Mikaela Jade facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mikaela Jade
FTSE
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Speaking at the 2022 World Economic Forum
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| Born |
Georges River, Sydney Australia
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| Nationality | Australian |
| Alma mater | University of Technology Sydney Charles Sturt University Australian National University |
| Occupation | CEO |
| Known for | Indigenous edu-tech |
Mikaela Jade is an amazing Australian entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of a company called Indigital. This business uses special technology called augmented reality to share ancient Indigenous stories and history. Mikaela has won many international awards for her work. These include the Veuve Clicquot New Generation award in 2018. She also received the Schwab Foundation's Social Innovators of the Year award in 2022. In 2021, she was named Indigenous Leader of the Year.
Contents
Her Journey and Learning
Early Life and Education
Mikaela Jade is a Cabrogal woman. Her family comes from the Georges River area in Sydney. This area is part of the Dharug-speaking nation. She earned a bachelor's degree in Environmental Science in 2002. She studied at the University of Technology Sydney. Later, she completed a post-graduate course in Indigenous Land Management and Indigenous Studies. This was at Charles Sturt University.
Mikaela also worked on a Master's project at Australian National University. She studied how the "spatial web" connects with First Nations Australian cultures. The spatial web is like a 3D internet. She uses something called "digital twins." These are real-time 3D or 4D scans of important cultural or historical places. Sometimes, these scans are made before a physical site is damaged or destroyed.
Starting Indigital: Sharing Culture with Tech
Mikaela Jade is the CEO and founder of Indigital. This company uses augmented reality (AR) to share the ancient cultural knowledge of Indigenous histories. AR adds digital images to the real world, like in some games. Indigital was the first education technology company started by an Indigenous person. Before this, Mikaela worked as a park ranger. She helped manage Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory.
Mikaela believes that Indigenous people have a lot of scientific knowledge. She once said, "We are the original scientists and engineers." She explained that Indigenous cultures have over 80,000 years of cultural knowledge in their sciences. She feels this knowledge can greatly help in fields like science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). She also sees many chances for First Nations people to create lasting businesses in these areas.
Global Roles and Mentoring
Mikaela is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Futures Council. This group discusses important global issues. She is also a delegate for the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. This forum works on issues affecting Indigenous people worldwide. Mikaela also helps mentor 31 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. She guides them in building their own technology platforms.
Media Spotlight
Speaking Engagements
Mikaela Jade has spoken at many important events. She was a speaker at an event celebrating 30 years of the engineering degree at the Australian National University. In 2019, she spoke at the United Nations in New York. She talked about how new technologies help Indigenous communities.
Featured in News
Her work has been featured in many news outlets. The Sydney Morning Herald has written about her entrepreneurship. They highlighted her awards for Indigenous technology. Her career has also been reported by SBS and Canberra Times.
The Canberra Times also shared a cool story about her. A Microsoft executive saw her give a talk. He was so impressed that he challenged her. He said if she could apply her Augmented Reality (AR) content to their product within six weeks, Microsoft would promote her work. Mikaela met the deadline!
Awards and Achievements
Mikaela Jade has received many awards for her amazing work:
- 2015 – Finalist, Sustaining Women's Empowerment in Communities and Organisations.
- 2018 – Instyle Women of Style Awards – Creative Visionary.
- 2018 – Veuve Clicquot New Generation Award.
- 2021 – Finalist "Most impactful Initiative" at Women in Tech Global Awards.
- 2021 – Indigenous Leader of the Year, Women in Digital awards.
- 2021 – YBF Ventures ATSI Start Up or Scale Up of the year.
- 2022 – Schwab Foundation Social Innovator Award.
- 2023 – Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.
- 2023 – Nominated for Australian Capital Territory Australian of the Year Award.
