ACT Chief Minister’s Challenge

Since 2023, the ACT Chief Minister’s support of the Pearcey Entrepreneur Award has included a challenge to the ACT Chapter to provide suggestions to the ACT Government on topical matters where ICT might prove a catalyst for resolving problems.

 

2025 Chief Minister’s Challenge

At the beginning of 2025, the Chief Minister, Andrew Barr, challenged the ACT Pearcey Foundation and friends to provide him and his government with suggestions on:

“How can the ACT Government use AI to improve government services?”

To address the challenge, the ACT Chapter of the Pearcey Foundation collaborated with a local quasi-government initiative called the AI CoLab Alliance to hold a workshop of Pearcey Foundation friends and some invited specialists in the field of town planning (guided by the context in which the Chief Minister had challenged the foundation). The workshop sought to drive out ideas to address the challenge in the relatively narrow scope of town planning and development approvals. Importantly, the workshop was monitored and then analysed by an AI agent managed by AI CoLab (called "Fred").

The AI agent prepared a preliminary workshop analysis and report responding to the challenge. The Pearcey Foundation and AI CoLab lightly edited this report to finalise it: "Building Better Together: AI-Powered Citizen Engagement in Planning and Development".

The report was presented to the Chief Minister at the 2025 ACT Pearcey Round Table, at the time of the presentation of the 2025 ACT Chief Minister's Pearcey Entrepreneur Award.

2024 Chief Minister’s Challenge

At the 2023 ACT Chief Minister’s Pearcey Entrepreneur Award, the Chief Minister, Andrew Barr, challenged the ACT Pearcey Foundation and friends to provide him and his government with suggestions to:

“How can the ACT Government reduce carbon emissions in Canberra immediately?”

To address this challenge, the ACT Committee held a workshop involving the friends of the Pearcey Foundation in the ACT. The initial brainstorming output was refined by the ACT Committee, shared with the friends of the Pearcey Foundation, and then formalised into a brief report.

The report, titled “Make Public Transport Free,” was presented to the Chief Minister at the 2024 ACT Chief Minister’s Pearcey Entrepreneur Award.

2023 Chief Minister’s Challenge

At the 2022 ACT Chief Minister’s Pearcey Entrepreneur Award, the Chief Minister, Andrew Barr, challenged the ACT Pearcey Foundation and friends to provide him and his government with suggestions on:

“How can the ACT Government reduce carbon emissions in Canberra?”

To address this challenge, the ACT Committee convened several workshops involving the friends of the Pearcey Foundation in the ACT. Importantly, the workshops narrowed the focus of the suggestions for the Chief Minister to the emission impact of apartment buildings in Canberra.

The workshops resulted in a report for the Chief Minister titled “Towards Net Zero in ACT Apartments” that was presented to the Chief Minister at the 2023 ACT Chief Minister’s Pearcey Entrepreneur Award.