Professor Ross Garnaut AC to headline Hunter Innovation Festival 2026
One of Australia’s most influential economists is coming to Newcastle. Professor Ross Garnaut AC will deliver the lead keynote at this year’s Hunter Innovation Festival, presented by Greensteel Australia, on Tuesday 24 November at NEX, Newcastle Exhibition and Convention Centre. Early bird tickets close Wednesday 4 November.
Professor Ross Garnaut AC
At Hunter iF, we build community around innovation and work towards equitable outcomes across the Hunter by giving everyone a platform to connect, learn and share. Bringing a thinker of Professor Garnaut’s calibre into the same room as the region’s makers, researchers and founders is exactly what that looks like in practice.
A career spent shaping Australia’s economic future
Professor Garnaut was principal economic adviser to Prime Minister Hawke, served as Australian Ambassador to China, and led the landmark Garnaut Climate Change Review. More recently, his work has centred on a single, ambitious idea: that Australia’s renewable energy resources can make it an economic superpower in a zero-carbon world. Rather than shipping raw ore and coal overseas, Australia can process iron, steel and other materials here, capturing the value, jobs and capability at home. His books Superpower, Reset and The Superpower Transformation make that case, and he now leads The Superpower Institute and Superpower Industries.
Where energy meets advanced manufacturing
That thinking sits squarely at the intersection of two of the Hunter’s four innovation pillars: energy and advanced manufacturing. Each strengthens the other. Reliable renewable energy makes low-emissions manufacturing viable, and manufacturing creates the demand, skills and industrial base that accelerate the energy transition.
Greensteel Australia’s $500 million all-electric steel mill at the historic Mayfield North site shows how this works on the ground. The mill will produce up to 600,000 tonnes of finished steel a year with zero direct CO₂ emissions, create more than 200 jobs, reduce Australia’s reliance on imported steel and lower the embodied carbon of new housing and infrastructure. As Senior Adviser to Greensteel Australia, Professor Garnaut will share what this opportunity means for the Hunter and what it will take to realise it.
Join the conversation
Following his keynote, Professor Garnaut will take questions from the audience, submitted live through the Festival app. Whether you’re a manufacturer, researcher, founder, student or community leader, this is a rare chance to ask one of the country’s sharpest minds on energy and industry about the future of your region, and hear his answer from the main stage alongside Patrick Buchan, President, Government and Public Affairs at Greensteel Australia.
Zara Crichton, CEO of Hunter iF, said: “Our 2026 promise is ‘From possibility to action’, and there’s no better person to help us turn that into a real conversation than Professor Garnaut. He’s spent decades mapping what a zero-carbon economy could look like. Now the Hunter is where pieces of it are actually being built — energy and advanced manufacturing feeding each other, just as Greensteel shows. To secure our future we need to attract and keep big players like Greensteel, and that starts with rolling out a genuine warm welcome so the region becomes the natural home for the industries that will define the next decades. Come with your questions, your ideas and your curiosity.”
Patrick Buchan, President, Government and Public Affairs at Greensteel Australia, said: “We’re proud to bring Professor Garnaut to the Festival. The chance to be part of a genuine conversation with industry leaders, researchers, government and the region’s innovators is invaluable as we prepare to bring our all-electric steel mill to the Hunter.”
Executive Chairman and CEO Romany Ibrahim, alongside President and Executive Director Mena Ibrahim, added: “Returning steel manufacturing to Newcastle after a generation is a historic milestone. Supporting the Festival reflects our belief in the power of local collaboration and regional talent to transform the Mayfield North site.”
Get your tickets
Now in its 24th year, the Hunter Innovation Festival is Australia’s longest-running regional innovation festival, bringing together 600+ attendees and 60+ speakers across advanced manufacturing, energy, health and aerospace for a day of ideas, connections and conversations about the future we’re building together.
Early bird tickets close Wednesday 4 November. Secure your place at Register Now →
Media & partnership enquiries (Hunter iF)
Zara Crichton, CEO | 0423 100 021 | zara@hunterif.com.au
