SOUTHSTART, Australia’s leading impact and innovation festival, in partnership with the University of Adelaide’s ThincLab & Future Anything held an event for schools on Tuesday 7 March. The Walford Stage 2 Business Innovation class attended the event and immersed themselves in entrepreneurial thinking and doing.
It was an epic experience for the students as they were able to hear from Chief Student Entrepreneur (ThincLab) Sam Messina and the work he is doing with selling Ortomi robots to manage mental health issues. Sam’s inspirational keynote speech and Q&A was followed by small group sessions that engaged students in a design thinking challenge.
To ensure a thriving and sustainable future for our people and planet, we must play an active role in identifying and solving the challenges of today but where do we begin? Students had the opportunity to begin by diving into one of four challenges to brainstorm creative solutions. No idea was too wild, it was time to think big. Sessions were facilitated by social engagement teams from industry and students were split into mixed groups with other schools to broaden their perspectives.
The four challenges were:
- Future ready in a changing climate (SA Water)
- A burnout free future (Adelaide University)
- The smart home of the future (RAA)
- Re-imagine a new world (Youth Inc)
Afternoon masterclasses allowed the students to hone their entrepreneurial skills with the following options:
- Perfect your Pitch
- 7 ways to maximise your impact
- The future is yours: building your dream idea
- Building your future solver tool kit
We had a wonderful day of learning through challenge and action.
Enza Iammarone
Business Innovation Teacher
