Phillip Jenkinson and Jack Reis (Baidam Solutions)
Baidam Solutions has partnered with Linga Network to promote the use of electric vehicles at “culturally significant” locations across Australia, starting with Victoria and South Australia through the deployment of high-tech charging infrastructure.
The First Nations partnership will centre around building the technology foundations capable of allowing electric vehicle owners to leverage smart charging stations -- subject to acceptance by traditional owners -- amid plans to encourage “environmentally friendly tourism” nationwide. Drivers will be guided along a route named ‘Songlines by Baidam’, with the first station already deployed in Dimboola, located in Wotjobaluk country.
Launched in 2018, Brisbane-based Baidam Solutions operates as an Indigenous owned services provider with expertise spanning hardware installations, software licensing and security services. Meanwhile, Linga Network is a newly launched start-up in Melbourne which specialises in deploying charging infrastructure across regional Australia.
As part of the alliance, Baidam Solutions has invested with Linga Network and signed on as an infrastructure partner -- all stations will be connected to the Linga Network and enabled with all associated technological smarts.
“This investment from Baidam Solutions is a great step forward with our public enterprise partnerships -- one we welcome and believe necessary for nationwide success,” said Caity Randall, co-founder and COO of Linga Network. “We have installed an initial charge station in Dimboola and have plans for a series of stations along the route from Torquay to Port Fairy, one of Australia’s most iconic tourist routes.
“As an electric vehicle network, our primary objective is technological progression and infrastructure deployment executed in a through and robust manner, but as a strong advocate for community cultural awareness.”
As noted by Randall, through the support of education programs delivered by Baidam Solutions, the partnership aims to create a “social return on investment” via direct funding for ICT scholarships.
“With the deployment of high tech, smart EV charging infrastructure we are increasing opportunities for tourism that will also provide further community benefit,” she added.
Through this collaboration, Jack Reis -- co-owner of Baidam Solutions -- said Linga Network will help support in providing “educational and vocational pathways” for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
“Linga Network shares our view that sovereign Indigenous capabilities are increasingly important for both individual businesses and the Australian nation,” Reis outlined. “At the same time, we are making electric vehicle motoring a far more attractive proposition.”
Upon rolling out the charging station network, Baidam Solutions will hold ceremonies with local First Nations elders and dignitaries in a move designed to expose youth to the company’s scholarship pathway opportunities within the technology sector.
“Indigenous People were innovators, always looking for the best, most practical and most intelligent way of managing the land, water ways and ocean,” Nick Buenen, manager of National Indigenous and Corporate Affairs at Baidam Solutions. “Songlines by Baidam brings the newest and most sustainable technology into lands where ecological harmony and strategic land use was vital for prosperity.”
A Songline -- also known as Dreaming Track -- describes the features and directions of travel that were included in a song that had to be sung and memorised for a traveller to know the route to their destination.
