How Bendigo’s AI ecosystem became a global outlier for regional tech

A Bendigo-founded tech partner, Ligantic, has become Be.Bendigo’s Gold Partner for AI, and is helping reshape how regional businesses in Central Victoria deploy artificial intelligence to compete in digital markets. That designation, announced in mid-2025, places a local firm at the centre of a push that has already delivered measurable gains: businesses in the city implementing AI automation report typical savings of more than 25 hours per week on manual tasks, with return on investment often achieved within 30 days, according to Regional Development Australia Melbourne case studies.

What makes Bendigo’s tech ecosystem distinctive globally is the density of collaborative, publicly accessible AI infrastructure in a city of roughly 100,000 people, a model that larger regional centres in Europe and North America are only now beginning to replicate. The city is home to the Deloitte Australia Digital Operations Centre at La Trobe University, a partnership expected to create 200 jobs while providing work-based learning for students and staff. It has also deployed a 100-gigabit broadband network and a Bendigo Data Centre designed to support high-speed cloud computing, positioning the city as a destination for digital businesses and large enterprises, according to Regional Development Victoria materials.

Free monthly meet-ups and university-led collaboration

One of the most tangible expressions of this ecosystem is the Bendigo AI Thinkspace, a free monthly meet-up co-hosted by Monash University, La Trobe Rural Health School, Bendigo Tech School, and Ligantic. The sessions explore AI opportunities for local communities, from health care to logistics, and are open to anyone. The involvement of two universities in a city Bendigo’s size is rare: Monash and La Trobe bring research capacity, while the Bendigo Tech School provides a pipeline of secondary students trained in digital skills through industry co-designed programs, including an advanced manufacturing and innovation hub.

In November 2024, Regional Development Australia Melbourne hosted an AI Forum at La Trobe University’s Bendigo Campus that engaged local businesses on applying AI for productivity and growth. The forum was part of a broader RDA Melbourne initiative to help regional enterprises understand automation tools, and it tapped into a local business community that is already seeing results.

E-commerce gains and a booming subscription economy

Bendigo’s booming e-commerce sector is leveraging AI-powered subscription box management to achieve 78 percent faster order processing and 94 percent fewer errors for local businesses, according to CleverOps, an automation provider serving the region. Those numbers are not outliers: Bendigo’s small and medium enterprises constitute more than 95 percent of registered businesses in the City of Greater Bendigo, and the micro-business sector (one to four employees) has seen a steady 2.3 percent uplift over the last two years, with startup pockets in Strathfieldsaye and Maiden Gully rising by up to 32 percent, according to Regional Development Victoria figures.

The creative services sub-sector, including software development and web and app design, experienced 9.5 percent growth between 2011 and 2016, and the Bendigo Tech Community, founded in 2017, continues to host regular events, including tours of local tech pioneers such as Bortana EV, which develops battery-electric vehicles for underground mining in central Victoria.

Ligantic’s role as Be.Bendigo’s Gold Partner for AI signals that the chamber of commerce sees artificial intelligence as a core pillar of the city’s economic strategy, not an add-on. A Be.Bendigo online business directory helps locals source products and services from small business suppliers, and the ‘Small and Succeeding Award’ at the Bendigo Business Excellence Awards specifically recognises established micro-businesses that continue to grow.

For regional business owners wondering what comes next, the answer appears to be more collaboration. The Bendigo AI Thinkspace meets monthly, the RDA Melbourne forums are expected to continue, and the city’s broadband backbone and data centre mean that cloud-based tools, including AI automation for subscription management, customer service, and order processing, are within reach for firms that might otherwise have to relocate to a capital city. The ROI clock starts ticking the day a business implements its first automation workflow. In Bendigo, that clock is already running.