Entrepreneurship and UTS staff

Entrepreneurial skills are highly valued at UTS, as a way to both future-proof our students for the ever-changing workforce of the 21st century, and to provide our staff - professional, academic and research - the ability to translate their work into a commercial venture.

To achieve this, the UTS Innovation and Entrepreneurship Unit encourages staff to take advantage of our initiatives, to help them understand entrepreneurship, access valuable opportunities, deliver entrepreneurship education themselves, and develop their own skills in this area.

Startup and accelerator support

UTS Startups is open to UTS staff with a startup, provided they have on their team someone who is a student or has been in the past 12 months. Approved UTS Startups teams can access community resources such as co-working space, mentoring, events and regular team check-ins.

Eligible staff with relevant, scalable research could also apply to join an accelerator/incubator that is connected to UTS, such as Cicada Innovations or Green Light.

Research and commercialisation

Main Sequence Ventures

Main Sequence Ventures (MSEQ), the CSIRO’s Innovation Fund, has launched its Venture on Campus program at UTS aimed at researchers, who will benefit from four key initiatives:

  • Consultations: Bi-monthly consultations with Main Sequence Ventures to help you develop ideas and secure investment opportunities. Express interest in a consult here.

  • Internships: Main Sequence Ventures offers exceptional UTS researchers a one week internship to help you understand the investor mindset and how you could make your idea startup investment ready.

  • Annual Seminar Days: An annual one-day workshop led by Main Sequence Ventures, CSIRO’s Innovation Fund, to help researchers and innovation teams access venture capital and explore commercialisation opportunities for your research.

  • Ready enterprises can then make an investment proposal to the MSEQ fund, which closed at a total of $232 million. Read more here.

Significant Capital Ventures

  • Significant Capital Ventures (SCV) is a partnership between Canberra-based construction and property company Hindmarsh, University Technology of Sydney, The Australian National University, University of Canberra, Deakin University, and University of Wollongong.

  • The investment fund, which aims to grow to $50 million off the back of investment from UTS and partner universities, was launched by Minister for Education Dan Tehan in Canberra in October. Read more here.

  • SCV will offer early stage funding of student and staff startups focused on applied technology commercialisation.

  • Opportunities will be for startups at an early expansion stage with a competitive advantage, credible management team, robust business plan and ability to achieve a significant value increase and high return. Sectors will include defence and security, agricultural technology and food security, sustainable energy, health, space, robotics and advanced manufacturing.

  • Significant Capital Ventures will run a series of workshops on campus to help identify high-potential enterprises, covering topics from business model to valuation and pitching.

CSIRO Launch Camp

  • An intensive two-day program focused on human-centred design frameworks to help teams understand and validate their problem, and consider their broader research impact through the lens of customers and markets. Find out more here. Email murray.dickson@uts.edu.au to express interest in attending.

UTS Entrepreneurship Education Community of Practice

Our Entrepreneurship Community of Practice is open to all staff involved in entrepreneurship education. There are meet-ups throughout the year and a Teams channel to share opportunities and encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing. Email entrepreneurship@uts.edu.au to join.

UTS Entrepreneurship Toolkit

This toolkit is a series of online modules that aims to provide students and staff with an understanding of entrepreneurship and relevant methods, such as design thinking, as well as skills, methods and tools they can use to solve problems, develop projects and launch startups and enterprises.

The modules are designed to be taken in any order based on the needs of the student, though the first introductory module is compulsory for all students as it sets them up with the necessary knowledge required to complete the remaining modules. Subject coordinators and tutors are able to access this content and use it in their classes. Sign up here.

Introduction to Entrepreneurship Course

UTS has an online publicly accessible Introduction to Entrepreneurship course that you can sign up to here. This introduces key processes, methods, and terms used in entrepreneurship. This is your chance to understand entrepreneurship and how to start your own entrepreneurial journey!

Supporting student entrepreneurs

Via initiatives such as UTS Startups, co-curricular programs such as bootcamps and hackathons, the UTS Entrepreneurship Toolkit and for-credit coursework options, UTS staff have an exciting opportunity to help shape student entrepreneurs and potential founders and their ventures, as mentors, educators, lecturers and/or supporters.

Find out more

Drop us a line at entrepreneurship@uts.edu.au.
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Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.