In Canberra, a not-for-profit organisation is providing businesses and startups with an exclusive environment for innovation, no matter where their business is at.
According to Sharyn Smith, the Chief Operating Officer of the Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN), the city provides a wonderful environment for connection, creativity and innovation growth — being large enough to have a concentration of highly educated people developing their innovative businesses yet small enough to be nimble and able to adapt their businesses accordingly.
CBRIN enables strong collaboration and partnerships to create a culture that supports innovators and entrepreneurs to start and grow successful businesses. Its Foundation Members, made up of academic and research institutions, form the core of the governance and Board and help contribute financially to sustain its operations.
Entrepreneurs are not required to pay a fee to access the support from the network. As Smith explained to Women’s Agenda, they can tap in and out as they need to.
“They can work from our coworking space, apply for funding through the ACT Government’s funding program Innovation Connect (facilitated by CBRIN) or apply and be accepted into the accelerator program and have access to highly-experienced mentors and potentially secure funding.”
For Smith, the most important aspect of the network is its accessibility and inclusivity.
“We are an open, inclusive and safe organisation that provides the platform for innovators to take their ideas to the next level,” she said. “Some start out in their garage or bedroom on their own, come to an event or workshop we are running, discover a community of like-minded people and find their place among their peers.”
Members are offered multiple events during the year that are specific to their needs, including meetups of Female Founders, SME Breakfast and SME Accelerator, as well as masterclasses and activities delivered by Foundation Members.
The final Female Founder event of the year will take place on 12 November, amid other public events and celebrations it is planning. The Female Founders program meet every two months where women leaders gather to listen and learn from the experiences of others. Panel discussions are held, promoting open dialogue across a range of issues affecting female business-owners.
As a dedicated advocate for innovation and entrepreneurship with over 25 years of experience in both the public and private sectors, Smith said the network plays a key role in supporting entrepreneurs and building a culture of innovation in the nation’s capital.
“CBRIN has kept me motivated,” she said. “No day is ever the same – the people I meet are inspiring, their ideas are often so simple yet mind-blowing, and I love to follow them as they navigate the steps they need to take to get the outcomes they are driven to achieve. The CBRIN team is an amazing group of people – all bringing their incredible skillset to help the entrepreneurs we work with achieve their goals.”
As an initiative of the ACT Government to bring together the leading academic and research institutions in Canberra, CBRIN’s goals were simple — to establish an innovation network to promote collaborations within the city.
Smith explained that the network was an opportunity to bring together funding, people and skills to ensure the ACT economy could further diversify from reliance on the public sector.
Over the past decade, the team has grown to develop high-quality programs catering to innovators and entrepreneurs in Canberra, providing the tools for people to build and grow businesses.
Smith describes CBRIN as “the centre of gravity in the diversification of the Canberra economy.”
“We are not solely a public service town as is so commonly believed by those who don’t know us. Canberra is a clever, connected and creative city and this aligns with our mission. There are so many clever people who walk through our doors and we love working with them and helping them bring their ideas to life.”
A passionate leader of gender equality, Smith, drove initiatives such as the Female Founders program and has implemented the 50/50 gender pledge.
“This was important to me because there were many times that I attended things and saw the brilliance in the room yet it wasn’t being acknowledged,” she explained.
“Panels were made up of mostly men – who were experts in their fields – but who also acknowledged their female colleagues had so much to contribute to the conversation. It seemed like there was an assumption that the female wasn’t the leader or wasn’t capable of leading. We made the commitment a number of years ago that we would ensure that all our events and panels that we held had a minimum 50/50 split and we work hard to deliver on this.”
Smith said the organisation has worked hard to provide a welcoming, safe place for women.
“Over time, the number of women in the space has increased enormously. This has come about through targeted messaging and communication of the benefits of working in the space, but also organically through the recommendation of the women who are currently working in the space.”
“[The women] are incredibly supportive of each other and want to see each other succeed. At the first Female Founders event each year, we launch with a collective of female-led businesses who have the opportunity to display what they do and describe their businesses. They lift each other up, they meet, share and support other female-led businesses. The mentors and investors of Canberra are also key allies and advocates for them.”
Smith believes gender-equal workplaces are vital for innovation.
“When different perspectives and experiences come together, it improves creativity and allows workplaces to meet the needs of a diverse client base,” she said. “Having gender equality helps with increased employee satisfaction and retention, creates a more inclusive environment and is a smart business strategy.”