The Innovation Ecosystem

Innovative ideas require significant investment in order to move beyond the ideas phase and become financially viable products that can change lives.

For investors, there’s money to be made. For the broader community, there’s the potential for a product that could be a game changer. Think medical advances, renewable energy and blockchain technology.

For university research departments, the research lifecycle doesn’t end at a research paper or proof of concept. Commercialisation is of utmost importance, ensuring that innovative ideas for new products and services become those new products and services, flowing through to the marketplace where they can have an impact.

Today, David is joined by The Director of Commercialisation at Curtin University, Rohan McDougall; and all the way from Silicon Valley, venture capitalist Bill Tai, who is also Adjunct Professor of Innovation at Curtin University, to discuss the future of the innovation ecosystem.

  • 01:00: How could Perth could become the new Silicon Valley?
  • 12:00: How does commercialisation work in the university sector and why is it so important?
  • 14:50: Western Australia mainly exports rocks. What problems does an unsophisticated export market pose?
  • 23:00: Do you see cryptocurrency replacing or augmenting traditional currency anytime in the future?
  • 25:10: What's big at West Tech Fest this year?

This episode was recorded in December 2019 during West Tech Fest.

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Got any questions, or suggestions for future topics?

Email thefutureof@curtin.edu.au.

Curtin University supports academic freedom of speech. The views expressed in The Future Of podcast may not reflect those of the University.

Music: OKAY by 13ounce Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Music promoted by Audio Library

You can read the full transcript for the episode here.