evoke^AG. inspires Queensland’s AgTech ecosystem in path to prosper

Queensland is a powerhouse of agribusiness and AgTech innovation. With the highest proportion of land managed for agriculture in Australia, our state boasts a thriving AgTech ecosystem making the Queensland Government the ideal choice as AgriFutures’ evoke^AG. 2025 Host State Partner.

From the start, we treated evoke^AG. 2025 as a program of effort linked to other initiatives, rather than a two-day “conference”. It was about ensuring that for every activity and action, we saw an end result that continued to build a platform for global ag investment in Queensland.

We also focused on the composition of delegates. It was clear we needed our primary producers to attend evoke^AG. to expose them to opportunities and provide feedback to startups about what they needed to consider in developing AgTech.

evoke^AG.  2025 attracted almost 2,000 participants from 25 countries to the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, including 347 primary producers, 201 international delegates, 69 investors and 134 speakers.

RELATED: Tech adoption, robots and the future of food feature at evoke^AG. 2025

The overall economic impact is difficult to measure as we don’t have visibility of every transaction or deal set in motion as a result of evoke^AG. However, we are aware it has directly led to numerous investments and export opportunities for Queensland.

The Brisbane Economic Development Agency (BEDA) has done some initial estimates on the economic return of showcasing evoke^AG.  in the Brisbane CBD. It generated incredible value, not only through boosting hotel occupancy rates and patronage of hospitality venues, but through BEDA-affiliated businesses who saw opportunities as a consequence of the evoke^AG. event..

Our state is renowned for its strong collaborative culture. The ‘Team Queensland’ approach supports multidisciplinary collaboration and strong industry, academic and Research and Development Corporations partnerships to accelerate the development and commercialisation of ideas.

Our central activation site at the evoke^AG. event was a very powerful visual illustration of Team Queensland’s unified ecosystem. It featured the success stories of regional ecosystem builders and businesses and showcased their products, as well as Queensland Government agencies.

Delegates at evoke^AG. 2025 enjoying the Queensland Government central activation.

Another valuable aspect of evoke^AG  was the strong representation of Queensland AgTech ecosystem members at the event. Whether they were participating in sessions as panel hosts or guest speakers or their technology was being showcased in Startup Alley, Team Queensland was highly visible.

Our lead-in and lead-out events around evoke^AG had a clear focus on regional connectivity showcasing the Queensland Government’s commitment to supporting regional Queensland and highlighting how AgTech providers can work with the primary industry sector.

We also ensured we had attractive sideline events to further build activity and interest in our AgTech ecosystem. There were 57 sideline events at evoke^AG. including the Queensland AgTech Summit and tours of facilities.

RELATED: How to make the most of evoke^AG. 2025 coming to Queensland

One of the most popular events was the Team Queensland breakfast that kicked off evoke^AG. with insights from rugby league legend, Billy Slater. Billy talked about the African philosophy of Ubuntu, the concept that an individual’s identity and wellbeing are inextricably linked to the wellbeing of others and the larger community.

The core principle of Ubuntu is often expressed as ‘I am, because we are’. It’s about connections. What we are hearing again and again is people are impressed with how Team Queensland works and how we’re building the ecosystem here.

That said, how do we capture the investment and outcome of evoke^AG. events going forward? Perhaps we need a longitudinal survey over each of the annual events which tracks the value, so that we have evaluation metrics up front, and with the continuity of tracking, compare that with investment.

The Queensland Government has set a bold target of increasing Queensland’s primary production to $30 billion by 2030. Being the Host State Sponsor at evoke^AG. enabled us to crystallise how that can be realised with AgTech and innovation.

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evoke^AG. also provided inspiration for the Queensland Government’s $30 million Sowing the Seeds of Farming Innovation Fund that will promote new technologies and techniques to support next-generation farmers and boost AgTech adoption. So, when we’re ready to launch that fund, we’ll be better able to action the challenges in front of us.

evoke^AG.  also provided us an opportunity to raise awareness of and encourage input into our 25-year blueprint to help shape the future of Queensland’s primary industries.

Our main message, though, would be that the sponsorship of evoke^AG. was not a Queensland Government initiative. It was a government, business, and industry initiative. And our advice to future government sponsors of evoke^AG. would be, ‘Don’t go it alone’.

The Team Queensland approach is about, ‘Look at what our ecosystem does!’ As the Queensland Government, we are part of the ecosystem and enable it. We steer it, but we put our businesses at the forefront. It has to be a partnership to get the best result.

I am, because we are.

evoke^AG. will be held on 17 and 18 February 2026 at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. 

Keen to partner with us?  Check out all the opportunities here and contact evoke^AG. Partnerships Manager, Siobhan Hillam [email protected]

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