As The University for the Real World, QUT’s vision and strategy reflect the core values of ambition, curiosity, integrity, inclusiveness, innovation and academic freedom. QUT’s real world distinctiveness derives both from a global reach and a focus on developing innovative practices and entrepreneurial mindsets across the university and beyond.
QUT’s formal commitment to entrepreneurship first began with our 2019 strategic plan (Blueprint 6) and was further consolidated in its latest plan (Connections 2023-2027). As a priority this means QUT “supports students and staff to experiment, to identify creative opportunities and turn ideas into action. Students and staff are encouraged to explore entrepreneurship and innovation-creating value for organizations, the community and a sustainable future”.
As an institution, this has meant truly embracing the notion of entrepreneurial thinking, making a commitment to embedding a culture full of flexibility, challenge and opportunity, powered by great minds, talent and ability, whilst providing the right support to continue to grow and change with trust, empowerment and support. Such mechanisms which enhance the entrepreneurial-oriented culture are aligned with the ACEEU’s Accreditation Standard of Culture.
We are incredibly proud to be awarded the Triple E 2023 Asia-Pacific Entrepreneurial University of the Year. The mechanisms employed to create such an environment are multi-layered with a demonstrable commitment to being first and foremost student-led in what we do, but also to be entrepreneur-driven and informed by current practice and finally university-supported, leveraging the full resources of the university wherever possible.
1. Student-led
Annually around 18% of QUT students engage in entrepreneurship curricula and extracurricular activity, while staff participation is rising. QUT Students and alumni are at the forefront of our efforts, from our growing cohort of Budding Entrepreneur Scholars all the way through to our QUT Entrepreneurship Ambassadors, students specifically trained and employed to promote entrepreneurship around campus, run events and train peers in areas such as 3D printing and pitching as well as contribute to our social media and marketing activities. Annually our student Ambassadors bring QUT’s Iterate challenge to around 500 Queensland secondary school students.
Our unique relationship with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) allows up to 60 MBAs annually to take a two-week innovation immersion at MIT, while three QUT student start-up teams are able to attend the MIT FUSE and START MIT entrepreneurship programs. In 2022, MIT MBAs came to Brisbane to work with QUT MBAs on a future challenge around the Olympics, and in 2023 MBA students from the University of Aukland will join the international Collaboration Sprint cohort.
2. Entrepreneur-driven
Everything entrepreneurial we do at QUT is underpinned by Howard Stevenson’s definition of entrepreneurship as ‘the pursuit of opportunity beyond the resources currently controlled’. Taking such a wide view of entrepreneurship allows for a holistic approach to support, facilitation, teaching, research and leadership of entrepreneurial activities. QUT actively engages a cohort of ecosystem entities including Entrepreneurs-in Residence, visiting mentors and regular site visits to local start-ups to ensure strong links to practice. More broadly QUT Entrepreneurship partners with the Queensland government to deliver the Queensland Connects program which helps regions build their own innovation ecosystem.
This level of collaboration is key to delivering on QUT’s real-world entrepreneurship promise. Mindsets and skills are developed through curriculum, research, partnerships, project-based learning experiences, work-integrated learning, entrepreneurial internships, non-award programs, design sprints, innovation challenges and an array of events and mentoring. Our success is measured by the impact an entrepreneurial mindset can have on problem solving and opportunity realisation, not just now, but in the future.
3. University-supported
QUT has invested heavily in its strategic promise, appointing a Pro Vice-Chancellor (PVC) Entrepreneurship. This role focusses on student experience and learning, and is independent, but complementary to, the university’s faculties, research and commercialization functions. Entrepreneurship sits in different places in different institutions driven by history and culture. Our structure makes sense, with an inclusive focus on entrepreneurial mindset, through learning to develop self-efficacy, but others may want to think carefully about why entrepreneurship is placed where it is.
The PVC Entrepreneurship leads the QUT Entrepreneurship team who collaborate with QUT’s five faculties and professional divisions (including research and commercialization) to facilitate student and staff experimentation, identify creative opportunities and turn ideas into action. But QUT Entrepreneurship does not ‘own’ all innovation and entrepreneurial action, instead seeks to widely encourage and support others. QUT’s increased commercialisation activity is led by the Office of Industry Engagement. The multi-year CISCO partnership underpins QUT’s Innovation Central Brisbane where industry and students work on challenges together such as the 2022-23 QUT Youth Research Forum, and student teams are funded AUD20,000 each by State Government to develop and execute idea around technology and future food systems ventures.
Unsurprisingly entrepreneurship is also one of QUT’s curriculum design features and is embedded into teaching across the five faculties (Engineering, Science, Business and Law, Health, Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice), with a dedicated major, minor and Diploma in Entrepreneurship. QUT Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students can choose an entrepreneurship module through the Graduate Research Education and Development (GRE+D) program as well as programs such as Litmus, a customised non-award program designed to convert research into real world outcomes through entrepreneurial principles. This is further reinforced by our Excolo! pitch competition, introduced in 2022, for students and staff to pitch their research commercialisation idea, and share a AUD90,000 prize.
(nearly) a Decade of Experience
Being named as the Entrepreneurial University of the Year for Asia Pacific is a fabulous accolade of which we are all rightfully proud. But as we all know that in the entrepreneurial world it takes 10 years to become an overnight success. And we have been on this path for just two years short of 10. And just like the process of building an entrepreneurial venture, there is little difference in creating an entrepreneurial university. It is a continuous process of exploring, questioning, customer discovery and validation. What do students need today and for the future? What support is required for engagement and commercialisation activity across disciplines? What are the ways to meaningfully support and embed the entrepreneurial community in the university? What are the different outcomes we want to stimulate and are we getting there? Are the programs on offer having the impact we believed they would? What else can be done? Who else needs to be engaged? How do we communicate impact and effect? There are no fixed answers to these questions and so it has been a process of experimentation, trial, success and failure, and ongoing learning to know what can work to create and add value for participants. A process we have relished and look to continue for the next (more than) 10 years!
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