The Australian Innovation Festival will celebrate its eighth anniversary in 2009. The Australian Innovation Festival was established in 2002 by Adair Communications to support and promote the best of Australian innovation and entrepreneurship. Since its conception the Australian Innovation Festival has increased in size and range with virtually every major town and city throughout Australia included; along with a global spread of supporting international business and educational councils and associations. The Festival is a not-for-profit initiative which aims to inspire a culture of innovation in all Australians, by reinforcing our rich, innovative history and an entrepreneurial spirit, which is comparable to the best in the world.
The overriding purpose of establishing the Australian Innovation Festival was to showcase and promote these innovative and entrepreneurial abilities through an emphasis on the three pillars of future economic growth – excellence in research, development and commercialisation. The Festival has been successful in promoting these abilities with the 2008 Festival featuring over 600 events, 400,000 participants and included every major Australian industry from finance and biotechnology to tourism and the creative arts.
The Festival aims to deliver the most innovative and creative work by independent event holders to the wider Australian audience. The Festival is comprised of hundreds of events ranging from seminars, exhibitions, trade fairs and workshops to increase public awareness of the importanceof sustaining a culture of innovation in Australia. In turn this is responsible for helping to build Australia’s reputation as a centre of innovation and new ideas.
The Festival focuses on several main target markets – business and corporate including small to middle enterprises operators (SMEs), innovators and entrepreneurs and educational and research institutions. However, everyone from CEOs to primary students participate in the celebration of innovation.
The Festival is increasingly recognised as the major national platform to celebrate, promote and enhance the value of Australia’s innovation and entreprenuerial endeavours. It has become an essential part of our nation’s economic, social and cultural fabric. The federal and state governments highly regard and support the Festival.
“Clusters of Innovation” will be the theme for the 2009 Australian Innovation Festival. Industry reports consistently demonstrate that the more entrepreneurial a company, the higher the growth orientation and performance. It is for this reason, amongst others, that the 2009 Festival has again been themed, “clusters of innovation”.
This theme will focus on the importance of connecting innovation with future growth opportunities. The 2009 Festival will encourage increased industry networking within these innovative clusters around the country. Innovation Clusters across Australia are also being showcased in order to demonstrate the influence geographical hubs have on the location of skills accumulated across these centres of excellence.
The other major focus of the 2009 Festival will be on the Four C’s of Innovation – creativity, connections, collaboration and commercialisation. Through the Four C’s of Innovation, the Festival aims to profile Australia’s intellectual capital and innovative creativity, facilitate networking between innovators and investors, collaborate nationally and with each Australian state & territory and reinforce the innovation and entrepreneurial process, from idea to market.
2008 Innovation Festival
The Festival continues to be the largest event of its kind in the country. This year's edition had over 580 events in all states and territories and was attended by more than 330,000 people... click here for the final Festival report.
2007 Innovation Festival
With more than 780 registered events and over 400,000 attendees, this year's Festival engaged the private sector more than ever and gathered support from 150 national Industry / Educational associations and Government agencies...final report (pdf)