Swinburne Knowledge

Entrepreneurship & Innovation Fund - Guidelines

A small pre-seed fund has been established to support and facilitate staff innovation and entrepreneurial activity. The Entrepreneurship & Innovation Fund facilitates financial support of suitable entrepreneurial/innovative opportunities put forward by staff. It also provides a mechanism for various parts of the university to invest, by offering consistent investment decision making and investment management processes. The Fund has been initiated by a generous contribution from the Human Resources Department.

The basic parameters of the Fund are:

It operates as an investment fund, and as such there is an expectation of either a return on investment (perhaps over a long time frame), or evidence that the fund can maintain ongoing re-investment. The fund encourages investment by schools or units of the University, with a view to paying dividends to them as investors.

Approved projects receive investment by the fund, not grants, the return should be projected in the application.

It is recognised that most investments will involve a degree of risk, and not all will succeed. A portfolio of projects will be selected to mitigate the risk for the fund as a whole.

Submissions to the fund for project investment will be in a consistent format. (Download Application Form above).

There is no specific restriction on project types, but the application should detail how, and by whom, the project will be managed, and significant milestones and outcomes.

Investment in projects is on a competitive basis, based on the investment panel’s assessment of the project’s viability, and its potential to earn return.

Single project investments will initially be limited to $10,000.

Submissions may be made at any time, to be considered by a meeting of the investment panel within one month.

Projects will be subject to regular review of expenditure versus projected outcomes. Review and overall project management will be by Swinburne Knowledge.

Investment decisions will be made by an investment panel, which shall comprise

Chair - Chair of Entrepreneurship Sub-Committee, or nominee

Director, Finance, or nominee

Director, Swinburne Knowledge

Head, or nominee, of area providing funds

Co-opted members with expertise in the area of specific submissions for support (e.g. Department Manager/Head of School).

Approval of investments from the fund will be subject to:

Money being used exclusively for the purposes described in the application

Where intellectual property is generated within a project, it will remain the property of the University, unless other specific project conditions apply (e.g. in the case of joint funding with a third party, where ownership will be decided on a case by case basis)

Where appropriate, net benefits (after providing the return on invested funds) will be shared using the University IP policy as a guide

If a new company results from an investment, the investment will generally be treated as equity. Notwithstanding, the agreed return on investment will still need to be generated.

Implementation Procedure

Download application form, complete, and send to Swinburne Knowledge at Mail H88. If you would like to discuss the concept first, please call Sandra Caine on 9214 5744 to arrange a time.

After initial screening, which may involve some iteration of the proposal, you will be asked to pitch to the investment panel.

You will be advised of the panel decision as soon as possible. Funds will be allocated to successful projects in line with the proposals, and feedback will be also as described in the proposal.

Brief reports will be required for completed projects to help fine-tune the approach. A series of lunchtime seminar presentations is planned to spread the word on achievements under this and other entrepreneurial initiatives.

B. M. Whan
Director, Swinburne Knowledge