Hon. G. Combet, Minister for I&I, comments on Aussie brain drain

Last week, in response to the Sydney Morning Herald article and ensuing debate on Australia's 'brain drain' (http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/brain-drain-why-young-entrepreneurs-leave-home-20120517-1ytoo.html),  the CIE invited the Honourable Greg Combet, Minister for Industry and Innovation, to contribute a guest blog post to the discussion.  (Please note that the views expressed below are those of the author and do not reflect an official statement or position of the CIE.)

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Blog contribution for Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
By Greg Combet AM MP
Minister for industry and Innovation
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency

The Australian economy is globalising and fast. One facet of this trend is the way Australian entrepreneurs are criss-crossing the world, building experience and networks and selling not just themselves and their products and services, but the view of Australians as global entrepreneurs.

A series of articles in the Sydney Morning Herald has bemoaned this so called “brain drain” as, mostly young, entrepreneurs depart our shores in search of investment and markets for their ideas. The fact is that these journeys are part of the economic and social transformation that shows a path to the future of the Australian economy. This is no “brain drain” but actually a small country finding opportunities in a global market and punching above its weight.

As these entrepreneurs know, a global audience of 7 billion investors, customers and partners brings tremendous opportunity. Closing our borders or limiting our aspirations to the domestic market alone will only limit the entrepreneurs’ growth and our economy’s growth.

We need these entrepreneurs to mentor and introduce local businesses to global networks, to share their experiences and to promote Australia’s strengths around the world. We don’t want to lose them – but we should recognise that they don’t need to be physically here to add value.

Our long-term competitive advantage is in the ideas and energy of our people. The coming century will be shaped by significant geographical, demographic and technological trends.

Two of those technological trends that our entrepreneurs are already tapping into are clean technology and ICT. The Government is making significant investments in infrastructure, skills, research and innovation to support their initiative.

The $36 billion National Broadband Network is the most ambitious investment in infrastructure in our history. The NBN is the cornerstone of our Digital Economy Strategy, which will help Australia become a leading global digital economy by 2020.

The NBN will provide the platform for Australian businesses to develop, distribute and benefit from a wide array of digital applications and services. This opportunity will catalyse local development and take-up but also tell the world that Australians will be players in the global digital economy.

Faster broadband will provide benefits to the Australian economy through digital productivity, cloud computing and virtual collaboration.

The Australian Government’s Clean Energy Future plan will encourage the development of low carbon energy generation technologies. The transformation of the energy sector will drive $100 billion in investment in renewable energy electricity generation over the period to 2050.

We’re also investing almost $9 billion per annum in science, research and innovation, representing a 35 per cent increase on the 2007 figures.

In addition to the digital economy and clean energy strategies, the Government has a comprehensive set of support programs for Australian entrepreneurs to innovate and commercialise new technologies.

The new R&D Tax Incentive which delivers a significant increase in support for entrepreneurs; Commercialisation Australia; Enterprise Connect and the current round of the Innovation Investment Fund where the Government will be committing up to $100m of co-investment.

It is hard to predict the future but two things are certain – we’re going to be more connected and going to be doing more with less from a resource perspective. So, instead of pessimism, we should also be celebrating the increased globalisation of our entrepreneurs. The experiences, networks and success that they are having on a global stage are part of this transformation. Our challenge is to remain connected with our own global citizens and use these Australian links to our advantage.

The Australian Government is making a significant investment in the future and laying the policy foundations that will help our entrepreneurs make their mark in global markets.

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We wish to acknowledge the CIE's sponsors and express our appreciation of their support.  All of our sponsors help provide the means to host networking events, award prizes, and reimburse our suppliers and service providers. In exchange, these donors receive good karma and public recognition as supporters of innovation and entrepreneurship. To become a sponsor of CIE and support our community engagement activity, please contact us at cie@unsw.edu.au.

CIE welcomes Frost & Sullivan as their newest sponsor

The Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship is pleased to announce Frost & Sullivan as its newest sponsor!

Frost & Sullivan is a global research and consulting firm with presence in 38 countries, providing in-depth research coverage in a wide variety of industries. Frost & Sullivan enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best in class positions in growth, innovation and leadership.

We are excited to announce that through this sponsorship agreement, the CIE is able to offer entrepreneurial UNSW students access to the latest and most comprehensive market intelligence. This will be of tremendous benefit as they develop their new business ideas.


