With Australia's startup ecosystem valued at over $35 billion and climbing rapidly, we continue to see more and more young people passing up roles with traditional employers, instead opting to work in startups and high-growth ventures.
In 2022 we had the absolute pleasure of teaming up with Queensland's leading innovation hub, Advance Queensland's The Precinct to host two events for young people in schools across Brisbane to show them all the exciting career opportunities available to them in the startup space, and to get them exploring innovation hubs and coworking spaces as future focussed workplaces and hubs they can use to bring their ideas to life.
We kicked off term four with a full day 'Young Innovators Hackathon' that saw 20 students from a selection of schools across Brisbane coming together to develop innovative solutions to a challenge pitched by the Precinct team. Over the course of the day students heard from people working in and around the startup ecosystem as they interviewed building tenants, toured the space, and learnt about the exciting events, programs and startup assistance being offered in The Precinct. From there, students were provided with a client brief and broke into small startup teams, delegated roles, and worked with the BOP team in a design sprint to develop their solutions.
The day concluded with the Precinct team coming back to hear students pitch their solutions back to them with teams showcasing their market research, proposed proof of concepts, and even some tiktok videos created during the day! The Young Innovators Hackathon was a great success with brilliant feedback from attendees, the precinct team and building tenants involved in the program.
From there, we then came back to the Precinct towards the end of term four for the Entrepreneurial Innovators Day. This full-day event saw 80 students joining us from a number of schools across South East Queensland as they explored careers in the startup space beyond just being a founder. With keynote speakers and panel discussions from Clipchamp, the Queensland AI Hub, the Queensland XR Hub and River City Labs, students working out of vibrant co-working spaces and a pitch-off at the end of the day, it was a fabulous day enjoyed by all who attended. Over the course of the day, students had the opportunity to work in teams with students from other schools as they built their networks, they worked on a range of challenges to explore careers in the startup space, and heard from a broad range of people currently working in and around the startup space.
To find out more about how your organisation might be able to host a Hackathon or Young Innovators Day make sure to check out our Industry Engagements page or Contact Us to chat with our team!
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