iXc: The first four years

iXc (the innovationXchange) was the first major aid initiative of the Coalition government. Indeed, it was only the major new aid spending initiative during the first term of the Coalition government, a time of massive aid cuts. 2iXc was announced in June 2014 by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop at the time that she launched her new aid policy, initially with the name the Development Innovation Hub. Funding of $140 million over four years was also announced in that speech, though at that time it was not clear that iXc, as it came to be called, would be responsible for the entire budget. Now, four years since iXC was first announced, is a good time to look back and see what can be learnt.