Just ask anyone who has just returned from living or travelling away.

But there is a feeling that it could be, not just a good, but a great region. This feeling is now moving from idea into action with the Great Regional City Challenge.

The idea that the region could be one of the great regional cities of the world originated with former Launceston Chamber of Commerce president Tim Holder when he was discussing the region's future.

He felt that instead of comparing ourselves to Hobart or other larger capital cities, we should compare ourselves to the world's best regional cities.

To test whether there was an appetite in the region to work to make this happen, Community Led Impact Partnerships, a local network and community development agency, was tasked by the City of Launceston council to approach local businesses and institutions to see if they would get behind such a challenging vision.

And the answer was: Yes, we will.

They pledged $150,000 in cash and in-kind support, which with the support of City of Launceston and Meander Valley, West Tamar and George Town councils, is being used to offer $100,000 to support projects that the people and groups of the region feel could make it one of the best in the world.

Projects will focus on ways to build on our innovation and creativity, on our liveability, on our diversity and our connectedness.

Projects will have a project team and a clear concept for how they will achieve this.

Project applications can be submitted up to midnight 15 March, 2020, so there is plenty of time to build a team and research a project to make sure it is realistic and powerful. A short application and photo should be sent to challenge@launcestontogether.com.au and will be posted on www.launcestontogether.com.au website where the community can vote for the projects they think are the best. Selected projects will be given funds and support at a major event at Country Club Tasmania in June 2020. Will it work? Joint Regional Australia Institute chief executive Kim Houghton thinks so.

At the conference to mark the launch of the Great Regional City Challenge he made the point that great regions invest in social infrastructure - the power of communities to make change for themselves - as well as capital infrastructure.

He lauded the City Deal and the efforts of the regional councils, state and federal government, but made the point that: "Investments in things like regional leadership capacity building, leadership and local learning systems help regions to truly activate hard infrastructure investments and improve not only local economies but also life in regional communities".

Applied Regional Economics at Hunter Research Foundation chairman Professor Will Rivkin agrees. To him local change agents are vital to making change.

He says they come in many forms from local heroes who volunteer their own time, to the business sector, local organisations and local government.

To prove this point the Great Regional City Challenge has rallied a coalition of 28 local partners ranging from iconic names like Harvest Market, MONA FOMA and James Boags, to large organisations like the University of Tasmania, Hawthorn Football Club and Forico, to innovators like Launtel and Get Paid in Bitcoin and to those who get the word out to the community like The Examiner, 7 Tasmania and 7LAFM.

The Great Regional City Challenge has also called on the latest technology to make sure that positive change results. Community networking platform www.launcestontogether.com.au, developed by award winning creative designer of "technology for good", Made Open UK, has just gone live as the home for the Great Regional City Challenge.

It has been funded in Tasmania by the six major community agencies: Launceston City Mission, Salvation Army, Volunteering Tasmania, Uniting Care, Catholic Care and Anglicare. Anyone in the Launceston, Meander, West Tamar and George Town regions can form a team and propose a project.

An example of a project idea already being discussed is around getting sports groups, events and conferences to convince their mainland and out of town attendees to consider moving their business to or investing in Launceston.

"We want projects that have a meaningful impact, so projects don't all have to be big - innovative local and smaller projects can still make a big difference with less funds needed," Peter Murden, of Community Led Impact Partnerships, said.

"The challenge to the community is to dust off project ideas they've always had and also to think up new ways to make this one of the great regional cities of the world."

See more details at https://launcestontogether.com.au/grcc-introduction