Palaszczuk Government backs mission to send regional women to London

The Palaszczuk Government is offering women who have founded startups in regional Queensland the opportunity to travel to London to experience one of the world’s innovation hotspots.

Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy Leeanne Enoch today (Tuesday) opened applications for four regionally-based women to participate in the Startup Catalyst Female Founders Mission to London from 26 November to 2 December 2017.

Ms Enoch said the women will join a delegation of Queensland founders, investors, and corporate and policy decision-makers.

“It will allow our Queensland entrepreneurs to immerse themselves in an environment where scaling an idea to a global marketplace happens every day,” Ms Enoch said.

“We are looking for regional female founders who are seeking to grow their international connections, learn from other female leaders from the Australian and London startup communities, and who want to understand the UK market.”

The four successful regional participants will each receive $5500 support from Advance Queensland to fund the Startup Catalyst mission fee.

This covers six nights’ accommodation, breakfasts, organised tours and meetings, including two hosted networking events and one mission dinner. Participants will need to pay for their return international flights, any domestic flights within Australia, and personal out-of-pocket expenses.

“The successful applicants will experience the pace and pressure of life in this global hotspot, and will connect with valuable international contacts,” Ms Enoch said.

“They will return to Queensland and be able to deliver bigger and better things.”

Startup Catalyst London mission leader and River City Labs CEO Peta Ellis said she was excited to be able to showcase some of Queensland’s best female founders, immerse them in the startup culture in London, and connect with similar groups in the UK.

“London is home to many entrepreneur groups and programs for women, and the response to us arriving in town in November has been overwhelming,” Ms Ellis said.

“There are many local UK founders, investors, accelerators and innovation hubs eager to meet our Australian cohort and have offered to do what they can to connect us into the ecosystem locally.

“I am looking forward to seeing the personal transformation of the women we take. It's a huge culture shift and their companies will be much better off with a global thinking founder at the helm."

Applications close 27 September. For more information, visit advance.qld.gov.au/.

Advance Queensland is the Palaszczuk Government’s $420 million suite of initiatives to transform the state’s economy, create knowledge jobs of the future, and build Queensland’s reputation as a global innovation and investment destination.

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