Our students are graduating into a complex world where work is being radically reshaped by technology and innovation and where the complex, pressing problems confronting the world demand solutions.
As Australia’s leading entrepreneurial university, UNSW is answering the challenges posed by the rapidly changing world of work by delivering to our students, staff and alumni Australia’s most comprehensive university-based entrepreneurship initiative, the Founders Program. Comprising 10 initiatives, this program has been designed to embed entrepreneurial skill building at scale within the university community, while also identifying and supporting exceptional entrepreneurial talent to launch startups with global impact.
The Founders Program is building a unique model for entrepreneurship that will shape the founders who will go on to build the companies and the industries that will fuel Australia’s economy and deliver social impact.
Using a clearly signposted journey for all levels and abilities, the Founders Program is designed to give everyone in the UNSW community the skills and resilience they need to succeed in the 21st global workplace. From this pool, the program identifies exceptional entrepreneurial talent and provides a pipeline into the startup ecosystem both locally and globally.
The Founders Program does more than just offer participants a roadmap for success in an entrepreneurial world; it gives them a new perspective on what success and excellence looks like.
Through our ‘Founders First’ ethos, we instil in our entrepreneurs a commitment to sustainability and a focus on giving back. We help them embrace diversity and collaboration as the key to excellence.
We are building Australia’s biggest pipeline of technology startups. In 2018 alone, we supported 140 startups and 80 projects through our programs. Over 8,000 people participated in foundational entrepreneurial skill-building and prototyping through our MCIC Foundations program. Through our New Wave Founders program, we have raised the level of women’s participation in entrepreneurship on campus such that our cohort now has 38% female co-founders, compared with 21% in the ecosystem in general.
The Founders Program has unearthed a wealth of untapped entrepreneurial talent and research capability on campus. In 2019, we will significantly scale our programs and introduce new initiatives, so stay tuned!