Council partners with UTS students to map entrepreneurial ecosystem

UTS students learn about doing business in Sydney's South

Council has partnered with the University of Technology (UTS) Sydney ANSTO, Regional Development Australia (RDA) Sydney and Southern Sydney councils, to map the Southern Sydney Innovation Ecosystem.

Students studying a Diploma in Innovation at UTS Sydney’s Faculty of Transdisciplinary Innovation were invited to take part in the project, which was integrated into their coursework. We spoke to student Connor Keogh about his experience, and what he learned about doing business in Sydney’s South.

“Performing analysis on key stakeholders of the ecosystems allowed us, as students, to grasp knowledge on the factors that affect businesses.

“This new-found knowledge would not have been accessible in other university classes prior for me and for others, and would just be conveyed as a concept.

“Here, we were able to see changes happening, not only to grasp the knowledge, but also to comprehend why these effects are coming into play. “We identified a large trend of individuals seeking higher employment outside of the local area and a similar trend with businesses that start off as small within the professional services line of work, and tend to seek larger office spaces within other districts as they grow.

“This could be addressed to make positive changes to other aspects of the communities. The group that I was in played around with the concept of a large hub, with enough space for many businesses to work.

“This space would also offer the opportunity to equip high school or university students with facilities and training programs that could enhance their development and provide internship opportunities local to and within the Georges River District.

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“I liked most the opportunity to communicate directly with councils acting as the clients for the research being completed, a life lesson that will unquestionably assist with engineering work in the future.”