As the Macquarie University Incubator’s new Expert-in-Residence, Karen brings a valuable wealth of expertise from her experience as a successful fashion entrepreneur (as well as all the grit of a former Rural Fire Service volunteer).

What is the role of the Expert-in-Residence?
My core responsibilities include developing and delivering core education programs, mentoring, and building Incubator and startup networks.

What drew you to this role?
I love combining my many years of experience and lessons learnt across my corporate and startup careers to ensure that any solution is clear on the customer problem to be solved.

Founding a startup can be a lonely and challenging pursuit. I get a great kick out of offering support or insight and seeing how a founder accelerates their journey.

How are our Incubator startups coping with COVID?
I am really proud of how all the startups have responded to the challenges of COVID-19. Isolation and limitations have really challenged everyone to think differently and plan new ways of solving customer problems in a time that is so uncertain. The startup community in the Incubator have shown great optimism and willingness to support each other.

What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done?
Fighting bushfires with the Rural Fire Service.

What were you like as a child?
I was an outdoor kid exploring the bush with my neighbourhood friends and only returning home when the streetlights came on.

What’s your guilty pleasure?
Dark chocolate and a glass of pinot noir.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned in the past five years?
Persistence pays – this is after 19 rounds of IVF finally resulting in my 3-year-old daughter Ella.

Anything exciting on your horizon?
I am excited about the program we are designing for Macquarie’s researchers. This bespoke and targeted program will be open to all researchers and HDR students at Macquarie. It aims to help researchers assess the opportunity their research has to deliver real word impact via the commercialisation pathway. The program will take researchers on a customer discovery and value proposition journey with a blended learning experience over multiple guided and one-on-one sessions.

Any misconceptions about the Incubator?
A common misconception is that the Incubator is only available to Macquarie students and staff. In fact, the Incubator is open to everyone regardless of their relationship with the University. In saying that though, about 70% of our startup founders are alumni.

Another misconception is that the Incubator is only for highly technically focused businesses. Whilst we do have some deep tech startups, most are leveraging existing technology to scale their business idea, not inventing new ones.

Entrepreneurs and innovators are predominately separate groups of people. We define innovators as the inventors of new technology; so, they are more likely to be researchers. Whereas entrepreneurs are highly skilled at leveraging that innovation for business purposes or for disrupting other industries with novel use of new inventions.

How can we find out more about what you’re doing?
Register for the Incubator’s newsletter to stay up-to-date with upcoming opportunities and events. We’ve also opened applications for a mid-year intake for our resident member program.

Textile waste is fast becoming one of the planet’s most pressing environmental challenges, but one innovative Macquarie University Incubator resident is offering a solution with ethically and sustainably produced schoolwear.

“Hundreds of tonnes of non-wearable school uniforms go to landfill each year,” explains Sustainable Schoolwear founder Anne Thompson.

“If all 3.9 million Australian students throw away one polo shirt in each of their 13 school years, it will generate over 8619 tonnes of waste.

“But, if made from good recycled polyester, school shirts can be upcycled into new products such as furniture, acoustic tiles or new polyester fibre.”

Sustainable Schoolwear offers a growing range of school uniform basics, including a quick-dry polo shirt made from 100 per cent recycled plastic bottles – keeping plastics out of our oceans and landfill, and reducing fossil fuels used in polyester production.

When Anne first made her commitment to create school uniforms containing a 50/50 blend of organic cotton and recycled polyester, she encountered a steep learning curve. Not only had she never made anything in her life, she had to rapidly grow her knowledge of textiles, sustainability, manufacturing and business.

She painstakingly grew the business from three to 25 schools in around 18 months, before a crucial pivot point in January 2019 – joining the Macquarie University Incubator.

“We went from working out of storage units to presenting a professional business to the world,” Anne recalls. “The Incubator’s pitching and mentoring programs were crucial in refining our messages and focusing our efforts, which helped us win the 2019 AMP Tomorrow Fund Grant to launch our pilot program to upcycle old uniforms into new items.”

“From this pilot will come Worn Up, our charity initiative centred on harnessing the resources in non-wearable textiles to create not just new clothing, but other objects such as moulded plastic school desks. The possibilities are endless.”

Anne’s is one of the few pilot projects chosen to take part in the NSW Government’s Circular Economy Innovation Network initiative and Anne is excited by its potential to drive a genuine shift in consumption and manufacturing.

“We’re really going to be able to play around with the possibilities now, and work with partners that can really push the boundaries of sustainable manufacturing.

“Our vision is to achieve all this at a national level. We want to create something that’s fully circular, where kids can see that everything we use potentially has multiple purposes, and so they can feel optimistic about their future.” 

Applications are currently open for the Macquarie University Incubator’s resident program. 

