It is clear entrepreneurs are now propelled to innovate with sustainability at the heart of their ventures given the unparalleled volume of applications received for this year’s CONNECT Sustainable Industries program’s business incubator.
Congratulations to the 14 startups and businesses who have been selected for this year’s program comprising two cohorts. The Perth cohort has commenced their 9 week intensive program with their 2-day Business Bootcamp.
Day one explored value proposition for customers, validating product/market fit with users and beneficiaries, and commercialisation strategies. Thank you to Xsights who hosted the group in the evening and shared their amazing journey and put on drinks and nibbles!
Day 2 of the Bootcamp began with a visit to the L3 Legacy Living Lab, a partnership between Curtin University, Development WA and Fleetwood Building Solutions. Professor of Sustainability Dora Marinova talked about the circular economy building designed as a place of innovation where the building industry meets with research and community to prototype, test and co-invent building products. Thank you to Roberto Minunno for organising!
The next stop was DUG Technology where we were so lucky to be able to see the network of some of the largest and greenest super computers on Earth! Thank you to Marie Smyth for organising the tour so that we could learn about how the company continues to invest and innovate at the forefront of software and high-performance computing, working towards a climate-positive future.
The next visit to Electro Nautic allowed the group to see the birthplace of the world’s most advanced electric hydrofoil watercraft and learn from Joshua Portlock about the core sustainability values of Electro Ventures and also about his own incredible entrepreneurial journey!
The day concluded with a tour of Murdoch University, hosted by David Parlevliet, Dean of Engineering & Energy (and Chief Remote Pilot!). David spoke about sustainability being at the heart of everything they do, from protecting biodiversity on campus and reducing energy consumption, to delivering research outputs with a global impact. This sustainability commitment came to life for the group with the visit to the amazing new building Boola Katitjin, the Noongar name which translates to ‘lots of learning’. The group heard from Keal Byrne about how this space was designed to achieve the Green Building Council’s 6Star Green Design by including features such as the 450kw solar panel array, estimated to produce over 65% of the building’s operational energy requirements! What an incredible living laboratory helping to drive positive change in university teaching, learning and research.
Thank you to all involved with organising and hosting the day!
Perth Cohort
The CONNECT Sustainable Industries is part of the wider program which includes regionalinnovation tours, innovation hackathons to develop new ideas to solve critical issues,networking and events showcasing new technologies with a sustainability focus. This program is supported by the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation through the New Industries Fund – X-Tend WA Program.
Would you like to join us for CONNECT? Our next event, the Innovation Summit, is open to innovators including local business owners and entrepreneurs, investors, government, industry, researchers and business support networks. It will be a future-focused forum, with workshops, panel discussions and networking, to discuss advances for sustainable and creative industries in the region. Tickets are now on sale and available here.