Local girl Allana Shedley accompanied Lil'Fi and band and sang one of Allana's own compositions and one with the band for the AIF ( Australian Innovation Festival) opening that showcased the Blues at Bridgetown festival at the official launch.

BridgeFM covered the story for the High School and Bridge Fm.

The 2003 Festival was held from 5 May to 18 May 2003, with the National Launch being held on 28 April 2003.

In 2002, the Festival's inaugural year, over 200 events were showcased throughout Australia. The market reach was estimated at 7.5 million people and over 76,000 people attended events throughout the Festival's duration. In Western Australia, 56 events were scheduled attracting over 17,000 people.

The Festival has been established to promote Australian innovation. Its objectives are to:

• Demonstrate the value of research, development and commercialisation;
• Profile Australia s intellectual capital;
• Reinforce the innovation and entrepreneurial process, from idea to market; and
• Facilitate a creative environment for deal flow events, where all parties from innovators to investors have the opportunity to establish relationships.

  National media coverage for the 2002 Festival was comprehensive, which included Channel 10 in Western Australia covering the launch on the evening news. The launch was also covered by The West Australian newspaper.