B-HERT Membership

Membership of B-HERRT comprises Australian universities, corporations, professional associations and the major public research organisations (CSIRO and ANSTO).

B-HERT meets twice a year, and the Board meets three times a year. Members and member organisations can also participate through other B-HERT activities, such as conferences, working groups, seminars, surveys, etc.

B-HERT conducts its activities through working groups and active alliances with relevant domestic and international organisations. It publishes a regular newsletter (B-HERT NEWS), which reports on current issues and the organisation's activities.

B-HERT Activities

Over the past four years in B-HERT, we have continued to expand and enhance the range of our activities, and have introduced a number of initiatives to better address the needs of Members.

 2005

2003

2002

2001

2000

Ministerial Working Lunches - These lunches give B-HERT members exclusive access to senior policy makers, both in Government and Opposition, in an environment where the collective voice adds significant value to influencing opinion.  These are valuable opportunities for B-HERT members to argue issues of major concern. 

To date the following have been held/organised -

B-HERT Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Collaborative R&D, Outstanding Achievement in Collaboration in Education and Training & Best Entrepreneurial Educator

- Since these Awards were introduced they have attracted increasing support.  As Nick Minchin said in presenting the Awards in 1999, “One year as Industry Minister has impressed upon me the importance of close collaboration between business and higher education.  B-HERT is to be congratulated on its work to achieve that objective.”

Regional Engagement Forums - these forums bring together all stakeholders within a regional context.  Participants include the Minister for State Development, post-secondary education providers, industry leaders with regional operations, local government development agencies and community leaders.  B-HERT uses the forums to focus on the benefits that linkages between education providers and industry can have, as well as the ongoing needs of the regional communities, both social and economic. 

Forums organised and held:

Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) program – B-HERT is one of the founding partners in this program. In essence SIFE’s mission is “To provide university students the best opportunity to make a difference and to develop leadership, teamwork and communication skills through learning, practicing and teaching the principles of enterprise and innovation in a market economy”.

This highly successful program operates in over 500 universities globally and involves some 2000 faculty advisers and 25,000 students, and has the support of over 200 major corporations in the US.

In Australia the program operates with the support of B-HERT, the Australian Chamber of Commerce, the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Retailers Association, Woolworths, Arthur Andersen, Qantas, KPMG and a growing number of businesses.

In a nutshell, SIFE involves students from a university conducting projects in the community which will assist in promoting economic understanding.  Students may then enter their project in a national competition which is judged by invited CEOs.  At this competition we might hold a major careers fair.  The winning team then competes in the international competition in the United States or Europe.

Distinguished Speaker Series - Continues to draw strong support from leaders in the wider community and provides useful networking opportunities.  Previous Speakers have included Professor Sir Gustav Nossal, Professor Bryan Gould (Vice-Chancellor of the University of Waikato, New Zealand, who was almost Britain’s P.M. - defeated in 1992 for Labour Party leadership), Professor Peter Doherty (Nobel Laureate and Australian of the Year in 1997), Dr Raymond Ch’ien (an eminent business leader from China), Her Excellency Mrs Genta Hawkins Holmes (US Ambassador to Australia), the Most Reverend Dr George Pell (Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne), Mr Donald McDonald, Chairman of the ABC, the Hon Sir Alastair Goodlad, British High Commissioner, Dr Robert Dane, Managing Director and Founder, Solar Sailor, Air Commodore Greg Evans, who substituted, at the last moment for General Peter Cosgrove and Evan Thornley, Founder and Chairman, LookSmart International.

REPORT ON ENTREPRENEURIAL AUSTRALIA : FUTURE AUSTRALIA

What do we have to do to celebrate entrepreneurial endeavour the same way we celebrate sporting endeavour?

Entrepreneurial Australia : Future Australia, (held 30th & 31st May 2001 at the Park Hyatt in Melbourne), was a milestone event.  It brought together an outstanding collection of leaders, opinion makers, entrepreneurs, activists in government, education, research and business - all contributing in the discussions about how to build positive attitudes to entrepreneurship and support for a culture of creativity and innovation in Australian society.

In the past week, we have received many expressions of thanks and congratulations from delegates.  By all accounts, the Event achieved one of its primary purposes - establishing a community of leaders who are putting in place the changes needed for Australia to become a nation of Entrepreneurs.

The Event was successful in many other ways as well, attracting more than 150 participants as well as 45 panellists and guest speakers.  The diversity and geographic spread of delegates ensured a vibrant and stimulating environment for the sharing of experiences.  Presentations from panellists and guest speakers were all of an excellent standard and stimulated discussion during the many opportunities provided for networking.  

From responses to the feedback survey, everyone saw the networking opportunities as valuable while every second person claims to have identified future business opportunities.  And while these may have been secondary aims of the event, the most important result was everyone indicating their interest to participate in future activities!

Highlights of the event included;

• Dr Jim Fox from Vision Systems – giving his address live from London via a video conference hook-up.   His commitment to be part of the event was matched by his well thought out list of actions that we all need to pursue.
• The quality and variety of the panellists ensured each topic was well fleshed out, while the questions and comments from the audience demonstrated passion and understanding for the issues.
• Addresses by two ministers, Dr David Kemp (Federal) and John Brumby (Victorian), showed clear, bipartisan support from governments for entrepreneurship and the development of an entrepreneurial culture.
• Guest presentations from George Lewin, who recounted his own inspiring story of the successful commercialisation of an invention and his vision for a foundation to assist new inventors, and from Shell Australia’s, John Simpson, who outlined the Shell sponsored Livewire program.
• “Backing Australia’s Entrepreneurs” Gala Dinner – an entertaining and enjoyable evening hosted by Senator Nick Minchin, where a number of Australia’s young Entrepreneurial Hero’s were presented and celebrated.
• The mix of entertainment and activities to break up the days, add some excitement and stimulate networking opportunities.

The entire event was recorded on video so that everyone’s contribution could be captured and a comprehensive proceedings paper developed.  In this report, the many proposals for further action will be presented, including those that B-HERT can pursue.

If there was one criticism of the event, it was that so little media coverage was obtained.  While every effort was taken to introduce the media to the many issues being discussed, it was clear from reports this week that the One.Tel failure has provided the media with anti-entrepreneur material once again. 

However, this negative spin on very un-entrepreneurial businessmen can be turned into an advantage as it opens the door to argue the case that entrepreneurs are not “blind optimists” but in fact they are great evaluators of opportunity, superb planners, and excellent managers.  As Professor Hindle of the Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship wrote, “they are particularly good at risk management.  They use these skills to turn innovations into new businesses.  In fact none of these attributes apply to the One.Tel case. The business was not innovative.  It was clearly not well managed. Most importantly, management seems to have been more attracted by risk taking than risk management.”

The virtual community created by the Entrepreneurial Australia : Future Australia Event contains the leaders and enthusiasts needed to progress the outcomes and B-HERT is uniquely positioned to take on the role of facilitator to keep the momentum going.