Agristart
Dr Natasha Ayers
The Harvest accelerator program will be run by consultancy Agristart, with support from the department, Austrade, and co-working hub Atomic Sky.
The eight-week program will run across a number of co-working spaces in Perth, according to Agristart founder Tash Ayers. READ MORE
OMRI WISLIZKI speaking at ATOMIC SKY'S innovation breakfast in the STUDIO STARTUP Basement
Israel is well known as a startup nation and engine for creating technology-centric innovation on a global scale. It has the most NASDAQ listed companies after USA and China, one in ten jobs are a tech job, 1/4 of the countries tech workforce are employed in international R&D centres. As a global hub it attracts corporations and investment groups from around the world looking for tech-centric solutions.
Austrade's Landing Pad Manager in Israel, Omri Wislizki shared some of his experience at the Atomic Sky Innovation Leadership Breakfast in Perth. A Tel Aviv native, Omri plays a key role in connecting Australian growth companies into the Israel ecosystem.
Some take-always included;
With little domestic market, all Israeli companies think global from day one. They look to use technology to solve big problems and create international businesses.
In Israel startups you start as fast as you can, then you go faster, so it is a place you can go to change your mindset about innovation.
Connecting and collaborating is far more impactful in a local innovation culture of openness to meet and help other entrepreneurs.
Israel's outstanding investor market accelerated itself on a baseline of Founders who have exited well and now invest and mentor the next iteration of startups.
Cultural diversity adds to the richness of the culture and to the ecosystem.
Omri Wislizki; "It was great to see so many passionate people today at Atomic Sky. The W.A. start-up scene seems to be growing fast. I see great complementarity between Western Australia and Israel, particularly in Agtech and Cyber.
The Tel Aviv Landing Pad facilitates connections to potential collaborators, clients and activities via Israel. It is a fantastic opportunity for Australian companies to connect to global markets"
Dr Natasha Ayers spoke about the state-wide HARVEST agri-tech accelerator for SME's during Omri's visit. The initiative includes a combination of inclusive activities to accelerate the agribusiness and agritech sector in Western Australia. The holistic approach aims to grow collaboration, jobs and SME exports in the sector.
As relatively small, isolated populations Israel and Australia share the need for their knowledge industries to be successful and continue to grow on a global scale. The platforms of innovation, entrepreneurship and technology enable that outcome so are crucial to the economic development of both countries.
Israel is too small to provide a meaningful global market for Australian companies but we can learn from its technology startup success and leverage its ecosystem as a pathway to internationalise high growth companies. Australia itself has excellence in research, talent and potential sectors in which to pilot and strengthen Israeli innovations.
Director of Innovation at the University of Western Australia, Mark Stickells, recently returned from a business mission to Israel. He commented in the panel session that “Israelis argue that entrepreneurship is their national sport, whereas Australia prides itself as a sporting nation. We can learn a lot from Israel's innovation ecosystem and how it turned the challenges of geography and geopolitics into drivers for innovation and growth. Australia needs to embrace the advantages of its proximity to Asia and exploit competitive advantages in sectors such as agriculture, resources, and med-tech.".
The Israel, Innovation and Australia event brought together growth minded leaders from SME, Startup, Universities, Government and Large Companies. It was kindly supported by Austrade and the Western Australian government Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD).
Dr Natasha Ayers, Mark Stickells, Omri Wislizki - Studio StartUp
"It's a pleasure to have Apps People as part of the Studio StartUp community, not only are they extremely talented but really nice people too" | Naomi Rossdeutscher
APPS PEOPLE FOUNDER
What is your business?
Apps People specialise in the design and development of mobile and web apps. We create stunning apps for startup and enterprise solutions.
How did you come up with your business idea, inspiration?
Back in 2010 there weren't any mobile app development studios in Perth concentrating on solely mobile apps and I could see that the market had huge potential. I jumped on board the mobile juggernaut and there's been no looking back.
What problem are you solving?
We offer high end, in-house developed mobile and web apps for any and all devices! Integrating the newest tech advancements and trends to produce apps like no other; we strive to offer our clients the most creative, technical, engaging and reliable solutions to ensure the successful launch of every mobile app we build, no matter its nature, purpose or complexity.
Where do you see the business in 5 years?
Our long-term goal is to have offices in each and every city around Australia allowing us to work closely to our clients no matter where they are located. We would also like offices in key European cities.
What stage are you at now?
Right now we have an amazing team of technical and creative members, we have a stella portfolio that most agencies would die to have been a part and we have bucket loads of opportunities in our field.
What is your working day like?
