Partnerships help SMEs become more innovative, resilient, sustainable and competitive.
A holistic, concierge style partnership approach, operating in the best interests of SMEs, forms the basis of SME@UTS; an integrated engagement program designed to bring together universities, local councils, industry associations, plus state and federal government departments, with SMEs to collaborate.
SME@UTS partners across an ecosystem of 28 organisations that together are focused on helping people (SMEs) become more successful.
“Part of our mission is to assist businesses to become more competitive, to grow, to adopt new technologies. futuremap is helping us to engage with local industries and make sure they know what’s available to assist them in this journey.” Peter Masterson, Regional Manager Illawarra and South Coast, Department of Industry
Partnering with other universities, CSIRO and TAFE NSW, the SME@UTS concierge style service refers SMEs directly to the right people to enable local access to local students and innovation resources. The local economy benefits, SMEs have more physically engaged experiences and students a better work/study/life balance.
SME@UTS partners meet quarterly to share market insights and news of emerging grants and program information to support the progress of the SME journey towards Industry 4.0 transformation.
Commenting at the SME@UTS futuremap event held in partnership with the University of Woollongong:
“Essentially, today is a fantastic opportunity for our local industry to get together, to network with each other, to pause, reflect and look forward so they can plan the future of their business.” Bianca Perry, CEO, i3net
There’s a lot happening in our region and a lot of support from NSW Government and Federal Government as well and it’s just hard to miss it and not do it. Zahra Shahbazian, Industry Research Manager, Innovation and Commercial Research, University of Wollongong