(1) In a nutshell, my job is to…
Build a strong vibrant and engaged innovation ecosystem at Macquarie University.

(2) The question I hear most often in my work is…
Can you review my pitch deck?

(3) The thing I find most rewarding in my role is…
Seeing start-ups go on to successfully build scaling business and deliver impact by solving the “Big Problems”.

(4) This year I want to…
Continue to build Macquarie University’s entrepreneurial offerings for our students, researchers, and the wider community who are interested in innovation, impact, disruption and change.

(5) The bravest thing I’ve done is…
I’m not sure it was brave, but was definitely terrifying: Went flying in a four-seater plane with my friend’s newly acquired boyfriend who thought it was funny to cut the engine while in flight and kick start it again – after doing this three times, we eventually landed safely at the airport. Needless to say, I never flew again with that lunatic!

(6) A place that’s special to me is…
The beach and anywhere where there is water. I’m a lifesaver’s daughter so I spent all my childhood summers at the beach and in the water.

(7) My mother/father always told me…
Be kind, be brave and always give your guests a meal to remember.

(8) My guilty pleasure is…
Oysters.

(9) My hidden talent is…
Playing the clarinet and violin.

(10) A moment I’ll always remember is…
The birth of my children.

Discover what’s on at the Macquarie University Incubator.

Running for almost a decade, Tech23 is a community-focused event which helps startups make connections with investors, mentors, customers and more.

This year, Tech23 startups were vying not only for cash prizes but trips to the U.S., China and Landing Pads in Israel and Germany.

Modular Photonics was awarded the Austrade Going Global Award which includes an eight-day international trip hosted by the Australian Landing Pads at Betahaus Berlin and SOSA Tel Aviv, with flights and accommodation thanks to Tech23.

“Participation in these Landing Pads will help us refine our business model, investment and marketing strategies and hone our understanding of the European IT ecosystem,” said Professor Michael Withford, CEO Modular Photonics (pictured below).

“The award will also help consolidate our relationship with Austrade. Indeed, Modular Photonics has been meeting with many Austrade representatives in different portfolios as it establishes an international presence in end-of-fibre hardware solutions.”

Some of the Tech23 startups also nabbed meetings with influential members of Australia’s tech ecosystem with Pedestal scoring a lunch with Dror Ben Naim, CEO of Smart Sparrow.

Modular Photonics

Helping the Internet to grow

Modular Photonics, a spin-out from the laser and photonics research group at Macquarie University, is manufacturing a series of glass chip micro devices that significantly and cost-effectively increase data transmission rates and ranges, across multi-building campuses. The devices can achieve 100 times increase in data transfer speeds over 10 times the distance, at approximately one-tenth the cost of current fibre upgrade options.

Pedestal

Web learning platform for 3D objects

Pedestal exists to improve online education in object-based disciplines. Pedestal does this by making it easy for teachers and students to use 3D representations of objects online. Our 3D media platform helps educators improve and enhance object-based learning by reducing issues of access and limited handling and adding advanced tools for analysis through a simple web interface.

Check out our recent Spotlight on… Pedestal.

Founded by the Duke in 2014, Pitch@Palace has given some 400 tech entrepreneurs the kick start they need, exposing them to some of the most powerful CEOs, influencers, mentors and business partners and as a result, supporting their growth and connection onto the global stage.

This is the first time Pitch@Palace has come to Australia, with events being held by RMIT University, Bond University, and culminating at Macquarie.

The Macquarie University Incubator played host to the launch of the event, an appropriate venue given its purpose design to nurture, equip and accommodate budding entrepreneurs as they grow a business idea or social venture into a successful start-up.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Skills and Small Business, John Barilaro, said the NSW Government funded the Incubator’s construction under its Boosting Business Innovation Program.

“Today’s launch of the Macquarie University Incubator will provide a fantastic base for students, researchers and staff to work with local small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

“Prior to entering parliament, I ran a family business for 20 years so can fully appreciate the positive difference that the university’s considerable knowledge and resources will make for small business owners.”

John Shi-Nash, Director, Incubation and Entrepreneurship explained the Incubator’s mission is to create a globally-recognised program that enables entrepreneurs to innovate, build and implement impactful solutions to the world’s problems.

“You might think this sounds quite ambitious, but we believe together we can make this a reality,” he said.

“Back in 2016, we realised that there was an under-tapped demand for incubation facilities on campus. Students and researchers were beginning to ask for support in starting businesses and finding out about entrepreneurship as a potential career path. There were also several student groups like MQES (Macquarie Entrepreneurship Society) starting to emerge. The Executive Group decided that a bold plan was needed and committed funding to building an Incubator and associated support programs.”

The Incubator also has a program of exciting and interesting events which run in the late afternoons and the team would like to invite you to come along and find out more.

To see what is going on and to take part, please visit the webpage and click on the events or sign up now link