InnovationACT is a 2-week entrepreneurship competition for students and researchers who are looking to gain experience in the world of business, ventures and startups. 

Participants will experience hands-on workshops to help them progress their ideas, connect with experienced mentors, and pitch projects that can change the world, for a chance to win a share of $10,000. 

Throughout the competition, participants will learn a broad range of skills and knowledge to build a scalable and impactful business model through workshops covering: 

• Generating and selecting ideas to pursue 

• Validating market opportunity and customer testing 

• Building and testing minimal viable products 
• Building stories and pitching to key stakeholders 

“If you have an idea for a business or piece of software and want to develop it further but aren’t quite sure where to go, the InnovationACT program is for you!” – Dexter, Past Participant 

“These workshops are a safe house for critiquing emerging or developed ideas in a way that positively challenges you!” – Charbel, Past Participant 

The top 10 teams will then be invited to pitch for a share of $10,000 prize money to a panel of judges including: 

• Fiona Hindmarsh, CEO of Significant Capital Ventures 

• Lucy Johnston, Interim Vice Chancellor at University of Canberra 

• Andrew Neely, Associate Dean (Research Engagement) at UNSW Canberra 

What teams do with the prize is up to them! They can use it to take their idea further or simply celebrate their victory, having gained valuable skills along the way. 

InnovationACT is the longest-running entrepreneurship program in Canberra and has seen alumni take these skills into their own companies, like SignonSite, Wildlife Drones and Bardar, join other startups or become innovation champions in large organisations.  

“Entrepreneurship and innovation skills are crucial in effecting change, whether you’re starting your own company or you’re joining another organisation, and we’ve seen alumni from the program go on to do some amazing things.”  – Irene Zhen, IACT Facilitator 

Interested in challenging yourself and building a potential business idea but don’t have a team or an idea? Not to worry – there will be sessions on ideation (as well as different ways of testing and picking ideas) and lots of time to get to know other participants to form a team. 

This competition is open to students, staff and researchers across Canberra universities including the Australian National University, University of Canberra, University of New South Wales Canberra, CSIRO, Academy of Interactive Entertainment and Canberra Institute of Technology.  

Program commenced Monday 5 August 2024 with over 100 registrations! 

Head to https://cbrin.com.au/innovation-act/ for more information!