About Australian Start-ups – Entrepreneurship
Australian Start-ups. We know that a government or a system cannot conjure up an entrepreneur, but they certainly set the condition and provide the ecosystem where an entrepreneur can unleash their talent for the greater business of the future. This is what the belief of Mark Cully, Australia’s Chief Economist[1]. He has emphasized more high growth start-ups in Australia. In the past, 5 years, it has added 1.4 million jobs in the economy. Academic experts have long been showing this trend in the literature that the interest in entrepreneurship has increased considerably across the globe in the last decade. A growing number of people take on a positive attitude towards entrepreneurship (Wennekers, 2006)[2]. This is also relevant to the organizational life cycle where it is a sequence of stages of growth and evolution which organization eventually may pass through (Jones, 2007)[3]. About start-ups what one needs to think is something truly different in the market that makes your customers ‘lives better’ (Baum 2004)[4]. This is where Mark Cully has also suggested that the entrepreneurs are at the heart of Australian economy in terms of employment growth and yet to date much of focus has been on the need to grow the economy through innovation, typically within larger firms[5].
Australian Start-ups
Broadly Australia lacked an entrepreneurship system, but speedily catching up with systematic approach in key areas. This is because it helps policy-makers think in systematic terms to support. It also encourages them to take a broad perspective when considering both individual – and country-level indicators of entrepreneurial action. While in 1990s Innovation has been the major focus area, the same could not meet the expectation of entrepreneurial aspiration. Thereby many developed economies such as the UK, USA, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and even China have introduced and developed a systemic approach to boost entrepreneurial initiatives as called start-ups initiatives. Such system links entrepreneurial attitudes, ability, and aspirations of the individuals, with the allocation of national resources. This is where Australia Government focusing its energy to build an ecosystem to provide a major boost to entrepreneurial initiatives via start-ups. The Federal Government has come out with such a system as the Entrepreneurs’ Programme; a flagship initiative for business competitiveness and productivity at the firm level. The program aims to provide support for businesses acceleration, data commercialisation, business research connection and business management.
Fig:1 – Potential Economic Contribution of Tech Start-up Sector
The Australian start-ups and its future have never looked much brighter when Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced $1.1 billion[7] innovation package with tax breaks for investment in start-ups. The Australian Government has been focusing on the legislative and legal framework for crowdfunding, other allied areas for making Australia as a major start-up powerhouse. This is going to provide a major impetus in making start-ups boom in Australia soon.
 About Australian Start-ups – Education and Ecosystems
The Chief Economist of Australia has argued[8] that the presence of research facilities and organisations in the region enhances the capability of innovative entrepreneurship and in turn start-ups. His report suggests that economic entrepreneurship activity has mostly been driven by knowledge-based initiatives or innovation. As per the recent study, it has been found that the Australian Universities offer over 550 subjects related to entrepreneurship and also offer more than 24 majors/minors at the undergraduate level. There are two universities which offer full-scale masters level degrees in entrepreneurship. On the other hand, there are 23 universities which also offer entrepreneurship subject or content in the master level. The same research has also pointed out that there are 135 entrepreneurship ecosystems around these entrepreneurship offerings. This kind of focus to grow talent and skill in an organic manner will bring in major robustness for a future environment in creating favourable climate for start-ups to flourish.
Fig:2 – How Start-ups Initiatives are Distributed in Australia
Despite such growth and focus around entrepreneurship in Australia, the research has suggested a major potential for further improvement in the environment to hasten the process pushing start-ups initiatives. This is where everyone in Australia is feeling much-needed comfort which can allow the potential entrepreneur to think around something to begin within a favourable system. To ensure momentum and stand up in the global competition, it is important to have international best practices, benchmarking and international collaboration for improving the threshold-learning outcomes in Australia which is being addressed at Governmental level with a sharper focus today.
 About Australian Start-ups – Where to Focus
Australia has a reputation as an educational destination within the international student communities. It is considered as the third largest international destination for international students after the US and UK. Thereby it is interesting to see that the Australian Government and System has started investing its energy into building the ecosystem for Start-ups through initiatives around the educational base and also through various degree courses and learnings. It is natural for the students who get exposed to an education of start-ups, they will be highly encouraged to give their entrepreneurial appetite an attempt for unleashing. As also argued by the Chief Scientist[10] that the Australian Government has identified high impact Australian Universities to promote and encourage entrepreneurship through start-ups. The same is being done through developing entrepreneurial environment and culture, by implementing various learning initiatives for start-ups and entrepreneurship.
Australian Start-ups. The most important issues are the collaboration between the various stakeholder of the educational system and the Governments which are working overtime to create a national agenda. Thus pursuing the common goal for flourishing start-ups, and entrepreneurship as one of the next BIG GROWTH areas. This has already been seen in case of major entrepreneurial nations such UK, USA, Germany and other OECD nations, that the national ecosystem and framework to encourage start-ups and entrepreneurship was the most important element for its success. The same is being done to develop a robust policy framework, funding support system and cultural tone in the economy and society. When Australia as a nation is committed to building its organic ecosystem for a start-up to encourage entrepreneurship, it is a matter of time where the country will make its mark soon as one of the most attractive destinations of start-ups and entrepreneurship in the world of tomorrow.
References:
[1] http://theconversation.com/to-deliver-more-high-growth-startups-australia-needs-an-entrepreneurship-system-51473.
[2] Wennekers, A.R.M. (2006). Entrepreneurship at country level, Economic and non-economic determinants, dissertation, ERIM, Rotterdam.
[3] Jones, G.R.,(2007). Organisational Theory, Design and Change., 5th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hal.
[4] Baum H. (2004). Leapfroggin R&D, Harvard Business Review, 82(10):30.
[5]Â http://theconversation.com/to-deliver-more-high-growth-startups-australia-needs-an-entrepreneurship-system-51473
[6] https://www.digitalpulse.pwc.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/PwC-Google-The-startup-economy-2013.pdf
[7] http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/startup/13-australian-startups-to-watch-in-2016-20160108-gm1ucq.html
[8] http://theconversation.com/to-deliver-more-high-growth-startups-australia-needs-an-entrepreneurship-system-51473
[9] https://www.digitalpulse.pwc.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/PwC-Google-The-startup-economy-2013.pdf
[10] http://theconversation.com/to-deliver-more-high-growth-startups-australia-needs-an-entrepreneurship-system-51473
Australian Start-ups -Thinking of starting a new business? Make sure you complete our comprehensive guide of Business Startup in Australia, find that inner entrepreneurship:
Part One - Business Startup Australia – Introduction Part Two - Business Startup Australia: Getting Help and Support Part Three - Business Startup Australia: Business Structure Part Four - Business Startup Australia: Business Plan Part Five - Business Startup Australia: Obtaining Finance Part Six - Business Startup Australia: Registering Your Business Part Seven - Business Startup Australia: Registering Business Name Part Eight - Business Startup Australia: Understanding Australian Taxes Part Nine - Business Startup Australia: Home-based Business Part Ten - Business Startup Australia: Online Business Part Eleven - Business Startup Australia: Employing People Part Twelve - Business Startup Australia: Workplace Health & Safety Part Thirteen - Business Startup Australia: Online Marketing Part Fourteen - Business Startup Australia: Securing Your Online Business Part Fifteen - Business Startup Australia: Importing
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