Finding direction to navigate disruptions, empowering entrepreneurial culture, and building on sustainability measures within organisations are key themes to this year’s new education sessions jointly presented by MIT Sloan School of Management (MIT Sloan) and QUT Business School.
The Future Enterprise, three-part free series starting October 19, convenes world-renowned experts in business, leadership, transformation, and entrepreneurship to shape future focussed organisations.
There are fears the global economy is facing era of recession, as downturns in economic activity in many countries are recorded amid rising inflationary pressures.
Leading MIT Sloan Professor Bill Aulet (pictured centre below) and QUT’s Pro Vice-Chancellor Entrepreneurship Professor Rowena Barrett are leading a seminar on how corporations can manage future risks while also inspiring workers.
Professor Barrett said the impact of skills shortages meant managers had to harness existing talent to encourage innovation within organisations.
“Budgets are tight, talent is in short supply, and adapting to change means a growth attitude and entrepreneurial mindset is required for solving problems,” she said.
“The investment firms need to make is in mindset and capabilities. In this seminar we’ll help them understand how they can do this.”
Professor Aulet, who has previously worked with QUT and its successful MIT Bootcamps, said the current economic climate made it imperative for corporations to provide the conditions and the environment to enable and practice entrepreneurship.
“If we don’t do this, we’re in trouble,” he said. “Venture-backed start ups are the low hanging fruit, firms must embed entrepreneurial thinking and practices in their day to day activity.”
Professor Barrett (pictured left) said while last month’s Productivity Commission interim report highlighted adoption and adaptation as the norm in business only two per cent of Australian businesses produced “new to the world innovations” despite opportunities abounding in healthcare, clean energy, and sustainability to name a few.
She said the seminar series helped leaders understand how they can engage in innovation and did this by engaging experts from design, biology, economics, communications, entrepreneurship and indigenous backgrounds.
“Bringing multiple perspectives together with a diversity of voices is a strength for organisations,” she said. “We have been able to curate that at QUT for the benefit of others”.
MIT’s Associate Dean of Innovation and Inclusion at the MIT Sloan School of Management Professor Fiona Murray joins QUT’s School of Management Professor Robert Perrons to discuss the impact global head economic and political headwinds have on innovation in this digital age.
Leading MIT Sloan Professor Roberto Rigobon and QUT’s Director of Agriculture and Bioeconomy research Professor Sagadevan Mundree will provide business leaders with strategic insight on sustainable initiatives in the final instalment of the seminars.
MIT Sloan and QUT Business School entered a five-year strategic collaboration in 2019 focused on academic exchange, a unique innovation immersion program for QUT MBA and EMBA students, and enhancing QUT’s entrepreneurship program with access to MIT’s global entrepreneurial networks. The collaboration is directed by MIT Sloan Global Programs.
The relationship between the two institutions will be boosted with the MIT Martin Trust Centre Entrepreneur in Residence (EiR) Ben Soltoff and a team of MIT Executive MBA students arriving in Brisbane from October 24-29th, 2022.
They will undertake a “challenge” in collaboration with QUT’s MBA cohort to identify the commercialisation potential of a QUT Clean Energy research project that can be utilised in the delivery of the Brisbane 2032 "green" Olympic Games.
CONTACT: QUT MEDIA media@qut.edu.au
