The UTS Business School was buzzing with ideas as hundreds of scientists and business leaders shared their experiences at STA’s annual event, Science meets Business.
Catherine Livingstone AO, Chancellor of UTS and Chair of the Commonwealth Bank, kicked off the event with a rousing speech. She shared her vision for Australia on the global stage and encouraged the business and research sectors to remain positive, as “a negative mindset leads to a negative outcome”.
She was followed by Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, the Hon Craig Laundy MP, who challenged the STEM sector to fix the issue of the word innovation being a dirty word.
“I want to know where you’ve helped business grow.” – the Hon Craig Laundy MP
The Shadow Minister for Industry, Innovation, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr, also highlighted the value of science and technology.
“We know the jobs being created are in the cities, which is not a problem unique to Australia, but this means people are turning their back on democracy,” Senator Carr said.
“Technology and science is the way we can repair this.”
Three competitively-selected Soapbox leaders made compelling pitches, sparking robust discussion as they quizzed delegates for perspectives on new ideas to create great collaboration. New connections were sparked, too, when leaders from Google and SettleIn led a high-energy pitch workshop.
Other speakers included Director of the Centre for Nanoscale BioPhotonics, Professor Mark Hutchinson; Co-founder of SheFlies, Dr Catherine Ball; Supervising Examiner of Patents from IP Australia, Kevin Restrick; Managing Director of gemaker, Natalie Chapman; CEO of Austrade, Dr Staphanie Fahey; and many more business and STEM leaders.
Thanks to our sponsors: GE (Platinum), the Centre for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (Silver), the Cooperative Research Centres Association (Silver), MTPConnect (Silver), the University of Technology Sydney (Silver), the Australian Academy of Science (Bronze), Clarivate Analytics (Bronze), Macquarie University (Bronze), Taylor & Francis Group (Bronze), the CSIRO (Catering), and Refraction Media (Media).
