"We want to see Territory businesses stop trying to be copies of businesses down south,

“We should be proud of what we do. We work in one of the toughest climates.

We have something special to offer – our capacity to work in some of the most remote places in the world.

We’re all doing something special.”

Northern Territory company Rise Project Consulting has a practical, realistic approach to its innovative work – using the right technology for the job.

In other words, technology that works down south won’t necessarily work in the far north. "A Mercedes is nice to look at, but I’d rather be in a Toyota on the red dust of the Territory’s roads,” says co-owner Anna Goat. The philosophy has brought the company great success.

Rise is a family-owned business specialising in providing large-scale asset inspection and visualisation services using 3D scanning, 3D photogrammetry, AR, VR, drones, bathymetric USV’s and underwater ROVs. They use industry leading technology to let clients see or inspect a site, artefact, building or landscape when they can't be there.

“We are remote Northern Australian specialists with a deep understanding of the unique challenges of working in remote Australia,” says Anna.

“We are able to successfully deliver projects in the most extreme climates and in the remotest areas of Northern Australia, having worked in over 80 remote communities.” The award-winning company works with a range of clients, including government, land councils, tourism, construction, insurance, heritage and utilities. They have the ability to run large-scale inspection and visualisation projects concurrently.

Anna and her carpenter husband Steve moved to Darwin from Perth for three months – 15 years ago. “We love bringing up our family in Darwin,” says Anna. “We love the lifestyle.” Rise was founded six years ago after Steve was carrying out an inspection on a roof in the sweaty November build-up and mumbled to himself: “I can do this so much better.”

So the couple bought their first drone.

The company, which now has a suite of world-class technology, has worked on remote construction sites, mines and Indigenous communities, offering everything from virutal sites inspections and digital twins to checking our oceans for ghost nets.

Their work saves an enormous amount of money, time and effort, especially by sending digital visuals from remote sites to clients often thousands of kilometres away. “Many people don’t like change at first, but once they’ve seen what we can do – and how much money and time we can save them – they love it,” says Steve. Rise, which won the NT Innovation Industry Award in 2019 and 2021, has even created a digital “twin” of a remote Indigenous rock art site, which was used by SBS in their documentary "First Inventors".

The couple work alongside highly skilled Luke Fronshko, who has a 3D gaming degree. “Technology is changing very quickly, so we don’t believe in focusing our business on one technology,” says Steve. “We are driven to solve our clients’ problems and foster a culture of constant curiosity.”

Steve and Anna met in an unusual way – at Toyko airport on their way to Australia. They had both been contracted to teach water sports in Australia, Steve sub-aqua diving and Anna windsurfing. After completing their contracts, they returned to Britain and applied to emigrate.

They are passionate advocates for the Territory and Territory business.

“We want to see Territory businesses stop trying to be copies of businesses down south,” says Anna.

“We should be proud of what we do. We work in one of the toughest climates. We have something special to offer – our capacity to work in some of the most remote places in the world.

“We’re all doing something special.”