Some of the best and brightest minds from across the globe can now (Friday 25 August) apply for spots at a prestigious bootcamp being held in Brisbane next year under the Palaszczuk Government’s Advance Queensland initiative.
Innovation Minister Leeanne Enoch said the MIT Bootcamp – to be held at QUT between 10-17 February – was “another great example of how we are attracting the global startup scene to Queensland”. MIT Bootcamps are an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“Attending International BIO 2017 in San Diego in June, the Premier and I announced the Bootcamp was coming back to Brisbane, and MIT Bootcamps has advised us that applications will open Friday night,” Ms Enoch said.
“The Bootcamp will help nurture our next generation of entrepreneurs and aligns with this government’s $420 million Advance Queensland initiative to collaborate and turn ideas into action.”
Ms Enoch said the Bootcamp will condense curriculum taught in several courses at MIT into an intensive, one-week learning experience.
“The week includes lectures by senior MIT lecturers focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship. The MIT Bootcamp will bring innovators from across the globe to focus on technology-enabled innovation in Queensland’s key sectors including agriculture, mining and environmental management,” she said.
QUT Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Commercialisation) Professor Arun Sharma said the Bootcamp’s return to Brisbane followed the highly successful MIT Global Entrepreneurship Bootcamp in March, which was attended by 120 participants from 35 countries.
“Four Brisbane women were in the two top teams to come up with breakthrough ideas during the March event, where participants were required to devise solutions to a major challenge, find customers, start a company and then present their work to an international panel of venture capitalists from Brisbane, San Francisco and Boston,” Professor Sharma said.
“To have the Bootcamp back in Queensland is a coup for QUT and the state – highlighting the great foundation work we built this year, and our collaboration with a leading university.”
MIT is ranked as the number one university in the world in the QS World University Rankings 2016-2017. According to the 2014 report Entrepreneurship and Innovation at MIT, MIT alumni have launched more than 30,000 active companies, creating 4.6 million jobs and generating US$1.9 trillion in annual revenue. The cumulative result is the equivalent of the 10th largest economy in the world.
QUT will offer three scholarships to Queenslanders to attend the Bootcamp including one specifically for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.
Ms Enoch said individuals or teams have until November 1 to apply for the MIT Innovation and Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, with successful participants to be announced in December.
Apply here: http://bootcamp.mit.edu/entrepreneurship/sustainability/
For more information visit http://advance.qld.gov.au/uni-researchers/mit-entrepreneurship-bootcamp.aspx
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