Organisation

Innovation ANU is a Staged Business and Commercialisation Program in its inaugural year. The program is brought to you by the Australian National University and the Office Of Commercialisation within the University. The 'staged' element refers to the fact that this is not an isolated event but is intended to guide participants through an actual business planning or commercialisation task with educational seminars, mentoring and ongoing support, both financial and in-kind. This staged program allows staff and students of the ANU to get the most out of their business planning or commercialisation experience and provides them with skills and experience for the future.

The difference between a business plan and a commercialisation plan is generally dependent on the nature of the idea being investigated. In a university context commercialisation typically refers to the process of taking research and turning it into a financially viable product or service. Business planning generally refers to the process of starting a business once a product or service has been developed. Your mentors and the Innovation ANU organisers can explain this further if you require and will certainly help each team choose which stream to submit your plan to prior to the judging process.

Program Overview

The program will consist of:

• 6 weeks of workshops and seminars.
• 6 weeks of coaching and mentoring.
• An elevator pitch and executive summary submission.
• A complete business plan submission and pitch.

Please check our Schedule of events.

Awards

There arer 5 Awards on offer within the Program.

• An Elevator Pitch Award (A$1,000)
• An Executive Summary Award (A$1,000)
• A Sustainable Business Award (A$1,000)
• Business Plan Awards (A$25,000)
• Commercialisation Plan Award (A$25,000)

For more details about Awards, please see the Judging Criteria.

Program Structure

We expect that the two aspects of the program are going to help participants in the following way:

• The education seminars will equip participants with the required knowledge to undertake business planning or commercialisation of their ideas.
• The business or commercialisation plan submission will provide participants with the opportunity to write, get feedback on and pitch their ideas.

We also anticipate that there will be an after-effect to the program, where participants, being better aware of commercialisation channels, will stand greater chances of securing funding for their ideas in the future.