Creating a better future for care at home
Australia's home and community care system is changing. More care will be delivered in people's homes and communities, supported by new technologies, digital services and different ways of working.
Our vision is to help create a system where people, workforce capability, technology and the home environment work together. By connecting these areas, the Centre will help explore how care can become more responsive to individual needs while supporting independence, choice and quality of life.
People will remain at the heart of this change. Technology has an important role to play, but its value comes from how well it supports care workers, consumers and carers in everyday situations.
Turning our vision into action
The Centre's Strategic Roadmap identifies five priorities that will guide its development and help turn the vision into practical outcomes.
These priorities recognise that transforming home and community care requires more than one solution. It requires research, strong partnerships, workforce development, responsible digital adoption and a trusted platform for sharing knowledge across the sector.
Innovation and research
The Centre will create opportunities to explore, test and evaluate new technologies, models of care and approaches to workforce learning in realistic environments.
Applied research and collaboration will help identify what works, what can be improved and how successful approaches can be translated into practical solutions for the care sector.
Enduring partnerships
Long-term collaboration will be central to the Centre's work. It will connect industry, education, research, technology, government and community to better understand emerging challenges and develop solutions together.
These partnerships will also provide opportunities to share knowledge, build capability and strengthen connections across the wider home and community care ecosystem.
A future-ready workforce
As care changes, workers will need a broader combination of human, practical and digital capabilities.
The Centre will work with learners, educators, care workers, industry and community to identify emerging skills needs and support the development of qualifications, targeted training, professional development and new approaches to learning. The aim is to help workers adapt confidently as care becomes increasingly home-based and technology-enabled.
Leading digital adoption
Digital health, remote care, assistive technology, smart home systems and other emerging technologies have the potential to support greater independence and improve how care is delivered.
The Centre will focus on how these technologies can be understood, tested and adopted responsibly in real care settings. This includes building the digital capability of workers, organisations, consumers and carers, rather than focusing on technology alone.
A trusted national asset
The Centre aims to become a trusted place where the care sector can learn, collaborate, test ideas and share knowledge.
By connecting with the national TAFE network and organisations across the care ecosystem, insights and practical solutions developed through the Centre can contribute to workforce development beyond Holmesglen and Victoria.
Bringing the vision to life
The Smart Home Living Lab and Virtual Smart Home will provide practical environments where many of these priorities come together.
Learners, educators, researchers, care providers, technology specialists, consumers and carers will be able to explore how technology, workforce capability and models of care interact in realistic home environments. New approaches can be tested and understood before being translated into education, workforce development and industry practice.
Importantly, these environments move beyond simply demonstrating new technology. They will help explore the skills, knowledge and ways of working needed for technology to be adopted effectively in everyday home and community care.
From innovation to better care
The Centre's long-term ambition is to help turn promising ideas into changes that make a practical difference stronger workforce capability, better adoption of technology, more connected care and greater independence for people living at home.
By bringing together education, industry, research, technology and community, the Centre can help build the knowledge and capability needed to respond to a changing care system and share those learnings more broadly across Australia.