Startup Smarts: universities and the startup economy <\/em>confirms that universities and their graduates are the driving force in Australia\u2019s startup economy.<\/p>\nIt tells us that four in five startup founders in this country are university graduates. Many startups, too, have been nurtured into existence by a university incubator, accelerator, mentoring scheme or entrepreneurship course.<\/p>\n
There are more than 100 of these programs dispersed widely across the country, with many on regional campuses.<\/p>\n
They provide support, physical space and direct access to the latest research. They help to grow great Australian ideas into great Australian businesses.<\/p>\n
This report confirms just how important the constant evolution, renewal and refining of course offerings at universities is.<\/p>\n
We need to ensure that our programs equip our students and graduates for an uncertain future.<\/p>\n
By the time today\u2019s kindergarten students finish high school and are considering university study, startups will have created over half-a-million new jobs across the country.<\/p>\n
And this new sector of the economy \u2013 a sector indivisible from our universities \u2013 raised $568 million in 2016; 73% more than the previous year.<\/p>\n
By the very nature of the reach of our universities, the benefits are not confined to our cities.<\/p>\n
We play a vital role to help regional Australians and farmers stake their claim in the startup economy too. The idea of the \u201csilicon paddock”\u2019 \u2013 using technology to take farm-based businesses to the markets of the world \u2013 is no longer a concept. It\u2019s a reality.<\/p>\n
Technology enables our regional entrepreneurs to stay in our regions; building and running businesses, investing locally without the need for long commutes or city relocations. And this, too, is very important; making sure nobody is left behind.<\/p>\n
Extending knowledge beyond uni gates<\/h3>\n
Comprehending and overcoming the complex problems the world confronts, in my view, requires we defend the role of expertise and intellectual inquiry. That doesn\u2019t mean universities are the last word on knowledge. To a large extent, it means rethinking the way knowledge is conveyed beyond university gates.<\/p>\n
If universities don\u2019t turn their minds to this issue, others will. And their motivations may not always be altruistic.<\/p>\n
Take research, for instance. When the facts of a particular field of inquiry are under attack, the natural reaction among researchers might be to tighten-up their retort and hone the theoretical armory.<\/p>\n
It is right to be rigorous and methodical in research. But in the broader communication of our research \u2013 in the public dialogue beyond “the lab\u201d \u2013 I think universities have to guard against retreating to overly technical language that, perhaps inadvertently, sidelines all but a limited group of specialists<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t suggest that research can\u2019t benefit or even be improved via a researcher\u2019s consciousness of a particular, often very specific audience. Yet researchers who allow this consciousness to dominate the development of their work risk undermining their ability to tread new ground and challenge existing frontiers of knowledge.<\/p>\n
Only by crossing borders can we come to something new. How many researchers\u2019 discoveries have arisen from a subversion of discipline, practice or establishment?
Virtually all, I would suggest.<\/p>\n
Breaking down structural boundaries<\/h3>\n
Crossing borders also means we push other structural boundaries. Within universities, distinct discipline paradigms exist for good reason. They bring focus and in-depth intellectual lineage to a particular field.<\/p>\n
But, increasingly, the complex problems we set out to solve don\u2019t abide by the same boundaries. These questions demand expertise from many disciplines, working together and approaching the subject matter from different angles.<\/p>\n
That is why universities are constantly refining their research and teaching programs and, increasingly, diffusing the borders that kept many of them separate. This is good for universities. It is good for the country. And it is good for our students, many of whom find their way into public service or politics.<\/p>\n
These graduates bring a greater understanding of all facets of the complex questions they confront throughout their working lives.<\/p>\n
Interdisciplinarity is, I think, a powerful antidote against ideological intransigence and prejudice. Australian universities \u2013 particularly in their research \u2013 have a growing track-record in this regard.<\/p>\n
Many of our very best research institutes are characterised by a fusion of disciplines where, for example, sociologists, political scientists, spatial geographers, and economists collaborate on a common research objective.<\/p>\n
The work that emerges from this research is almost always compelling because it is multi-faceted. It extends itself beyond its constituent research community.<\/p>\n
Cross-disciplinarity has also expanded at the teaching level of our universities over the past few decades. But a constrained funding environment can provoke a reduction in options.<\/p>\n
We must, however, keep our viewfinder broad, because reductionism doesn\u2019t match the expansionist, multi-strand trends emerging in the broader economy. It\u2019s a disconnect.<\/p>\n
As universities, as a society, we must be mindful of how important it is to ask questions, to follow our curiosity, to challenge boundaries and to never rest with the answers.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Read the full speech here.<\/em><\/p>\nBarney Glover is Vice Chancellor of Western Sydney University. <\/em><\/p>\nThis article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.<\/em><\/p>\nFollow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter, LinkedIn and iTunes. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is an edited extract from a speech made by Vice Chancellor Barney Glover at the National Press Club on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,11,22,6,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46244"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}