Entrepreneurship, startups, and innovative ways for universities and industry to collaborate will be the focus of this week’s Asia-Pacific University-Industry Engagement Conference held at UTS - register for tickets here.
UTS will become an innovative hub over February 11-13, bringing together leading academics and industry experts to explore new research and global best practices on innovation, entrepreneurialism, industry partnerships and startup precincts.
The conference will also include tours of the innovative spaces at UTS such as the Data Arena, Tech Lab and ProtoSpace, as well as the Sydney Startup Hub.
UTS will be actively involved throughout the conference, here are four key sessions to look out for.
Partnerships paving startup ecosystems
Partnerships are frequently perceived as just financial contributions, but to unravel the true value, a deep and meaningful relationship has a lot more to offer.
UTS’s Deputy Director, Partnerships and Engagement, Ann Schoefer will host a fireside chat with Alex McCauley, founder and CEO of StartupAUS, Australia’s national advocacy group for the startup ecosystem.Together, Schoefer and McCauley will explore the progressive and collaborative approaches to cross-sector partnerships that support an emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem and will continue to drive future economic growth.
Growing your ideas
Accelerator programs are a successful way of empowering and growing new startup ideas. But there is no ‘one size fits all’ model – different ideas, industries, sectors need a different model and approach.
Murray Hurps, UTS’s Director of Entrepreneurship and leading UTS Startups, will join a panel of experts from the startup, university, public sector innovation and corporate innovation landscape to discuss different acceleration approaches.
The panel, moderated by Dr Anna Wright of UTS Business school and founder of BindiMaps, includes Abraham Robertson, Acting Director of Innovation NSW; David Burt, Co-Founder and Executive Manager of the CSIRO ON Program; Emily Rich, Managing Director of Microsoft for Startups, ANZ; and Collete Grgic, CIO of BlueChilli Group.
An integration of micro credentialing, blended and work integrated learning
With 40 per cent of UTS students wanting to create their own jobs, and an even greater percentage interested in developing entrepreneurial capabilities for the future of work, UTS has designed Australia's first one year full-time Bachelor of Entrepreneurship (Honours). to help graduates from any discipline fulfil their entrepreneurial potential.
Director of Diploma in Innovation Martin Bliemel and Jochen Schweitzer, UTS’s Director of MBA Entrepreneurship will discuss how they are redefining the honours degree to create a pan-university pathway to entrepreneurship and help graduates from any discipline fulifil their entrepreneurial potential.
Role of higher education in entrepreneurial ecosystems
The plenary panel brings together the international expertise and experience of government policy, technology, creative innovation and entrepreneurship. The panel, moderated by UTS Executive Director of Entrepreneurship Professor Margaret Maile Petty will explore the role of universities in enabling entrepreneurial ecosystems, discussing persistent challenges, emerging opportunities, and the global context of innovation.
Also on the panel are Professor Tuula Teeri, President at the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) & Former Rector of Aalto University, Petra Andrén, CEO of Cicada Innovations, and Ann Hoban, Director of City Life, City of Sydney.