Colin McLeod will be executive director of the Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre, which will be based at the Innovation Precinct when it opens in 2020.
University of Melbourne has promoted Colin McLeod (pictured), director of its Master of Entrepreneurship program, to lead the newly established Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre (MEC) as executive director.
MEC will act as the umbrella for Melbourne’s two startup accelerators, Melbourne Accelerator Program and Translating Research at Melbourne, in partnership with the university’s Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship.
All three entities will share offices at Melbourne’s Innovation Precinct when the facility opens in 2020.
Melbourne expects MEC to also oversee new initiatives and strategies that enhance the university’s commercialisation profile, capacity for entrepreneurship training and ability to engage with government or industry.
McLeod has directed the entrepreneurship master’s program at Melbourne Business School since 2012. He is reportedly involved with six local startups, including as board chairman for wifi systems manufacturer Encapto Wifi and scene-by-scene video indexing engine Seecue.
He is also director on the boards for customer data analytics provider Kepler Analytics and wearable injury recovery device manufacturer MyGolgi, as well as on the governance board of Monash College.
Under his leadership, McLeod said MEC will target more formal ties between academia and industry than earlier low-level collaborations.
MEC will position itself as an ecosystem for actively commercialising technologies, McLeod added, rather than by licensing them externally or leaving innovations dormant.
McLeod told local newspaper the Daily Telegraph that the consolidation would be beneficial in enticing entrepreneurs to remain in Australia rather than leaving for larger tech hubs such as Silicon Valley.
He said: “I do not think there is much doubt about the brain drain – there are an estimated 15,000 to 25,000 Australians in Silicon Valley. University of Melbourne is well known for its high-quality research output.
“The key to maintaining excellence in this area is honing in on commercialisation. MEC will have a long-term commitment to ensuring rigorous research is taken out and applied in the business world.”
– Image courtesy of University of Melbourne
