Upper Hunter Shire Council, The Business Centre joining forces to launch innovation program, Start House Upper Hunter

UPPER Hunter Shire Council and The Business Centre (TBC) will join forces to launch an innovation program, Start House Upper Hunter, next month.

The unveiling – on Thursday, December 12 – at the newly-refurbished TAFE NSW Connected Leaning Centre is expected to see the unearthing of everyday people, business leaders and industry partners alike who are passionate about great ideas solving real problems in the region.

Start House has enjoyed success across Newcastle, Central Coast and parts of the Hunter, working with regionally disperse partners to deliver the program and connecting its local community.

TBC chief executive officer Steve Wait believes the best ideas have always come from the bush.

“It’s the magic that happens out in the back paddock and the tinkering in the shed that is what Australian innovation is known for across the world,” he said.

“We are very excited to see this program do what it does best – kick up the dust of innovation and create opportunities for knowledge sharing, big dreaming and lots of hard work.

“Participants and partners of the program have the opportunity to commercialise these ideas and create jobs, solutions from the region, for the region.”

They’ll have access to mentoring, applied business training and a network for start-ups and scale-ups.

The program also provides an ecosystem of support and a pathway to global opportunities.

Start House works with business hubs to distribute this program across NSW and beyond.

“It’s a unique model as it takes no equity from start-ups, it encourages entrepreneurs to stay in the regions and will, in fact, tempt city-based innovators to move out of the CBD to secure a better quality of life while still having full access to the innovation ecosystem,” Mr Wait said.

Start House is the brainchild of The Business Centre, a Newcastle-based not-for-profit.

They saw start-ups being discriminated against if they were regionally-based or if they were working full-time or had family commitments and therefore were not able to move to capital cities to build their business.

“Not every start-up has the stereotypical 20-something founder living in Sydney working in a cool office-space,” Mr Wait said.

“Founders come from all age groups, all backgrounds, all socioeconomic groups and all geographical locations.

“We felt the traditional incubator and accelerator models were discriminating against the vast majority of founders.

“Through the Start House program we are currently supporting 50 varied but globally scalable start-ups and scale-ups from the regions of Newcastle, Singleton, Maitland and the Central Coast while keeping them in those locations.

“The structure of this program allows us to accept applications from a diverse range of intenders and already existing companies and to support these innovators regardless of their background, experience of previous training.

“Start House will encourage innovators in the regions to stay where they are while allowing access to business mentoring, training, pitch practices and pitch nights that we will provide.”

For more information on Start House or any of the services offered at The Business Centre, phone 4925 7700 or send an email to [email protected]