RMIT University | Inspiring Solutions

RMIT University, Australia
"Regenerative Futures Challenge"

Led by RMIT University and delivered with partners across the Melbourne Innovation District, the Regenerative Futures Challenge is a place-based program aligned to RMIT's Living Plan, enabling communities, researchers and industry to co-design and test solutions in an urban precinct, operating as a living lab for inclusive and regenerative city innovation.

Purpose

The RMIT Regenerative Futures Challenge is a place-based platform that connects RMIT's Knowledge with Action strategy to the university's Living Plan, translating ambition into coordinated action in place. Led by RMIT and delivered with partners across the Melbourne Innovation District, it brings together community, research, industry and government to work on shared challenges within the City North Social Innovation Precinct. The program contributes directly to RMIT's ambition to lead in regenerative futures, strengthening social, economic and ecological systems through applied, place-based collaboration. It enables co-design and testing in place, linking learning, research and engagement through practical, visibly activity, and generating approaches that extend beyond RMIT to inform wider contexts and city-scale challenges. Activity spans community-led food systems, circular economy approaches, low-carbon start-ups, regenerative urban environments and cultural and civic initiatives that deepen connection to place and community. The Challenge helps to grow ecosystem relationships, growing shared capability and the infrastructure for a connected and effective innovation system. The model is designed to be adaptable and replicable in other innovation districts, with a transferable approach to aligning partners, place and shared challenges.

Impact

The RMIT Regenerative Futures Challenge is a core platform for ecosystem engagement and community-connected innovation across the Melbourne Innovation District. The Challenge has delivered more than 20 projects, connecting students, researchers, industry and community to address shared challenges and deliver practical, visible outcomes. It is delivering:

Stronger participation, with communities actively shaping and delivering projects, including initiatives such as the Student Food Co-Op, supporting over 2,000 students and delivering more than 16,000 meals.
Deeper cross-sector collaboration, bringing together education, industry, government and community to co-design solutions, with programs such as the Circular Cities Showcase convening city-makers, researchers and industry around applied circular economy innovation.
Tangible regenerative outcomes, demonstrated through projects such as Biocultural Urban Realms, which has established new models for community-led regeneration and expanded across multiple sites, and the Frugal Canteen, delivering large-scale food access and circular food practices.
Greater alignment across activity, linking projects, partners and place into a more coherent and connected precinct, strengthening shared capability and coordination across the district. Through this work, the precinct plays a pivotal role in the wider district, strengthening connections between people, organisations and place. The result is a precinct that is active, connected and outward facing, with collaboration that continues to build in scale and impact.

What is innovative about it?

Cities are not short of innovation. What they often lack are the conditions and relationships to connect it, coordinate it and sustain it in place. The RMIT Regenerative Futures Challenge responds by structuring collaboration at the scale of a connected urban precinct. This introduces a coordinated, place-based model for organising innovation across sectors, moving beyond project-based approaches that are more typical in university and innovation district contexts. Led by RMIT University and delivered with partners across the Melbourne Innovation District, it brings together universities, industry, government and community to co design and test solutions within the City North Social Innovation Precinct as an active living lab. What distinguishes the model is its focus on connection over fragmentation. It brings together diverse institutions and partners across the Melbourne Innovation District, connecting work across food systems, circular economy, regenerative environments and cultural activity into a shared platform, rather than delivering it as isolated projects within individual organisations. This strengthens alignment across activity, builds shared capability and supports more sustained collaboration between partners. Importantly, the program generates practical, place-based examples that respond to current urban challenges and can be adapted and applied more broadly, contributing to improved outcomes across the city, providing a replicable model for other urban innovation districts seeking to coordinate partners and deliver place-based impact. The result is a more integrated and scalable model of place-based innovation, grounded in community, responsive to local priorities and able to grow in impact over time.

Who are the main users?

The RMIT Regenerative Futures Challenge is a place-based platform that connects RMIT's Knowledge with Action strategy to the university's Living Plan, translating ambition into coordinated action in place. Led by RMIT and delivered with partners across the Melbourne Innovation District, the program brings together a diverse and growing network spanning RMIT students, researchers and staff, alongside community organisations, social enterprises, local residents, industry and government. These groups work together on shared challenges within the City North Social Innovation Precinct, actively co-designing and delivering projects in place. The program contributes directly to RMIT's ambition to lead in regenerative futures, strengthening social, economic and ecological systems through applied, place-based collaboration. It enables learning, research and engagement to connect through practical, visible activity, generating approaches that extend beyond RMIT to inform wider contexts and city-scale challenges. Activity spans community-led food systems, circular economy approaches, low-carbon start-ups, regenerative urban environments, and cultural and civic initiatives that deepen connection to place and community. Through this, the Challenge strengthens ecosystem relationships, builds shared capability and supports the infrastructure for a more connected and effective innovation system. By bringing users into a shared platform rather than isolated projects, the model strengthens collaboration across sectors and continues to expand and evolve over time. It is designed to be adaptable and replicable in other innovation districts, offering a transferable approach to aligning partners, place and shared challenges. These groups actively co-design and deliver projects, strengthening the precinct as a shared platform for community engagement and collaboration.

Who runs it?