Just a couple of years before starting a company together, Anthea Roberts and Miranda Forsyth were applying for the same job as an associate professor at the Australian National University.
While it might be easy to assume that this kind of dynamic would elicit an air of competitiveness between them, this was not the case.
Instead, their company has an origin story full of collaboration, curiosity, and, most of all, friendship.
When the School of Global Governance and Regulation (RegNet) at the Australian National University ultimately decided to offer them both the position, Forsyth says, “Not only were we given a job, we were also given a best friend.”
“We were able to build this really great friendship by simply going for lots of long runs and walks together through beautiful Canberra.”
During this time, each of them realised they held a shared purpose despite working in different areas of expertise.
“I do lots of work on issues of violence and peacebuilding in Pacific Island countries,” Forsyth says. “And Anthea does lots of work within a global governance and international law context, primarily dealing with government officials… so we both work in two very different domains.”
Their interests came together around the need to understand multiple perspectives, and the necessity of plurality, flexibility and mental models when navigating complex environments.
They both saw that polarised, black-and-white thinking hindered the ability to generate integrative solutions in an increasingly interconnected world—a concept that led them towards “dragonfly thinking”.
“Dragonfly eyes actually have thousands of different lenses that dragonflies integrate into a single vision, which is how they project forward and become amazing predators,” says Roberts.
Having presented to various governments on complex problem-solving, Roberts knew that the best avenues for problem-solving weren’t through traditional experts who held only one lens of analysis. Instead, the solutions were uncovered by those who saw with “dragonfly eyes” – those able to see many different perspectives on complex problems and integrate these diverse inputs into a coherent vision.”
This is where the company’s name emerged. Dragonfly Thinking provides cutting-edge AI tools to help decision-makers in policy-making and business analyse problems and situations more comprehensively and clearly.
They’ve essentially designed tools to assist people in how to think, without telling them what to think.
How does Dragonfly Thinking work?
When Chat-GPT first exploded on the scene, one of Forsyth’s and Robert’s public sector colleagues (Sam Bide) realised they could apply some of the frameworks that Roberts had already developed to the existing AI technology. Fascinated, Roberts lent in and began playing around with how to create tools to enable users to see with dragonfly eyes at both speed and scale.
In every stage of Dragonfly Thinking’s tool, there is a high level of co-creation between the user and generative AI to create outputs and solutions. At the heart of the system is a Risk, Reward, and Resilience (RRR) framework that Roberts developed. This allows users to input questions into the system, receiving a full RRR analysis and understanding of different interventions they could take and their effects.
The topics people enter are incredibly diverse. One user might need to understand the impact of AI on Australia and determine the risks and opportunities present, while another user might need to understand how to make their small blueberry farm more economically viable.
Other inquiries could include: ‘What types of people should get involved in startups?’ or ‘Should I sign up to do online dating?’ The tools have potential application in public policy-making, business decision-making and personal choices.
Supporters of the company’s growth
When they created these AI tools, Forsyth and Roberts saw Dragonfly Thinking as an innovative platform to address some of the most pressing global problems we face today.
While it didn’t immediately occur to them to leverage their idea and create a start-up, another woman in their lives saw the technology’s immense potential and pushed the duo to take things further.
Director of Australian National University’s Cybernetics at the time, Genevieve Bell saw an early prototype of the RRR tool and told them it was one of the best uses of generative AI she’d ever seen. As someone who’d spent 20 years in Silicon Valley, Bell pushed Forsyth and Roberts to think about turning their technology into a start-up so they could explore where this technology could go.
Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN) put Roberts in touch with David Ireland, who had run the CSIRO’s ON Accelerate for 8 years. Seeing the potential of the tool for many areas, including consulting where Ireland had considerable experience, he suggested that they apply for ON Accelerate. Within a matter of weeks, they found themselves on the program.
Aishwarya, their Senior Project Officer at the ANU, joined them on the ON Accelerate team, bringing a background in start-ups and finance. Roberts’s best friend from school, Bernard Duggan, had gone on to become a software engineer and came on board to develop the prototype. The team was soon joined by Nick Lothian, an AI engineer who has been working in AI since 2003.
“When we started this, we did not quite understand what an undertaking it was to create a startup,” Forsyth says, adding that “it’s also come to a point where we really wanted to stretch our wings and find new ways to take our ideas into different domains and audiences.”
That’s where the ON Accelerate program has been critical in supporting Dragonfly Thinking’s progress and development. It’s a three-month free commercialisation acceleration program for entrepreneurial researchers ready to translate their big ideas into a research-driven company.
This program not only provided very strong validation from a whole series of judges assessing Dragonfly Thinking’s innovation, but Roberts says it opened up new lines of communication to potential customers and media outlets. The funding they received from the ON Accelerate program will allow them to “fast-track development of the tools”—something they’re “incredibly grateful” for — while helping them to think through their commercial strategy.
While Forsyth and Roberts were in the midst of this program, they also received the exciting news that Dragonfly Thinking won the inaugural national AI Sprint Awards, beating out over 250 other companies and landing them $300,000 in research and development support.
Moving forward, Roberts and Forsyth have decided to bootstrap the company for now, given the level of interest they’re seeing from both government bodies and corporate businesses, but they anticipate that they might seek additional funding in the future. Building on the RRR framework, they plan to expand and integrate more techniques and tools to build the capabilities of Dragonfly Thinking.
“We’re getting local traction with governments and businesses to pilot our AI tools in the second half of this year,” Roberts says.“Beyond Australia, we see a huge opportunity to scale this up and out globally.”
Meanwhile, Roberts and Forsyth still go for walks and jogs around Canberra, talking through their latest thinking on what they have read and how to develop their tools and techniques to help decision-makers understand and act in complexity.
Are you a female/female-presenting researcher or entrepreneur looking for support with your big idea? CSIRO is now accepting program applications for ON Accelerate 9.
It’s anticipated that the delivery for this next cohort will run from November 2024 to June 2025. Start your application now at the ON Accelerate Application Portal, applications close 18 August, and more information on eligibility can be found here.