Collingwood housing estate residents’ digital inclusion project won a prestigious national technology award this week.

Wired@Collingwood, a project that aims to increase computer literacy amongst residents of Collingwood’s public housing estate, won the Australian Community iAward, one of five special awards contested by 74 finalists at the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) iAwards - Australia’s leading industry awards for the information and communication technology sector.

Infoxchange Australia, a Melbourne-based NGO that uses ICT for peoples’ empowerment, shared the award with the Victorian Government Neighbourhood Renewal program and ThoughtWorks Australia as its project partners. 

“Recognition by the peak industry association, AIIA, and the partnership with forward thinking businesses like Thoughtworks and the Victorian Governments Neighbourhood Renewal program have greatly assisted Infoxchange with it's work and provided opportunity for over 2000 people to participate in the digital world” said Andrew Mahar, Infoxchange’s Executive Director.

The government has also benefited from the partnership. “The Digital Inclusion project is key to improving the life opportunities of thousands of families and individuals living in some of Victoria’s most disadvantaged neigbourhoods” said Dr Harald Klein, the Director of Neighourhood Renewal.

Launched in Aug last year, the Wired@Collingwood project has trained 352 residents, and 292 computers have been delivered and installed in residents’ flats. 

The benefits of the project to the estate residents is also recognised in a recent report by leading management consultants A.T. Kearney.  Assessing the economic benefits of Infoxchange's digital inclusion projects, the study predicts the Wired @ Collingwood project will generate close to $7million of benefits over the next four years, and estimates the Atherton Gardens DII to have already generated benefits to the tune of $5.9million.

The residents have participated in the project by providing contents for its interactive website, collingwood.vic.au.