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tralia’s economy to surge — would be immense.
Innovation skills enable businesses to develop new products and services, reinvent processes and systems using new technologies, collaborate more effectively and creatively, and better cater for both changing marketplaces and the changing needs of their customers.
Innovation skills are essential for businesses to grow and thrive into the next century.
Fortunately for Victoria’s second largest city, more than 35 established Geelong businesses have recently had the opportunity to see first-hand the impact that improving innovation skills can have on their growth and development.
These businesses participated in the Skilling the Bay’s Destination Entrepreneur program, designed and delivered by local innovation training firm G2 Innovation.
Skilling the Bay is an $11 million project funded by the Victorian Government and led by The Gordon. Skilling the Bay recognised the need to foster a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship as a means of generating new busi- ness opportunities in the Geelong economy and established Destination Entrepreneur to provide local business people and professionals with the next-level skills to support the future proofing and growth of their businesses.
During the 10-month program, participants were trained to use the same innovation techniques G2 Innovation uses with some of the world’s biggest brands. This included next level training in skills such as trendcasting, human-centred design and crowd-funding.
Participants were also motivated by business owners such as global entrepreneur Jo Burston from Rare Birds, business culture expert Tristan White and local designer Mike Beck from Fluid. The program is designed to be hands-on and dynamic, with ample opportunities for participants to apply the tools and knowledge to their own businesses.
The results of the program speak for themselves. In less than 12 months, 28 jobs have been created and a further 79 are predicted within the next 24 months. Also, 97 per cent of participants have reported increased innovation skills, knowledge and confidence, and 98 per cent have reported that their innovation activity has increased as a result of participating in the program.
Importantly, 65 per cent of participants believe their busi- ness to be now more innovative than their competitors.
These figures depict the importance of continuous learning and developing next-level skills within our city-region’s established businesses.
A focus on start-ups, innovation, entrepreneurs and scale-ups is a key recommendation from the Committee for Geelong’s Winning from Second report.
Our international research suggests innovation should be widely adopted to increase Geelong’s productivity and competitiveness and, by providing them with support, existing organisations should be encouraged to scale up.
The Committee for Geelong congratulates G2 Innovation and The Gordon’s Skilling the Bay Destination Entrepreneur program on their success, and urges other Geelong businesses and professionals to participate in innovation training.
These are the skills that will enable our city-region’s businesses and organisations to drive growth locally, nationally and internationally. Rebecca Casson is the Committee for Geelong CEO. Twitter @Comm4Geelong.