Over the last couple of weeks, together with my mother, Jeanne and brother, Ian we have been privileged to visit two very inspiring Centres that are fostering the next generation of business development, including the Wade Institute and the Melbourne Accelerator Program.
The Wade Institute located in Ormond College was established in 2015 by Peter Wade with a view to empowering the next generation of audacious entrepreneurs and deliver The University of Melbourne’s Master of Entrepreneurship. We receive a guided tour by the Master of Ormond College at the University of Melbourne, Rufus Black and were suitably impressed with the facilities and curriculum that the Institute has developed to foster and nurture young talent.
We have discovered that the Wade Institute is an integral part of the University of Melbourne‘s commitment to creating a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem. We found that there was a positively charged, collaborative vibe in their learning environments. Rather than walk into a traditional teaching space of classrooms and offices, we were treated to beautifully designed, highly flexible spaces where the main studio workshop is a white canvas with colourful parts ready to become whatever students and staff need it to be – from open plan classroom to office, customer lab or forum to pitch their business idea.
MAP or the Melbourne Accelerator Program has been around a little longer, launching in 2012, starting from The University of Melbourne’s School of Engineering. The growth of this initiative has been significant starting with just four teams, $20,000 in seed funding, office space and mentoring. Currently, their 24 alumni teams have now raised over $23 million in funding, created more than 250 jobs and generated over $28 million in revenue. Impressive growth.
I have been a long standing advocate for commercialising start-ups in Australia and it is exciting to see it in practice. It is also refreshing to see our educational institutions continuing to evolve both how and where they deliver education to ensure it remains relevant in our evolving economy. With technology changing our landscape at such a fast rate this sort of flexibility offering relevant, creative learning is paramount.
