Imagine a world where machine learning algorithms help first responders stop bushfires before they start. Where carbon-free transport systems shuttle commuters between the suburbs and the city without interruption. Where courts connect people to legal support using artificial intelligence.
Wherever Portable works, this world exists.
We're Australia’s leading innovation partner for public good, developing services for the public and the people who make it work. Whether we’re coding the system that runs the largest tram network on earth, or rethinking the digital architecture of entire parliaments, we combine a heart for humanity, head for technology, and eye for design to improve quality of life at a societal scale.
Our process is shaped by twenty years of experience and thousands of partnerships spanning every pillar of public life, from early childhood education to end-of-life care. Trusted by national governments, international NGOs, and ASX 200 companies, we navigate the world’s most complex subjects and stakeholder environments to design, engineer, and operate technical solutions that truly serve the public.
Portable has been a certified B Corp since 2016. We're independently assessed on how we treat our staff, our partners, our community and the environment, and re-assessed every few years to keep it.
We ask one thing of every piece of work we take on: does our role in this narrow the gap between people with power to make change and people who need it, or widen it? Sometimes that means working within imperfect or compromised systems where we believe our involvement can make a meaningful difference.
When a project doesn't meet our own conditions, we've turned it away. And anyone who works with us can step back from a project that conflicts with their values, without having to explain themselves.
Our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) gives structure to the partnerships we’re already building and ensures accountability as we grow. It’s not just a document—it’s a roadmap for how we listen, learn, and act in service of a more just and equitable future.
Artwork by Emrhan Sultan.
Self-initiated research and development (R&D) in areas we care about
We have an active program of self-initiated R&D in areas we care about, think we can make positive change and use design to speculate on the future and create discussion. We use our R&D insights to contribute to government inquiries and commissions, such as to the Australian Human Rights Commission, NSW Law Reform Commission Australian Government Department of Health's Aged Care Charter of Rights.
Examples of R&D work that's made a difference: