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Disruptive technologies are helping leading manufacturers to boost productivity, attract and engage new consumers, inspire new market strategies and drive substantial business growth. Here's our pick of disruptive technologies to watch:

Drones: Deutsche Post, the world's biggest courier company, is using a drone to deliver medication to a remote German island. It’s been such a success the company is considering using the “parcelcopter” to make more regular deliveries.

‘Mobile-geddon’: mobile devices are making waves in the business world: think service delivery, worker productivity and customer experience.

Distributed manufacturing: is where the final product is manufactured near the final customer, so the raw materials, assembly and product fabrication are decentralised, potentially increasing customisation.

Advanced robotics: including human-machine collaboration.

Emergent Artificial Intelligence: is where machines can learn automatically by taking on large volumes of information; it has huge implications for productivity.

Self-driving vehicles: that could potentially move or distribute goods.

Internet of Things: has massive potential for business process optimisation, reduced downtime and waste, and increased quality overall.

Find out more about these disruptive technologies by reading the full story here.

Food & Drink Business

This is your final call for the 2026 Hive Awards, recognising innovation and excellence across the food and beverage manufacturing industry! We heard the buzz, busy bees, and extended the deadline for entries to the 2026 Hive Awards until this Thursday, 19 March. You've got two days left – go, go, go!

Independent women-led brewery, Reckless Brewing, has completed a capital raise of more than $500 thousand through Birchal. Since releasing its first beer in late 2019, the company has opened a physical brewery in Bathurst, and is now ready to expand its national footprint.

The development of a mandatory Winegrape Purchases Code of Conduct is officially underway, following Dr Craig Emerson’s analysis of the Australian wine industry, released by Wine Australia last July. The code will commence on 1 January 2027.