Community bands together to raise the bar and profile of a significant sector

A record five new nominations to the Executive for the 2015 Knowledge Commercialisation Australasia (KCA) annual general meeting, showing strong support for the volunteer led association.

KCA is pleased to announce that on Friday 11 September 2015, the association welcomed a new Executive, led by a new Chair, Dr Alastair Hick.

“I am honoured to be elected chair of KCA and I am looking forward to working with the Executive and the broader KCA community to help take advantage of the opportunities and address the challenges facing our sector.  We are working in a time of great change, and with change comes the potential for great opportunity.  I am looking forward to being part of KCA’s next chapter, and aiding the community get good research out there being used,” says Alastair.

The newly elected Chair is also Director, Monash Innovation at Monash University.  With over 15 years’ experience in tech transfer, both here in Australia and in the UK, Alastair has considerable deal making and negotiating experience, with over 100 licences and multiple spin outs. A strong advocate of KCA since 2009, he previously led the professional development activities.  Internationally linked, he is a member of course review committee for the Association of Technology Transfer Professionals (ATTP), the global body for technology transfer, of which KCA is a founding member.

Alastair is preceded by Robert Chalmers, Managing Director of Adelaide Research & Innovation, who held the position for a three year term.

On the appointment of Alastair to Chair, Rob says, “It is wonderful to be leaving the association in great and capable hands.  Alastair is very knowledgeable about the state of the profession across multiple continents, and is acutely aware of the needs and challenges currently facing the sector.  He will be a good advocate for the both the profession locally and internationally.”

Recent appointments to the KCA Executive team also include;

• Dr Seth Jones, CEO, Swinburne Ventures Ltd and Director, Swinburne Knowledge, Swinburne University of Technology, and advocate for the needs of smaller technology transfer offices as well as passionate about developing the next generation professionals.
• Mr Chris Kelleher, CEO, Newcastle Innovation, and advocate for greater collaboration between research organisations and industry in regional communities
• Dr Dean Moss, CEO, UniQuest, advocate for raising the profile of the collective and celebrating the success of the sector
• Dr Fiona Nelms, Director, Technology Transfer Office, ANU, and advocate for enhancing the value of the sector to research organisations and industry alike

KCA has also welcomed Natalie Chapman, Managing Director, gemaker in a new Advisory position to the Executive, a reflection of the association’s desire to include industry and external stakeholder perspectives as part of the conversation.  Natalie is passionate about bringing Australian research to the global market, and wants to contribute to the long-term sustainability of KCA and the support that it provides that its members.

The new members of the Executive join association veteran, founding Chair of ATTP, and kingpin of metrics, CEO, UNSW Innovations Dr Kevin Cullen; industry engagement ambassador Director of Commercialisation at Curtin University Rohan McDougall; New Zealand connector CEO, WaikatoLink Duncan Mackintosh; and supporter of early-career professional development and, former commercialisation lead at CSIRO, Jan Bingley.

The executive team, with the support of the member base and Executive Officer Melissa Geue will drive the mission of KCA, known to be the peak body that unites professionals who translate public sector research into meaningful products and services provides significant economic, social and environmental returns to the global innovation ecosystem across Australasia.

KCA seeks to unite its member base and be a driving force in raising the bar of technology transfer in Australasia.