Australia 4.0 is an initiative of the Pearcey Foundation to help Australia develop a consistent approach to the digital and data enablement of the energy transition; and to reap the benefits of creating sovereign solutions for the Consumers' Grid.
- In 2023, our series of nine national discussions canvassed the issues and explored the implications.
- In 2024, our workshops were focused on driving the next generation of Australian ICT enabled solutions by looking at the intersection of consumer agency, regulation and digitalisation.
- In 2025, our roundtables and debates continued to conceive and realise the concept of the Consumers' Grid to empower consumers and buoy our economy.
- In 2026 our Masterclass in partnership with the Race for 2030 kicks off a tighter focus on the opportunities for Australian ICT innovators to create the solutions we need for the Consumers' Grid and the subsequent commercial export potential for that Australian innovation.
Download past reports and review the records of the sessions for 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Australia 4.0 focus:
Customer - ICT - Innovation - Australian
“No Decarbonisation without DigitaLIsation”
“The new grid offers significant potential for the utilisation of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and large language models. This is the stuff that brings the real unimaginable efficiencies. This is the stuff that really can make low-cost energy for people as these technologies could be used for dynamic pricing, faster troubleshooting and response, and better self-service for customers."
Prof Neil Horricks (UQ, now Race2030 CRC) Session 1 on 6-Jul-2023
The Pearcey Foundation promotes the ICT sector to Australia and Australians. Our Australia 4.0 initiative will continue to champion and evolve the digital and data lens applied to this vital transition and the enormous opportunities it offers our nation.
Masterclass: Consumers’ Grid through the Digital & Data Lens
June 23rd 2pm AEST Online
In 2023, Australia 4.0 Committee member, Tim Ryan, coined the term ‘The Consumers’ Grid’ to emphasise the unavoidable shift in architecture, logic, and technology to recognise the centrality of the energy consumer. Driving this transformation are the rapid adoption of renewable energy generation and the escalating penetration of Consumer Energy Resources (CER) and Distributed Energy Resources (DER) that include generation, storage, and a fundamental restructuring of the commercial model.
Since 2023, the Pearcey Foundation Australia 4.0 program has led many national discussions using the digital
and data lens.
A key tenet that emerged from imagining the Consumers’ Grid is the agency afforded consumers in the design and operation
of the transformed energy system.
The diverse stakeholders involved concluded that to ensure the energy consumer has agency in this complex transformation, the focus
must concentrate on digital and data innovation.
Australia continues to be at the global forefront of the grid transformation. Australia 4.0 identified the opportunity for Australian ICT innovation to solve our own challenges, then become the basis of sustained exports to help other countries in their transformations.
We are delighted that Australia 4.0 partner, the Race for 2030 CRC, has embraced the concept of the Consumers’ Grid.
The Pearcey Foundation joins with Race for 2030 in promoting their Masterclasses on Grid Transformation that will culminate in their Consumer Grid Summit in June 2026. The Masterclass program is free, and we encourage those interested in helping to shape the future of Australia to get along and get involved.
Our next event is this Digital & Data Lens Masterclass, bringing together the aggregated information of Australia
4.0, as a companion contribution to the Race for 2030 Grid Transformation series. We look forward to welcoming all Race for 2030
participants together with the contributors and participants from our Australia 4.0 work over the last 4 years.
Date/Time: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2026 14:00-16:00 AEST (ZOOM)
Keynote: Australia’s transition to Net Zero: A data story.
Dr Ian Oppermann, ACCC Commissioner
Abstract: Over the course of nearly 4 years, Australia 4.0 has explored the transition to Net Zero in the energy sector through the
lenses of data and digital, innovation and opportunities for Australia. The program has drawn on experts from Industry, government,
standards organisations, peak bodies, and consumer groups. It explored the fundamental questions of how to ensure the transition to Net
Zero is a net benefit for Australia and Australians. This presentation highlights major insights from the Australia 4.0 experience. Some
of the insights gained seem obvious, some require profound changes to the way we are currently addressing the challenge.
Dr
Ian Oppermann commenced his 5-year appointment with the ACCC on 10 December 2025.
Ian has more than 30 years’ experience in the information and communication technology sector, and deep expertise in data, broadband
enabled services and technology.
Ian is a respected thought leader in the digital economy. His leadership reflects the ACCC’s role in consumer data protection and supports
our data-driven regulatory innovation.
Prior to joining the ACCC, Ian held the position of Data Standards Chair for Digital ID and Consumer Data Right, was the NSW Government’s
inaugural Chief Data Scientist (CDS) and is currently the Vice-President of the International Electrotechnical Commission.;
Ian chairs the Digital Identity and Consumer Data Right Committee, and is a member of the Compliance and Product Safety Committee, Scams
and Digital Markets Committee, and Infrastructure and Communications Committee.
Ian holds a Masters of Business Administration from the University of London and a PhD in Mobile Telecommunications from the University of
Sydney.
PANEL: Opportunity for Australian ICT Innovation and Export
Ian will join a panel of Australian and international industry and regulatory thought leaders discussing their perspectives and insights on the Digital & Data Lens, and how we can realise sovereign technology solutions with global application.
Mark Purcell AM |
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| Mark is an engineer, software developer and policy advocate working at the energy and ICT intersection that Australia 4.0 was created to galvanise. He contributes upstream to the open-source Home Energy Management stack (HAEO, Home Assistant), runs his household as a working laboratory on Amber's wholesale-passthrough tariff, and translates that lived experience into submissions across CSIP-AUS, Open Dynamic Exports, the Consumer Data Right energy schema and AEMO's Integrating Price Responsive Resources program. A former chartered engineer and Commonwealth Division Head, he was appointed Member of the Order of Australia in the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours List. On the panel he brings the household and HEMS perspective on what consumers, integrators and small developers need to make the cyber-physical-transactional network in the Australia 4.0 Communiqué real. |
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Mike Hewitt |
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Mike Hewitt is a technology and energy infrastructure leader, and former CTO of Smart DCC, the organisation responsible for the UK’s national smart metering communications network serving more than 32 million homes and businesses. With 30 years’ experience across telecoms, critical national infrastructure, cyber security, and digital transformation, Mike focuses on how digital systems, data, interoperability, and consumer-owned assets can reshape energy markets. He is the founder of Breakwater Technology and is developing the EnergyOS concept: a consumer-first digital operating layer for a smarter, fairer, more flexible energy system. |
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Hannah Heath
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Hannah Heath is Group Manager, Strategic Market Reform at AEMO, with responsibility for strategic insights and National Electricity Market reform development to support Australia’s energy transition. She is passionate about shaping practical market reforms that help the energy markets and power systems evolve to support innovation alongside sustainable and reliable energy and deliver outcomes in the long-term interests of consumers. With more than 20 years of experience across the public and private sectors, Hannah has held senior roles spanning strategy, innovation, risk, market design, policy and regulatory reform. She previously held roles at Energy Global Company, Nectr, Origin Energy, the Australian Energy Market Commission and NSW Treasury, and is recognised for working across diverse stakeholder groups to navigate complex reform challenges and deliver practical, innovative outcomes. |
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Moderator: Tim Ryan |
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Real Time Data and Transaction Expert with over 40 years in the ICT sector, with unique experience in data broadcast with the Seven Network,
and earliest consumer online services. Appointed Consumer Representative on the Data Standards Advisory Committee in July 2025 which advises
the Chair and Data Standards Body and ACCC on the Consumer Data Right (CDR) currently active for Open Banking, Open Energy, and shortly,
Open Non-Bank Lending and Digital-ID. |
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