Using a microchip implanted inside his left thumb, biohacker Meow-Ludo Meow Meow says he even can find Pokemon.

"It's an NFC (near field communication) chip and it's used to communicate and interact with technology," Meow Meow says, pointing to the round piece of mechanics sitting underneath his skin.

"It uses the same technology as myki and PayPass, so anything you can do with those – interaction, authentication, purchases – could be done with this chip.

"I'm actually running a start-up at the moment to try and get a payment provider to be able to use this for payments."

A tap from his thumb to his phone can bring up almost anything he programs it to, from a map, to his contact list – he's even programmed the microchip to send a text to his housemate when he needs a lift home from the pub.

"It's a text that says 'I'm drunk at this pub', I just type the pub name in and it sends it to him," Meow Meow said.

The technology is new, and it's labelled as a type of body modification. Meow Meow said an operation using a "giant needle" was performed by a piercer, but he'd like the surgery to be undertaken by general practitioners one day.

"It's a form of biohacking called grinding, biohacking takes in a bigger range of different disciplines and it can be anything from nutrition through to molecular biology," he said.

"A really mainstream version of grinding is getting implants, such as Implanon or IUDs, so we already have technology inside our bodies a lot of the time.

"I'd like to be able to leave my phone and my wallet at home and have everything I need in my hand."

The biohacker and creative technologists James Bush and Enrico Penzo were demonstrating their idea for a BioHack Van at a competition in Melbourne on Saturday.

The scientific trio, from Sydney, want to provide a mobile science lab for rural Australian scientists to test their theories and ideas using the latest equipment.

"The idea is the ability to take the lab to different parts of Australia and solve problems relative to that area," Mr Bush said

"The equipment in commercial labs is very expensive, but you can make some of that equipment using everyday objects.

"There's also that ability to take some of that more expensive equipment in the van to where it's needed."

Mercedes-Benz selected six small businesses to compete to win a Vito Van, with the start-up businesses each pitching how they would use the vehicle.

The winners of the van, announced at 5.30pm Saturday, were the Melbourne business Code Camp Van.

The van will take coding teachers to different schools, and bring the expertise of coding to a new generation.

Unusual ideas from around Australia included a Pet Paparazzi van from Brisbane, and a Melbourne business called Protoworks, which wanted to transport 3D printing technology to schools and regional areas of Australia.