Enabling Entrepreneurs - 6 September 2016
How well are Australians prepared for success in the global marketplace?
Are entrepreneurs naturally talented, driven by circumstance or honed by experience and insight?
Is there such a thing as 'entrepreneurial thinking'?
Can it be taught, learned and then applied across many different settings to create outstanding results?
How and why do some people succeed, while others crash and burn?
This Shapeshifters event delved into the very heart of entrepreneurialism and what it means to become an entrepreneur. It considered how the qualities of entrepreneurs can be cultivated, revealing also the work that is flourishing at UTS to produce world-leading thinkers, leaders, innovators and of course – entrepreneurs.
Forum Moderator, Professor Charles Walker, Director, UTS Creative Intelligence Unit
Before joining UTS this year, Charles Walker co-directed the ‘collaboratory’ Colab, at Auckland University of Technology and oversaw numerous entrepreneurial projects in design and creative technologies in partnership with government, NGOs, startups and community groups. More recently he was Creative Director for Future Islands, the New Zealand Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale.
Dr Jochen Schweitzer, UTS Business School
Jochen Schweitzer lectures in strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship and heads the UTS MBA Entrepreneurship program. He is research stream leader for strategy and creativity with the UTS Centre for Management and Organisation Studies (CMOS) and founded the multidisciplinary innovation hub U.lab. Jochen has also coached in design thinking, been a management consultant and cultural program coordinator.
Vicky Lay, Director, Artesian Ventures
Vicky Lay is a serial entrepreneur who is passionate about business and finding creative ways to help people. At 22, she co-founded zookal.com - a Silicon Valley venture-backed e-learning and textbook rental company that was named by BRW as one of its top-ten start-ups. Currently she serves as a Director at Artesian Venture Partners (an early-stage venture capital business with offices in Australia, Singapore, Shanghai, New York and London) and on the Investment Committee of VentureCrowd (Australia's largest multi-asset equity crowdfunding platform). There she is mapping the Australian startup ecosystem, decoding the DNA of entrepreneurial success and helping more entrepreneurs secure funding. She also founded and serves on the boards of non-profit organisations fostering youth empowerment and entrepreneurship including Young Achievement Australia and Junior Achievement Australia. She is a mentor for the pilot UTS Hatchery Plus program and is currently studying at UTS.
Colin Kinner, Director, Spike Innovation
Colin Kinner is an expert in the development of programs to support high-growth technology companies and startup ecosystems. He has advised a range of national, state and city-based agencies on innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives, including as project director for Startup Catalyst, an annual program that immerses young Australian entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley startup ecosystem. He has authored a number of important reports in the innovation sphere - including the StartupAUS Crossroads report - which provides a strategic roadmap for growth of the Australian tech startup ecosystem and was a major influence on the development of the federal government's National Innovation and Science Agenda.
Special appearance by Virginia Tech Knowledgeworks Information Technology Award for outstanding intangible product or service wnning team
For Construction Cloud, a visual documentation tool for building sites with UTS students Jan Schroeder Hartley Pike.
