a crucial component of preparing and responding to floods. Yet with the rise in flood events due to climate change, many communities are now experiencing repeated flood warnings as the norm. The good news is that technological innovation is being utilised to move warning systems away from a broad one-size-fits-most approach to provide hyper-local warnings in real-time that can help save time, money, and lives.

A new report from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Human Technology Institute sets out a roadmap towards regulating facial recognition technology (FRT) in Australia in ways that protect against harmful uses of this technology and enable innovation for public benefit.

From promoting reforestation through drone technology, to empowering undocumented people with digital identity, Humanitech has announced the successful applicants of its innovation program.

Humanitech Summit is Australia’s flagship annual event at the intersection of frontier technologies, social innovation, and humanitarian action.  

On 14th June 2022, Red Cross has launched the world's first Heat Action Day to raise awareness about the growing risks that heatwaves pose to our health, along with steps to stay safe from this silent emergency.

Humanitech, an initiative of Australian Red Cross, has announced funding for three local initiatives addressing humanitarian challenges through the innovative use of frontier technologies.

Australia’s leading Summit at the intersection of technology and humanity will put the spotlight on the pressing societal issues arising from technological progress.

New and emerging technologies have the potential to cause both great benefit and harm — yet the processes designed to develop and use these technologies rarely consider the humanitarian and social costs. How can technology be used for good? What does this look like? Who gets a say? These are some of the questions we are exploring at Humanitech, an initiative of Australian Red Cross, dedicated to harnessing the transformational power of technology for good.

Humanitech, powered by Australian Red Cross, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S) have partnered to launch a series that brings together researchers, humanitarians, and industry leaders to discuss the critical issues emerging at the intersection of humanity and new technologies.

“What does it mean to actually design very intentionally for those moments of laughing alongside everybody else? I think that’s ultimately what we’re trying to achieve. Seeing the individual, making sure they’re seen & heard’

From creating drinking water from sunlight and air, to using AI and machine learning to combat digital misinformation among First Nations communities, Humanitech has announced grants to six organisations who are harnessing the power of technology for good.

Much has been said on the harms that emerging technologies can and do bring. And rightly so — we have seen many instances where poorly designed or maliciously used technologies have caused harm, undermined values such as democracy and deepened inequalities, vulnerability and marginalisation.

As we look at Europe, Australians can hope that 2022 will be different to the last 18 months which have been marked by lockdowns and border closures. What helped European countries open their borders were rising rates of vaccination supported by digital health tools that allow people to verify their Covid-19 immunity or negative test status.

We find ourselves at the crossroads of humanity and technology. It is time to put people and society at the centre of our technological choices.