Startup WA

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Growing a whole innovation ecosystem: event insights and highlights

StartupWA

Are you a supporter or facilitator of innovation, seeking to grow the systems of support around founders? Or are you an entrepreneur who’s just as passionate about growing the whole sector in addition to your venture? StartupWA’s recent quarterly event focused on growing whole innovation ecosystems.

 

You can watch the video below and read on for relevant links and highlights.

The whole concept of an ‘ecosystem’ can itself be daunting: a complex mix of of public and private players, institutions, programs, spaces, regulations and investors, operating as an interrelated system supporting innovation. While complex as an entity, enabling one to grow in a location or industry sector doesn’t have to be difficult. As attributed to Oscar Wilde: “success is a science: if you have the conditions, you get the results”, and our guest panelists share their insights into what those conditions are.

 

Guests were:

 

Our panel addressed topics including:

  • Government as a key driver, aligning with business and academia to drive the growth of ecosystems, build infrastructure, and enable innovation,

  • Diversity and inclusivity being important in many ways: different skills and roles in the value chain, a mix of industry sectors being supported, diverse roles and stakeholders, and encouraging inclusivity in spaces and programs,

  • Artfully and appropriately matching types and sources of funding with ventures, to maximise the likelihood of long-term success for founders and investors,

  • Culture being foundational and needing active cultivation: collaboration, open relationships between universities and startups, sharing and learning from failures,

  • Disciplined focus on success as a way to temper the hype in the interest of long-term sustainability of the ecosystem

  • Variations on the 80/20 rule as it applies to fundraising and investment.

 

Insightful events on big-picture topics are just one of the activities StartupWA undertakes in service of its mission to create the local conditions, enabling the global success for the ventures of tomorrow.

 

This year, we are working with StartupMuster to gather data on the profiles and roles in the WA innovation and startup ecosystem. We encourage you to participate by completing the survey. The survey is relevant whether you are a founder, adviser, supplier or supporter.  

 

The next StartupWA event is planned for Thursday 14th September, then during West Tech Fest in December, and you can contribute to their success as a partner or sponsor. To express interest in contributing or hosting, please get in touch.

 

If you haven’t already, please subscribe to our email list for occasional updates on events, surveys, advocacy and opportunities. You can also follow us on Twitter for more frequent updates, and even more opportunities to connect with the wider community through spaces, networks and events.

 

Thanks to our event partners who made this possible:

 

 

Finally, thank you to everyone who came along in person or participated online, it was great to see such a large audience.