{"id":41394,"date":"2023-10-20T15:13:39","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:13:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/the-three-things-the-new-startupaus-ceo-wants-to-get-done-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:13:39","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:13:39","slug":"the-three-things-the-new-startupaus-ceo-wants-to-get-done-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/the-three-things-the-new-startupaus-ceo-wants-to-get-done-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"The three things the new StartupAUS CEO wants to get done – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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New StartupAUS CEO Alex McCauley says he wants to make startups part of the broader national conversation.<\/p>\n

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McCauley, a former diplomat, took over as CEO of the peak representative body on Wednesday from interim head Peter Bradd.<\/p>\n

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He says his main goals are to empower the startup sector with effective innovation policies and to drive a cultural change that would see Australians embrace its promise for the innovation economy.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s critical that Australians understand that startups and innovation policy are not separate from broader economic policy,\u201d McCauley tells StartupSmart<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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To do this, McCauley says governments need to work with startup communities, corporates and research bodies to build a unique system that leverages natural strengths and talent across the country.<\/p>\n

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\u201cGovernments can make a difference in this space,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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In places like Israel and Silicon Valley, McCauley says governments have been excellent players in cultivating strong ecosystems.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s about creating the right policy setting to allow startups and innovation to flourish,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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READ MORE: McCauley on what Australia can learn from Israel’s “secret sauce” for startups<\/p>\n

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StartupAUS  will focus on three key policy pillars, which they plan to feed into the election campaign.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIncrease the availability of talent for startups, make sure startups have access to capital and changing national culture to be more open to innovation and entrepreneurship,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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Boosting connectivity<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Following a three-year stint in Israel as an Australian diplomat, McCauley says connectivity is the biggest thing Australia\u2019s startup scene lacks in comparison to major ecosystems around the world.<\/p>\n

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Building the connection between corporates, governments, universities and startups will be one of his key focuses in leading StartupAus, he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cA lot of great research and ideas don\u2019t get commercialised,\u201d McCauley says.<\/p>\n

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To build this collaborative approach between industries, groups and entrepreneurs, McCauley says the group has already commenced partnership talks with various universities.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s an appetite in the academic community for more involvement in commercial activity,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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Instead of research being judged by the number of citations received, McCauley says it should be valued by commercial impact.<\/p>\n

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Changing culture<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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This will take a cultural shift, McCauley says.<\/p>\n

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He says this needs to be driven through acknowledgement of the impact of startups and innovation on Australia\u2019s economy including changes to employment and demand for new skills and training.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s a message for everybody,\u201d McCauley says.<\/p>\n

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He says Australia is on the brink of an exciting period due to an increasing consensus on the importance for economic innovation.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s a once in a generation opportunity where everyone in politics is on the same page,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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As a leading representative of the startup industry, McCauley wants to present a credible centralised voice to government so they can be confident they\u2019re acting in the best interests of the sector.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re developing innovation policies to take Australia to the next level to join the ranks of top startup ecosystems around the world,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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Rethinking R&D<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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To ensure Australia\u2019s startup sector is empowered with the right policy frameworks and supports, McCauley says one of his biggest goals is to increase the \u201cplurality of conversations\u201d that they take to government from startups, investors, universities and other key players in the field.<\/p>\n

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In line with this he wants government to \u201crethink\u201d research and development incentives by doubling funding for early-stage startups to encourage the building and testing of new ideas.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s about making sure we capture the vast opportunities that tech innovations are going to deliver, the new skills it will lead to and the jobs it will create,\u201d McCauley says.<\/p>\n

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Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> <\/em>Facebook<\/strong>,<\/em> <\/em>Twitter<\/strong>,<\/em> <\/em>LinkedIn<\/strong> <\/em>and<\/em> <\/em>SoundCloud<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New StartupAUS CEO Alex McCauley says he wants to make startups part of the broader national conversation.   McCauley, a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41394"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}