Last month, we travelled from Australia to Costa Rica to speak at the CRUSA Foundation’s 2025 Annual Event, where leaders from government, community, academia and industry came together around one question: What does a truly inclusive smart community look like, and who gets to shape it?
At Indigital, we’ve learned that smart communities don’t begin with tech. They begin with culture, identity, and the deep relationships that hold a place together. And that message resonated deeply in Costa Rica.
Shared challenges, shared responsibility
Across our conversations in Costa Rica, we heard reflections that echoed many of the challenges facing countries everywhere, including us here in Australia:
- Climate pressure
- Shifting social cohesion
- Rapid digital change
- Questions about who gets to define regional futures
These are not Costa Rican challenges alone. They are shared global pressures, and they demand approaches that strengthen cultural authority, community capability and long-term stewardship. That shared starting point shaped a powerful dialogue across our time in Costa Rica.
What we shared: culture-first, community-led transformation
In our keynote, we shared the Indigital approach, grown through years of walking with communities across Australia. This is not a framework that lives on paper. It lives, breathes and evolves on Country.
It’s built through yarning, truth-telling, cultural governance and deep listening. We spoke about transformation beginning when:
- Influence and trust are mapped honestly
- Truth comes before technology
- Elders, women, youth and knowledge holders lead
- Shared purpose is shaped by community, not consultants
- Strengths are recognised over deficit data
- Creativity is sparked through small cultural–tech experiments
- Communities own their data, tools and systems
For partners, this is the difference: When communities lead from the beginning, solutions become culturally grounded, trusted, and built to last.
Five actions leaders can begin with
Costa Rica asked us for something practical: “What can we start doing tomorrow?” We shared five actions that translate across countries and contexts:
- Create cultural governance circles — real authority held in community.
- Strengthen identity alongside infrastructure — culture is the backbone of any smart system.
- Prototype small, joyful cultural-tech experiences to spark imagination.
- Invest in community-owned data and digital infrastructure — sovereignty must be designed in.
- Practice reciprocity — shared responsibility between communities, governments and partners.
These are simple actions. But when taken seriously, with dedication and commitment, they are powerful and they echo the very principles we’re walking with communities inWestern Cape York, where culture, capability and long-term stewardship guide every step.
VIDEO: Watch our latest video of our collective work in Western Cape York to see what this looks like in practice.
What we learned from Costa Rica
While we were invited to share, we came home with equally meaningful insights, especially about how Costa Rica builds environments where community, conservation and innovation reinforce one another.
We saw four patterns that matter deeply to our work:
1. Funding models that unlock community-led outcomes
Costa Rica uses blended finance in ways Australia rarely does in Indigenous contexts, combining philanthropy, government, private equity and conservation investment to fund community-owned tourism, biodiversity research and environmental restoration. It showed us what’s possible when impact investment becomes normalised, not exceptional.
2. A delivery model designed for scale
CRUSA and partners manage huge project portfolios by working through strong delivery partners, while internal teams act as connectors, relationship-holders and project stewards, not implementers. It’s a scalable model that protects staff capacity while strengthening quality.
3. Technology systems built for complexity
We saw how tools like ClickUp support multi-region portfolios, integrated data and AI-assisted decision-making. As our own ecosystem grows, these models helped us imagine what a future Indigital project environment might look like.
4. Community pathways that blend culture, science and economy
Costa Rica showed us how biodiversity work, science volunteering and eco-tourism can sit together to strengthen culture, local jobs and environmental stewardship. It opened new thinking for the communities we walk alongside in Cape York, exploring future economic pathways beyond tourism alone.
IMAGE: Indigital's Social Reciprocity lead Peta-Anne Toohey sharing the importance of community-led work to the audience in Costa Rica.
A deeper connection: Indigenous knowledge across continents
One of the most meaningful parts of our visit was learning about the Huetar, Maleku, Bribri, Cabécar, Brunka, Ngäbe, Brörán and Chorotega peoples.
Their stories of resistance, survival, cultural continuity and deep belonging to place reminded us of the shared experiences held by Indigenous peoples globally.
While our geographies and political contexts differ, we are connected by:
- The ongoing impacts of colonisation
- The resilience of cultural knowledge
- The centrality of Country, land and water
- The determination to define our own futures
These histories speak to the deep impacts of colonialism, but they also inspire a deep sense of connection and social change as communities shift narratives from deficit to strength, and lead innovation, conservation and cultural renewal on their own terms.
The similarities in our challenges open opportunities: to learn from one another, to share community-driven solutions, and to deepen understanding of First Nations leadership, governance and sovereignty across continents.
A shared learning journey
Costa Rica welcomed us with generosity, courage and depth. We recognised in them the same values that guide our work in Australia:
- Reciprocity
- Long-term thinking
- Commitment to place
- Belief in community leadership
IMAGE: Indigital's Peta-Anne Toohey and Mikaela Jade with CRUSA's Adriana Barrantes Leiva during the 2025 Annual Event in Costa Rica.
To the CRUSA team, thank you for opening your hearts, your stories and your vision to us. We are walking similar paths, on different continents, connected by the same truth: Smart communities begin with culture. And when culture leads, futures open.