Being very creative we split our days between coding and meeting clients. Meeting clients regularly allows us to keep up to date with what is happening on the streets in terms of mobile app direction. It also allows us to break up our days through fantastic ideation.
What did you like about working at Studio StartUp?
Studio Startup truly is a creative hub, we love working in such a creative and groovy office space!
APPS PEOPLE TEAM
How did you find your team? Who are they?
We are a collective of creatives, entrepreneurs and out of the box thinkers. Our designers, developers and project managers are plucked from around the globe and are the best in their field. The team leads consists of myself (CEO), Alexander Karan (CTO), Olivier Voyer (CIO). Our developers, designers and communications team is based in Australia and are full of imagination, experience and know-how.
If you could change one in the world, what would it be?
I would change the way the working week is set out, working every other week only 4 days instead of the usual 5. That is the goal. People are proven to be more productive over a set number of hours and days.
What do you love doing when you’re not working?
I love playing with my two kids, they are like little surprises gift wrapped, each day they are changing and every moment is special. Even changing their nappies.
If you want people to contact you, what is the best way?
If you want to get in touch with an app idea, you can contact myself and the team via our website: appsppl.com.au
Alternatively, you can Call us:
In Perth (08) 9325 1992 or Sydney (02) 8006 9448.
Tell us you are coming to secure your seat: Eventbrite
@Murdoch University 90 South Street Murdoch, WA 6150
Contact: Ash Roberts (Ash.Roberts@murdoch.edu.au)
Peter Rossdeutscher speaks to UWA Masters Students at Studio Startup
Diverse parts the business innovation ecosystem in Perth shared their experience with the graduating class of the Masters of Entrepreneurship class at The University of Western Australia. Facilitated by Prof. Theirry Volery, Chair of Entrepreneurship and Head of Marketing Discipline, the day included visits to corporate innovators, entrepreneurs and incubators.
Studio Startup hosted a lunch seminar shared learnings from successful businesses. As Executive Director of Atomic Sky, I discussed corporate innovation and entrepreneurship, the value of lean thinking, agile innovation sprints and stage gate life-cycles. Take aways for entrepreneurs were;
Greg Riebe speaking at Studio StartUp
Greg Riebe, Chairman of Perth Angels and a EIR Corporate, then spoke about Business Angel Finance and building the investor community. Funding models and understanding how to strengthen a project or business for investment were key themes Greg’s talk. Other points included;
"Educating the private investor community on how to buy into investments in emerging high growth businesses is critical to diversifying the state's economy and growing jobs.
A great way to get better due diligence on investment opportunities in early stage ventures is co-investing via an Angel Investor group"
Samantha Harris, and Peter Farmer at Telstra Perth Fashion Festival
Innovation and creativity from collaborations are exceptional in any format and it was inspiring to be at the outstanding Chirriger Aboriginal Runway fashion event.
Leading figures speaking at the event included Jerrie Demasi of Channel 9 News, community leader Barry McGuire and 2016 West Australian of the Year Award Aboriginal Category Winner Rishelle Hume.
The event featured the integration of Aboriginal Artist Peter Farmer’s stunning Noongar designs into a resort-wear fashion line by Red Opium's Sandra Rives.
It was also supported by leading indigenous models. International model Samantha Harris led the the runway show. Samantha had earlier stated her commitment toto supporting the project to promote, nurture and develop indigenous creative industries through the language of fashion.
Hannah Collard was another leading indigenous women to walk in the show. In a prior news article she had said;
“To me it’s important to be involved, I think it’s important they (young indigenous girls) have someone to relate to and show them it is possible to do something good and change people’s minds. We need to challenge the ideas of beauty in the fashion industry in Australia – it’s not just one look.”
With designs inspired by the oldest living culture in the world, the runway event was part of the Telstra Perth Fashion Festival. With so many positives and people from diverse backgrounds working together to showcase quality Australian products, hopefully the event will become central to future festivals
ENSEMBLY Founder Louise McKay playing Cello in Studio StartUp Basement
There are four performances over four Sundays. The setting is intimate. You will be right up close and enveloped by the music. And the historic basement venue is very cool.
Each Ensembly performance runs for approximately one hour, where the musicians will give you an insight into their interpretations of the works they are presenting.
The talented ENSEMBLY artists only perform pieces they are truly passionate about, sharing with you an experience, energy and connection generated by their exquisite chamber music and the intimate setting is just the way the music was originally intended.
This special event will run for four SUNDAYS @ 1:30pm starting on September 10 with a String Trio
Semra Lee-Smith (violin) Sally Boud (viola) Jon Tooby (cello) perform a lively folk music-inspired string trio, contrasted with another masterpiece for the same instrumentation from some 110 years earlier.
