The University of Queensland (UQ) will welcome the new Minister for Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts, Ros Bates, at the official opening of new premises for innovative business incubator, ilab, at 3 pm on Monday, April 30.
The new offices at Long Pocket (near Indooroopilly) are part of ilab’s new era as an independent division of UQ’s main commercialisation company, UniQuest.
UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor Debbie Terry said that benefits of the move included enhanced education and funding opportunities for start-ups that were based on high-quality innovation and research.
“Two of Queensland’s best-known incubators are now working for the same cause – and optimising their resources for the benefit of business and the wider community,” Professor Terry said.
UniQuest Managing Director David Henderson said ilab would continue to provide a comprehensive range of services to help a wide range of new technology-driven enterprises, not only those based on UQ research.
“Business incubation is a valuable service that both ilab and UniQuest have provided to start-up ventures for many years, and there are significant benefits from bringing ilab under the UniQuest banner to support new Queensland businesses,” he said.
“Apart from the economies of scale with such overheads as administration costs, it means ilab and our Technology Commercialisation division will be working more closely, sharing contacts and expertise, for example.
“ilab will also introduce new networking, education and funding programs for supporting high-growth start-up companies, similar to a number of proven initiatives from around the world, as well as some new initiatives currently unavailable through other Australian business incubators and accelerators.”
ilab, supported by the Queensland Government, plans to welcome its first intake of incubatee companies at the new premises in June this year.
Media Contact: David Israel (07) 3365 4037, d.israel@uniquest.com.au;
Leanne Wyvill (07 3365 4037 0409 767 199 l.wyvill@uniquest.com.au
About ilab
ilab was established by the Queensland Government in 2000 to support early stage, high-tech companies through the first few years of development by building their business management capabilities, fostering mentor networks for start-up founders, creating investor ready companies, and graduating companies with increased chances of success. ilab has incubated over 100 start-up companies and helped them raise over million in grant and investment capital to fund their growth and generate nearly 400 technology jobs. UQ Holdings Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of The University of Queensland (UQ), acquired ilab in 2009. With continued funding from the State Government, ilab has become an independent division of another UQ Holdings subsidiary, UniQuest, with its own funding, staffing and management structure.
About UniQuest
Established by The University of Queensland in 1984, UniQuest is widely recognised as one of Australia’s largest and most successful university commercialisation groups, benchmarking in the top tier of technology transfer worldwide. From an intellectual property portfolio of 1500+ patents it has created over 70 companies, and since 2000 UniQuest and its start-ups have raised more than million to take university technologies to market. Annual sales of products using UQ technology and licensed by UniQuest are running at billion.
UniQuest now commercialises innovations developed at The University of Queensland and its commercialisation partner institutions: the University of Wollongong, University of Technology Sydney, James Cook University, University of Tasmania, Mater Medical Research Institute, and Queensland Health. UniQuest also provides access to an expansive and exclusive network of independent academics to tailor a consulting or project R&D solution to meet the diverse needs of industry and government, facilitating some 500 consulting, expert opinion, testing, and contract research services each year. UniQuest is also a leading Australasian provider of international development assistance recognised for excellence in technical leadership, management and research. Working with agencies such as AusAID, NZAID, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, UniQuest has developed and implemented more than 400 projects with 60+ countries throughout the Pacific, South-East Asia, the Indian sub-continent and Africa.
