What to expect at GEC Melbourne 2023

In 2023, we come together as a global entrepreneur ecosystem in Melbourne to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) .

We returned in March 2022 from the last GEC in Riyadh with a clear strategy to engage the Australian ecosystem, develop the program, and build systems to ensure a lasting impact. We are on our way to realising the vision to transform entrepreneurship for the host city of Melbourne, for the Australian innovation ecosystem, for global ecosystems through international delegations, and for future GECs.

Below is an update and calls to action to help you prepare for your involvement.

Why the Global Entrepreneurship Congress and why now

The GEC is the only annual global conference dedicated to building capacity in entrepreneur ecosystems. The expected 4,000 delegates include anyone who is a participant in or a recipient of entrepreneur ecosystems, including entrepreneurs and innovators, investors, government policymakers, corporations and established businesses, researchers, incubators and accelerator managers, and support providers. The GEC is delivered by the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), a non-profit organisation operating programs in 200 countries aimed at making it easier for anyone, anywhere to start and scale a business.

The GEC could not come at a more opportune time. Daily news headlines forecast a year of economic, political, and social pressures. Even as innovation and entrepreneurship contribute to many of these challenges, it is only through collective innovation and entrepreneurial action that we can address these challenges in the long term.

This tension between short-term needs with longer-term ambitions is highlighted in the recent World Economic Forum Global Risks Report 2023 :

“The world's collective focus is being channelled into the 'survival' of today’s crises. Yet much-needed attention and resources are being diverted from newly emerging or rapidly accelerating risks" [and opportunities]

We added “accelerating opportunities” as risks and challenges are seen by entrepreneurs as opportunities for new solutions. We also know that lasting impact requires an ecosystem approach and collective impact for long-term outcomes.

The GEC meets the needs of the current challenges. As a delegate, you will be inspired, connect, and collaborate for both immediate value, and opportunities to address systemic issues for long-term outcomes.

Our focus for GEC23 Melbourne

Transform your World

As a global community, we are experiencing unprecedented change requiring significant collective response. Australia’s entrepreneur ecosystem has grown rapidly is now characterised by deep specialisation as we build collaboration and connectivity across the nation and globally. ?Melbourne is an ideal host for the GEC, with award-winning innovation policies, deep sector and technology specialisations, a thriving portfolio of incubators and investment options, and is rated as Australia’s most liveable city.

The theme for GEC 2023 is to Transform Your World.

We do this in three areas:

• Transformation through innovation and technology;
• Transformation in inclusivity and impact – ensuring entrepreneurship opportunities for all; and
• Transformation by building capacity in ecosystems now and in the future for a place-making focus.

This transformation is considered in four domains of Sector, Technology, Impact, and Function. We acknowledge that the entrepreneur ecosystem is made up of people passionate about addressing specific areas, while also supporting the interconnected nature of the challenges and opportunities.

Over the past nine months, we have engaged with over 500 leaders across over 20 focus areas. You can see below some of the questions and conversations that have emerged and are inspiring the program for GEC23 in Melbourne.

If you have ideas for session topics in these areas, please submit your ideas here: https://www.genglobal.org/gec/session-suggestions

SECTOR

• Food and Agriculture: How do we feed a growing population? How can entrepreneurs support agriculture’s response to climate change and farm productivity?
• Health and life sciences: How can entrepreneurs and innovation support living longer, better? What are the best approaches to transforming the medical sector?
• Creative industries: How can creative industries leverage new technologies? What is the role of creative industries in developing local entrepreneur ecosystems?
• Energy and Resources: What is the role of the energy sector in regional transition? How can innovation and entrepreneurship support the mining sector’s contribution to climate targets? What are the innovation and entrepreneur opportunities in renewable energy solutions?
• FinTech and Financial Services: What is the state of cryptocurrencies? What is the future of alternative banking and payment models?
• Space: How can we best launch every sector into the space industry? What is the role of the space agency in building the startup ecosystem? How can we leverage a global space ecosystem for local capability? How can space imaging be leveraged across sectors including food and agriculture and defence?
• Sports: What is the role of sports in connecting an entrepreneur ecosystem? How can sports technology transform athletes and everyone?

TECHNOLOGY

• How can advances in Artificial Intelligence be leveraged for business in the future? What will be displaced, replaced, and enhanced?
• What are the opportunities in Advanced Manufacturing to transform industries and national capability?
• What is the potential in Quantum Technologies, including in areas of communition, computing, and sensing?
• Why is Cyber Security critical for governments, corporations, and startups?
• What are Web 3.0 supply chain opportunities and regulatory implications?
• How can entrepreneurs support Smart City approaches to leverage technology for liveability and sustainability?

IMPACT

• Climate and decarbonisation: What are the policy levers to nurture decarbonisation startups? How are ClimateTech entrepreneurs helping realise carbon targets? ?
• Ecosystem development and placemaking: What are strategies for developing competitive rural entrepreneur ecosystems? What is the role of each actor in the ecosystem including government, corporates, incubators, and successful entrepreneurs? What are effective strategies at each lifecycle of ecosystem maturity? How do we ensure the sustainability of ecosystem support organisations and ecosystem leaders? What are emerging models of ecosystem building including collective impact and backbone structures?
• Education: How do we develop and equip the entrepreneurs of the future? How can we make effective long-term generation change through short-term interventions in schools through holistic community engagement?
• Inclusive entrepreneurship: How do we best build a global ecosystem to support social enterprise? How can the ecosystem support scalable, agile, and resilient small businesses in minority communities? How can migrants and refugees accelerate entrepreneur ecosystems? What is a bigger vision for gender equity in entrepreneur ecosystems? What is a system-wide approach to developing Indigenous entrepreneurs? ?How can the entrepreneur ecosystem be used as an engine for change for the sustainable development goals?
• Post-conflict and post-disaster sustainability: How can innovation and entrepreneurship support recovery from conflict and natural disasters? What is the role of entrepreneurship, technology, and innovation in building ecosystem and community resilience? Investing through conflict - How to build angel networks and risk capital in war-torn countries?

