Think & Act Differently (TAD), Powered by BHP, in partnership with BHP’s Innovation Procurement team made a significant impact at MinExpo 2024 in Las Vegas, USA through two organised events targeted to both innovators and partners to drive innovation further. Held on September 24, 2024, the two events brought together over 150 industry leaders, innovators, researchers, and investors to discuss and explore new ways to collaborate and innovate within the mining sector.

The TAD team organised an Ecosystem collaboration event at the Wynn Las Vegas, featuring a panel discussion on "Unlocking Collaborative Ways to Effectively Partner with Innovators." This panel discussion included Katie Hulmes, Head of Ecosystem at TAD, Jane Castles, Head of Technology Procurement at BHP, Holly Bridgwater, Cofounder at Unearthed, and Marteen Van Koppen, Vice President of Product Management at MacLean Engineering and was facilitated by Andrea Culligan, Partner at Greenspace by Deloitte. It was a highlight of the event, providing valuable insights into how different stakeholders can work together to drive innovation in the mining industry. Some of the key insights include:

• Invite procurement to take a seat at the table - To accelerate the pace of innovation, we can’t continue to rely on old models of procurement. It’s a challenge that often gets passed over due to more exciting or pressing matters, yet involving your procurement function early on in an open dialogue will lead to dividends down the line.
• Develop a clear set of choice criteria - Procurement is there to facilitate the process of partnership selection. The better a mining company defines and communicates its choice criteria to potential partners, the easier to determine whether there is a logical fit.
• Look to empower Innovators as they progress on their commercial journey - Incorporating tailored support systems within partnership arrangements, built on transparency and trust, will help small innovators turn their big ideas into market-ready solutions.

Jane Castles, Head of Technology Procurement at BHP, shared, “We believe that transforming procurement is the key to unlocking innovation. By managing expectations, fostering transparent and collaborative partnerships, we are confident this will help us enable innovators to bring their best ideas forward. Following this engagement and the insights gathered, we will now work towards redefining procurement to create value and drive progress in our industry.”

In addition to the panel discussion, the event provided an opportunity for attendees to network and connect with other industry professionals. This networking aspect was crucial in fostering new partnerships and collaborations that can drive innovation in the mining sector. The event's success was further highlighted by the positive feedback received from attendees, who appreciated the opportunity to engage with like-minded individuals and explore new ideas and solutions.

At a separate event, The TAD team also organised 13 innovators to share their ideas for the Deep Mining Challenge, an open innovation opportunity launched by TAD in collaboration with open innovation partner, Unearthed. The challenge aims to address the difficulties of accessing resources located deeper than ever before, where higher temperatures, increased pressure, and corrosive environments create tough conditions. This challenge is an opportunity to rethink how mining is approached at these depths and to develop innovative solutions that can withstand these harsh environments. Similarly, MinExpo enabled us to reach out to the US based ecosystem and enable conversations with adjacent industries who were present for the event.

Katie Hulmes, Head of Ecosystem at TAD, shared, “TAD is about bringing people together to solve some of the biggest challenges we face today and really recognise we cannot do that alone. It is not just about the technology, it is equally about the people involved and creating supportive commercial and business models to create value”.

The MinExpo event was just one of the many initiatives organised by TAD to promote innovation and collaboration within the mining industry. These ecosystem connections provide BHP the opportunity to engage not just with the smaller innovators, but large OEMs, both of which we see as part of our future innovation portfolio. And, with each of these groups in the same room, we were also able to engage collectively with other miners to share common interests for future collaboration.

Over the last financial year, TAD has helped many different innovators mature their technologies and capabilities, enabling them to learn more quickly, align to commercial needs, and accelerate their ideas.

Learn more about Think & Act Differently, Powered by BHP at https://www.thinkactdifferently.com