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MAVlab Innovation Associates Network

MAVlab’s Innovation Associates Network (MIA) is a community of council staff dedicated to building an innovative practice to address critical challenges.

The first action of MAVlab, was to establish a community of innovation practitioners working in Victorian councils.

We know that councils are constantly testing bold interventions and partnerships to address some of our most significant environmental, economic and community wellbeing challenges.

The MAVlab Innovation Associates (MIA’s) seeks the extraordinary people behind these projects and those eager to get more involved - to share knowledge, process, and build collaborative practice so we may learn together - and move faster and more efficiently - towards achieving better outcomes for our local communities, places and the planet.

By thinking at network scale, leveraging existing knowledge, expertise and energy, sharing ideas and partnering on projects, we can drive impact across the state as we face emerging future challenges.

The MIA Network is a dynamic, evolving and thriving community of over 150 local government champions who have stepped up to collaborate and co-create spaces, projects and tools to catalyse innovation and unlock capability and leadership councils. Representing a wide diversity of councils, professions and expertise these people are building the skills and capabilities to lead now and into the future.

Join Us!

The MIA Network maintains an open call for members so get in touch if you are on staff in a Victoria council and would like to know more or nominate here:

I am nominating myself for the MIA Network

I am nominating someone else for the MIA Network

As a member of the MAVlab Innovation Associates Network you will:

  • Join the MAVlab as an Associate in a community of extraordinary people working towards robust and resilient local government through an evolving practice of innovation for the public good.
  • Access monthly events and masterclass sessions with a global network of leading practitioners, academics and government professionals working towards better outcomes for local government.
  • Learn methodologies and contribute to research, design projects and activities to support the delivery of innovative work in local government.
  • Connect with peers experiencing similar situations and challenges. Access coaching circles focused on how to deliver high impact, innovative work in local government.
  • Contribute to the development of MAVlab and a range of exciting, high impact innovation projects and programs of work.

The Details

  • This is an unpaid, volunteer position for mission-driven people seeking to learn, connect and have greater impact in their work. We anticipate a time commitment of approximately 4 contact hours a month.
  • The MAVlab Innovation Associates Network is available for Victorian local government employees only.
  • Activities and events may be conducted during standard working hours or outside of standard hours. We recommend you discuss your participation with your manager.
  • Your achievements within the network will be celebrated with a profile on the MAVlab website and progress reports through regular updates to the network.

About You

  • We firmly believe that innovation can come from anyone, anywhere in an organisation and we are building the MIA Network to be inclusive of a wide diversity of skills, backgrounds and ways of thinking.
  • You DO NOT need to work in digital or IT to join the MIA Network. We strongly encourage people from all areas of council business to nominate, and hope to see a wide range of service areas and professional disciplines - from design to data, waste to procurement, libraries to parking - represented in the MIA Network.
  • We welcome all levels of staff - from senior executives to graduates - and strongly encourage people from minority backgrounds to nominate.
  • If you are working in an innovation role in local government , we strongly encourage you to join us. However, no formal innovation experience, skills or training is required.
  • A passion for local government, an open mindset, curiosity, compassion, and a willingness to learn is critical.

MIA in 2025

Over 2025, the MIA Network will meet regularly to strengthen cross council relationships, learn and practice skills together, share resources and knowledge, convene and collaborate on shared challenges, create tools to enable more collaboration in our work, build our resilience through digital support channels and shape exciting projects together (and share lots of memes).

Opportunities for MIA engagement will include the development of a strategic foresight toolkit for councils, investigations and applications of AI in council operations, design research into community engagement, innovation awards and impact storytelling, the MAV Annual Conference and more TBD by the network.

The network will host a monthly meetup. We will also convene across key projects and programs in smaller groups as required. The MIA Network will receive monthly email updates as well as access to tools to collaborate digitally.

Please note – the MIA Network is open to Victorian local government staff only. If you don't work in local government, but would like to get involved with MAVlab, please sign up to our newsletter to get progress updates and discover new ways to get involved as they emerge.

Connect

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Get in touch via MAVlab@mav.asn.au.