We would like to thank the Farrell Family Foundation and Gary Zamel for their generous donations. We also acknowledge the continuing support of the Australian School of Business, Ernst & Young, Frost & Sullivan, and RosesOnly. All of our sponsors help provide the means to host networking events, award prizes, and reimburse our suppliers and service providers. In exchange, these donors receive good karma and public recognition as supporters of innovation and entrepreneurship. To become a sponsor of CIE and support our community engagement activity, please contact us at cie@unsw.edu.au.

 

            

 

Peter Farrell Cup winning team Pluvision takes 2nd place at Idea2Product Global in Sweden!

This blogpost courtesy of Niklas Olsson, UNSW exchange student from Sweden and founder of The Entrepreneurial Chase.

As a finalist in the Idea to Product® Global Competitions (I2P), Pluvision is a truly international team – members are from China, France, Korea and Sweden. Eric Wei, inventor of a new generation of eye drop technology, and Niklas Olsson represented Pluvision in the I2P Global Competition in Sweden. 

Held for the first time outside of Texas, I2P is a competition in the commercialization of innovation aiming to fill the gap between university research and business plan competitions. This year, 18 teams competed in three parallel championships: ICT, Energy and Life Science. 

As the first Australian finalist ever, Pluvision represented UNSW and the Brien Holden Vision Institute. It was with great excitement that we accepted our spot, something that turned around quickly as we were told that the airfare would have to be funded by ourselves. All other teams had won intensive pre-round competitions like I2P Africa or I2P Europe and had been funded by their respective universities. With only two weeks to final acceptance this called for a serious hat round.  

As the University unfortunately did not have such a trip in their budget, we raised the money ourselves. Cold calling soon created quite a long list of “No, I am sorry” and we realized that something different had to be done. By creating media buzz and awareness around this recognition of Australian innovation we managed to get the Brien Holden Vision Institute interested enough to sponsor the trip. Excited as ever, we went to represent the institute, UNSW and Australia in a final competitor field that spread across five continents and nine countries.  

I2P is about remarkable innovation and how it is to be commercialised. So those 10 slides of financials were not really useful, but instead we focused on what is most important in any business: What is the market pain you are solving and how are you doing that better than anyone else? Something that is unfortunately forgotten nowadays in the “back-of-the-credit-card” era of trying to find problems for ideas.  

Stepping out of the airport, trading 33 degree Australia for 3 degree Sweden, turned the system on, almost like boxers smelling ammonium before the big fight. Competition in the Life Science track included a nano-mesh product for surgery, an herb-based soap, a psychology-based make-up treatment and an effects indicator used at the early stages of drug development. Two had working prototypes, all but one multiple patents and one even had four PCTs filed. How on earth, in terms of feasibility, did we stand a chance? Well, we had two things that we were sure of: We knew the pain we were solving and we knew that we were doing so in a fundamentally different way.  

The competition was divided in two rounds, the first giving you feedback and the second being the final you were judged upon. The first pitch was, despite well-rehearsed, not spot-on and some major changes kept us up very late. The judges seemed pleased with the revamped version and did not even use up the full Q&A time. Either a very very good sign or a very very bad sign, our fingers were crossed for the former. Something that didn’t make us less nervous, what a fail to travel all the way and come back empty handed! 

"Second place to another innovation involving the human physical properties, more in the eye area … PLUVISION!”   http://www.ideatoproduct.org/global/

Inner joy and pride straightened our spines. As inaugural ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurs Week in Australia we had put Australian innovation on the global map. A big Thank You to Brien Holden Vision Institute, the CIE, friends and the entrepreneurial community who made us compete with such confidence. We are proud to be a part of something big growing in Australia, something creative and something exciting.


We are pleased to confirm Ernst & Young and RosesOnly as sponsors of the CIE. We would like to thank the Farrell Family Foundation and Gary Zamel for their generous donations. We also acknowlege the continuing support of the Australian School of Business. All of our sponsors help provide the means to host networking events, award prizes, and reimburse our suppliers and service providers. In exchange, these donors receive good karma and public recognition as supporters of innovation and entrepreneurship. To become a sponsor of CIE and support our community engagement activity, please contact us at cie@unsw.edu.au.