The location is The Studio StartUp Basement at 143 Barrack Street, Perth. (Enter through Toastface Grillah cafe from 1:15PM)
To get your limited edition tickets go to ENSEMBLY EVENTBRITE
Proudly sponsored by The City of Perth
Studio Startup was officially launched by Councillor Reece Harley, representing The City of Perth
Peter Rossdeutscher introduces Studio Startup and explains the origins of the historic 143 Barrack St, Perth building
STUDIO STARTUP is a Perth based incubator offering co-working and private office spaces with fast internet, in a positive work environment for individuals and growth businesses, based in an exclusive Perth city location
Set above Toastface Grillah café at 143 Barrack Street, Studio Startup offers hot-desks, fixed-desks, private office spaces and fast internet access for individuals, growth businesses and accelerator programs
Desks are available but we only have a few full offices currently available. Contact us to find out more
Early indicators for commercialising research and innovation are very clear. Successful entrepreneurs focus on adding value and good will. They drive the process with personality and determination. They follow a process not dissimilar to lean startup frameworks; tackle a big problem, hypothesize, test, pilot, iterate, build a diverse team.
Australia's 2016 Startup Muster Report identified that Universities and their graduates are the driving force in the national startup economy. Also that Founders with a PhD are more likely to be create ventures in medtech, healthtech or biotech. Last week I was privileged to speak alongside leading scientists in those areas who have each had exceptional commercialisation success.
Professor Cassandra Berry related learnings from her research-to-industry journey with her Innovative Avian Influenza Marker Vaccine. Her research startup in Australia began with 3 researchers, a hypothesis and a chicken. A case study of success through pilot testing and proof of concept in Hong Kong, capital raising via grants and industry, culminating in global commercialisation of an immunisation strategy to tackle Bird Flu at its peak and without the need to cull farm birds.
With major research in vaccines and immunotherapies for infectious diseases, Professor Berry has been a finalist in the Telstra Business Women’s Awards and WA Inventor of the Year Awards, National Director Australian Society for Medical Research and Deputy Director Centre for Biomolecular Control of Disease.
Her top points were;
1. Is there a market? Market research your idea before over-committing resources to building it.
2. Validate, does anyone really care? Investigate the market to be sure that it will really solve a problem and that there is a demand for the problem to be solved. In Cassandra’s case the markets were countries that were struggling with the Bird Flu in Asia (Vietnam, Indonesia and China).
3. Test small and iterate. Proof is needed to support your hypothesis and provide confidence in your innovative solution so market testing and validation are the baseline of your investment pitch.
4. Build a team. Blended skills are needed to build the product, raise investment, and increase credibility for research and business development.
5. Get great at pitching. Learn to pitch in non-scientific, persuasive language to sell your compelling case.
6. Start small and build up. Cassandra started with the premise that birds don’t get tetanus and then built up a vaccine marker using tetanus toxoid for use with Bird Flu vaccines. She formed a hypothesis, which was validated and iterated repeatedly until it gained scale and momentum.
7. Commit and persist. It will most likely take longer and cost more than originally planned so only those who are diligent and committed with drive and persistence succeed. Too many give up half way.
Professor Simon McKirdy added insights from his broad background in the Plant Biosecurity Research Centre plus at Chevron in Biosecurity Science and Commercialisation. His excellent advice focused on how researchers can overcome the industry to researcher divide
Simon noted that researchers shouldn’t wait for industry to come but instead meet half way to build mutually successful projects. As the new Institute Director of Biosecurity and Sustainable Development at Murdoch University he will help lead that process.
We finished by overviewing Innovation Cluster's Start Something research commercialisation accelerator which runs at Murdoch University in June and July. Having trained more than four hundred researchers in commercialisation skills, Start Something builds impact pathways by combining training with industry engagement, http://www.innovationcluster.com.au/start/. It is open to all Universities and government research departments and is delivered with Atomic Sky (www.atomicsky.com.au)
The event was organised and led by Dr Kate Brooks, Murdoch University Lead Advisor for Staff Development and former President of the Astronomical Society of Australia. Kate's has also been awarded the CSIRO Chairman’s Medal for revolutionising astronomy, Commonwealth Women in STEMM and Entrepreneurship funding.
Three lucky PhD students from Curtin University and Edith Cowan University had the recent opportunity to work with a cutting edge space telescope to develop a software framework that will change the way astronomers view the data being produced.
CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science (CASS) provides technology and services for radio astronomy, spacecraft tracking and space sciences, and undertakes world-leading astronomical research. Their newest radio telescope, the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), creates enormous terabyte datasets that require processing and analysis with high performance computing. It is important to be able to analyse the facets and present this information in an appropriate way for telescope operators and science teams. This formed the basis of the iPREP project.
