Last week saw us celebrate Adelaide’s first Entrepreneurs’ Week, with the ECIC hosting and sponsoring a number of events as part of this great initiative.
A Brand South Australia initiative, Entrepreneurs’ Week showcased Adelaide’s opportunity-rich environment, the unique support programs available to entrepreneurs, the importance of intrapreneurship, as well as success stories from our thriving start-up community.
The ECIC held three events throughout the week each covering different areas of entrepreneurship. All had a fantastic turn out and had some great discussions about how our entrepreneurial ecosystem in Adelaide can be leveraged.
First, some of Adelaide’s most successful Young Gun Entrepreneurs’ came to the University for a series of short presentations, followed by a panel discussion where they shared their unique experiences as young entrepreneurs. These speakers included:
- Manjula Dissanayake – PhD Candidate and Researcher at the Entrepreneurship, Commercialisation and Innovation Centre
- Michael Dawson – Michael Dawson Enterprises
- Reece Formosa – Unique Home Theatre, FindMy Pty. Ltd, #deliveryboyz Pty Ltd
- Stuart Snyder – Co-founder YourAmigo Ltd (panel only)
- Shane Yeend – CEO at Imagination (panel only)
With 100 people attending on the night, we hope attendees were inspired by the success of these local young guns and that some innovative new ideas emerge from the next crop of entrepreneurs.
This event was followed with a forum at the Adelaide Convention Centre called ‘Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Great Places to Create Business’. This brought together entrepreneurs, business leaders, service providers, policy-makers and representatives of industry and regional development agencies to learn more about how each can influence the effectiveness of Adelaide’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
With over 80 attendees from a range of organisations, the debate was robust and attendees left with new ideas on the interrelated nature of Adelaide’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and how collaboration can only enhance this in the future.
The presentations from the forum have been made available by the speakers and can be viewed at the links below:
- David Audretsch ‘Entrepreneurship, the Strategic Management of Place’.
- David Storey ‘How Can Adelaide Be More Entrepreneurial?’
- Goran Roos, ‘2015 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Regional Development’
- Jana Matthews ‘Entrepreneurial Ecosystems’.
Many thanks to Adelaide City Council, the Department of State Development and Brand SA who sponsored the forum.
Finally, the ECIC was the major sponsor for the Australian Centre for Entrepreneurial Research Exchange (ACERE) conference which was held at the University of Adelaide. This three day conference brought together some of the world’s leading entrepreneurial researchers to share their findings. There were 120 international guests in attendance.
Now in its 11th year, participants enjoyed the formal program of events, as well as a range of activities to showcase Adelaide to conference participants, including an exclusive vintage tram ride to Glenelg for cocktails by the beach and the formal awards dinner at the Adelaide Cricket Ground to highlight our new world class stadium.
With so many organisations jumping on board to get involved with Entrepreneurs’ Week, we look forward to hearing of any future plans for the initiative. With the South Australian Government naming ‘Growth through innovation’ as one of its Economic Priorities, initiatives such as these that enable experts from all over the world to engage with local entrepreneurs ensure the best is made of Adelaide’s unique environment. The future is looking bright for local innovation!