FUNCTION

• Government and Policy: How does government balance its role in responding to market gaps and leading future directions in entrepreneur ecosystems? What are effective policies for investment, incubation, talent, and entrepreneur attraction? How does government best align across levels of government and with industry and universities?
• Corporate: How can corporates best leverage the entrepreneur ecosystem to maximise R&D? How can corporates avoid ‘innovation theatre’? How can corporates engage with entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs to be ‘ambidextrous organisations’ – simultaneously exploiting assets and exploring new opportunities?
• Entrepreneur support organisations and Ecosystem builders: What are effective funding models for entrepreneur support organisations? What does a global standard for incubator impact assessment look like? What are opportunities for community ecosystem building roles to be professional and sustainable? How are incubators – accelerators, coworking spaces, innovation hubs – structured in metro cities versus rural communities?
• Investment and Risk Capital: How to ensure diversity of funders for founders based on founder gender, age, and nationality? What is the future of impact investment? How are angel syndications and crowdfunding impacting the future of entrepreneur ecosystems? How to ensure risk capital availability for early stage and scale in emerging and mature ecosystems?
• University and research: How to ensure entrepreneurial mindsets are embedded across university curriculum? How can we realise rapid and effective research development, translation, and commercialisation? How can the University play a leading and integrated role in place-making?

STARTUP STREAM

In parallel to the conversations above, there is a dedicated stream for startup founders. This includes opportunities to pitch aligned with the focus areas above, office hours to connect with investors and mentors, and master classes to connect with local entrepreneur support opportunities.

The startup stream will align with the overall programming. For example, in the main program, you can expect sessions such as opening supply chains for the space sector, navigating institutional procurement in sectors such as defence or health, and fostering equality and diversity in investment streams. Delegates can then join the startup sessions for pitches by startups that act as exemplars of these outcomes and opportunities to develop relationships leading to investment solving real challenges.

If you are a startup interested in pitching at the GEC, please register here: https://genaustralia.org/registration/

Practical challenge-led impact

The GEC 23 will feature a digital solution that allows delegates to engage in challenges aligned with each of the focus areas. This app will be in addition to the delegate event app and provide the opportunity to engage with like-minded leaders collaborating on shared projects beyond the GEC.

When attending a large event, we often rely on serendipitous collisions or attending sessions with delegates who have shared interests. This is part of the art and magic of events. We are looking to build on the natural random encounters with intentional connections around shared challenges and opportunities.

Challenges will be developed with delegates and sponsors leading up to the GEC. More information will be released towards the end of January 2023.

Connect with me if you are interested in knowing more about the Challenge-led applications.

Extend your stay with state-based excursions

The trip to Australia may be the first visit to Australia for many delegates. In addition to the amazing city of Melbourne, the rest of Australia has many unique features to offer for both tourism and innovation.

We are working across Australia’s states and territories to develop excursion packages before and after the GEC event in Melbourne so delegates can experience what Australia has to offer.

The excursions are being developed with three considerations in mind:

• Innovation Ecosystem Strengths: These excursions allow delegates to engage with each region’s unique innovation ecosystem strengths across industry sectors and areas of impact to attract delegates with shared interests for investment and collaboration.
• Tourism Assets and Cultural Experiences: The excursions will also introduce delegates to each region’s unique and diverse amazing tourism assets and cultural experiences. Delegates may want to dive in Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef, take in the views and kangaroos in the regions, visit landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House, Canberra’s Parliament, or Tasmania’s MONA (Museum of Old and New Art), relax in South Australia’s vineyards, soak in the surf of Western Australia, or immerse themselves in the oldest living culture on earth with Aboriginal experiences.
• Experts and Influence: The excursions also connect delegates with innovation experts and leaders of influence. The excursions provide a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the innovation and tourism assets of the region while also collaborating with like-minded individuals who share your passions and interests. ?

The excursions are designed so delegates can choose to visit multiple regions aligned to a particular impact area such as climate and energy or rural ecosystem building, or sector such as space, creative industries, or food and agriculture. Delegates will be connected with local innovation leaders to make the most of their time in the region and create lasting networks between their home countries and Australia.

More information on state excursions will be released shortly.

?What you should do next

If you are involved in the entrepreneur ecosystem in any way, the Melbourne GEC23 is an experience you will not want to miss.

Here are some next actions you can take:

• Register to attend at https://genaustralia.org/registration/ . Registration pricing will increase soon and you will not want to miss out.
• Sponsor a delegate. In addition to attending, consider sponsoring a registration for a startup founder to others who will benefit from the networking and contribute to outcomes.
• Build your delegations. Use the focus areas to build your delegations around sectors, areas of impact, technologies, and ecosystem functions. We can support you in connecting with their Australian counterparts in each of the focus areas.
• Submit your session topic. While the program is being created and refined, you have a short window to submit additional session topics. You can register your interest in topics here: https://www.genglobal.org/gec/session-suggestions \
• Partner with the GEC as a sponsor. The GEC provides a unique opportunity for global impact. Partnerships are available to sponsor challenge statements, host events, support focus areas, and guide the conversation for lasting impact. Find out more at https://genaustralia.org/sponsorship-opportunities/ .
• Stay up to date by registering at https://genaustralia.org/stay-updated/ .

Over the next several weeks we will be sharing more about each focus area through online forums with the GEN Australia Leads as we travel the road to the GEC.

I look forward to connecting and collaborating with you in Melbourne this year!