Read more HERE
The Business Improvement Grants (previously known as Matched Funding Business Grants) provide up to $20,000 in matched funding to businesses who invest equally in their specific business project.
With Council approval of the budget, the City of Perth will allocate $100,000 for Business Improvement Grants; open until 12 May 2017.
For further information, visit HERE
Interns are priceless in the startup equation, and are a perfect fit to the “stay lean and grow fast” mantra. However, interns remain mostly in the domain of established companies rather than startups.
Graduates are quick to learn and provide extra hands, but do interns contribute enough to justify the extra mentoring and administration at a fledgling business that might already have its hands full? I’m of the opinion that tapping into the open minds and fresh approaches of youth is never a bad idea, as is talent-spotting for your company’s future.
Startups always have too much to do, and never enough time... Read More
Innovation Cluster and Atomic Sky joined to deliver an interactive presentation on commercialisation to the current team of iPREP PhD researchers, in an eccentric underground venue in Perth CBD.
What makes a good pitch? Andy Lamb from Atomic Sky spent the first part of the session running through the elements of a successful pitch. Andy’s Lesson #1: Put the Audience first. What do they want to hear and what’s important to them? Not everyone can understand technical talk, it will fly right over the heads of the audience and attention will be lost, unless of course you're pitching to the technical team at the organisation. Know your audience. Andy also suggested to ‘Get to the point’ and ‘Practice, Practice, Practice.’ Read More...
The West Tech Fest conference & the OzAPP Awards is gearing up to be a fantastic event! With a great line up of speakers, the event will also feature pitches from 5 of APAC's top startups competing for the opportunity to pitch at CES Las Vegas for XTC.
Date: Thursday 8 December 2016
Time: 8:00am to 6:00pm
Venue: Perth Town Hall, Cnr. Hay and Barrack Streets, Perth WA
Find out more & register attendance here
The 26th International World Wide Web Conference promises delegates a sustainable, relevant, innovative and memorable program and is the centerpiece of Perth's Festival of the Web eight days of social events from dawn to dark, focusing on Four Themes that address the significant challenges of our era and beyond.
In Perth from 3 to 7 April 2017... Find out more
By Andrea Kovszun at Sporteluxe - iPhones, can’t live with them, can’t live without them! It seems with every new iOS update comes a stream of new, sometimes frustrating-to-get-use-to features. What can I say, most of us are creatures of habit. Yet, this little marvel of technology seems to be evolving every day, and it can sometimes be hard to keep up with everything it can do. There are, however, a few hacks to make your life that much easier. We played around with our phones to let you in on a couple tricks... Read iPhone hacks you can use every day read
CLINTON HOUSE
"When you do make the decision, and for me that decision was putting everything into insights and letting go of everything else, you just feel liberated. You’re able to deliver a better product and a better experience” said Clinton House... Read more
To make sure your business doesn’t make costly mistakes, CCI can provide the right advice. Enquire today about becoming a CCI Member
MARNIN STUDIO, a social enterprise in Fitzroy Crossing, has become the first venture partner of Social Ventures Australia’s (SVA) WA Venture Philanthropy Fund
Marnin Studio is an arts and therapeutic studio operating out of the Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre.
Venture Mission
Marnin Studio is committed to supporting women to turn the things they love into projects that provide a source of income, as well as enable skills transfer and therapeutic aid. The studio empowers local Indigenous women to become leaders and change agents in their community.
Goals of the partnership
As part of their partnership with SVA, Marnin Studio will receive a combination of funding and capacity building support with a view to ensuring that the studio becomes a sustainable enterprise that will continue to offer healing and growth for the Fitzroy Crossing community... Read more
Curtin University are running HealthHack, a product-building event that runs from a Friday evening through to Sunday. Teams work on problems that have been submitted by Problem Owners- typically medical researchers, medical organisations, hospitals or government.
HealthHack gets going on Friday the 14th of October at 6pm and continues all day and night on Saturday 15th concluding in the evening on Sunday 16th. Festivities wrap up on the Sunday at 4pm with judging and prizes ... HealthHack
Mental health is currently a topic of intense focus in the global community and many are struggling to provide proactive and effective solutions. Governments are under constant pressure to increase the funding for mental health services and programs. Yet there is a lack of available and effective early intervention strategies. This award will go towards developing applications for parents and care workers (e.g. Doctors and Counsellors) to complement our existing applications for schools and workplaces.
The State Government awarded the winners of Start IT Up WA Challenge.
With mental health week in full swing, it is currently a topic of intense focus in the global community and many are struggling to provide proactive and effective solutions... Read more
