December sure is the festive season, with many cultures and religions celebrating in many different ways. We would like to wish the diverse EI Community #eilife a festive Christmas, a safe and peaceful holiday period.
As the year draws to a close, we wanted to take this opportunity to share how Eastern Innovation supported the Startup Ecosystem and the Monash Precinct throughout 2019.
We look forward to continuing to support you and our vibrant innovative community in 2020.
EI is currently home to 45 startup and support businesses. Throughout 2019 we welcomed OE Partners, Wingmate Avionics, deoblockchain, Beyond Recognition. SAP Tax, MotionAI, Rocket Seeder and Teemstone to the EI Tribe
During this time we also had a number of organisation grow up and leave EI – Aurora Creative, AlphaIT, Tatvasoft, PiSquared Aerial, Beyond Recognition and ClubOperations. We welcome them to the EI Alumni.
Over 290 new members joined the EI community through space.eibc.net.au
We launched the 6for6 EIBC Pitch Night to continue to attract amazing ventures. Our inaugural pitch night held in January was won by deoblockchain and the July competition winner was MotionAI.
We are hosting 6for6 EIBC Pitch Night again in February and July 2020, if you or someone you know is ready to take their future focused venture to the next level, register today for February pitch night.
EI’s Level Up Program has now been running for 3 months. We have had over 20 businesses begin their mentoring with Vlad, one of our Level Up mentors. Vlad and our other mentors have been helping the participating businesses plan and get ready for their next growth stage.
To get involved in the Level Up program, register your interest today!
Participant or Mentor The Level Up Lunch & Learn sessions return in February, check out the topics.
EI hosted 30 free events with close to 800 registrants. These events ranged from our monthly Eastern Vic Founders Meet Up, Level Up Lunch & Learn sessions, plus many specialist area events such as Export Grants, Intellectual Property, Cloud Accounting and many more.
In addition we supported 140 people by introducing them to the funding pathways available to Startups including ICOs, crowdfunding, angel investment and accelerators, through our program ‘Fund Your Way’.
We also expertly helped 21 Fund Your Way workshop participants to identify international pathways and skills. The program provided mentoring of 15 FAVs as well.
Throughout the year we supported individuals and local businesses with 100 bookings for hot desks, meeting rooms and event spaces. We also recorded over 6000 visitors to the centre. We are continuing to build strong relationships with companies in the Monash Precinct and promote the state-of-the-art facilities we have on offer. Check out our spaces
Allira Cundy, EI Innovation Project Manager, worked throughout the year on the EI Building Refresh plan and we are currently in the tender process and expect construction to begin in February with the refresh complete by April 2020. This will provide EI with a dedicated event space in the Jesse Tait building, while providing new facilities for hot desks in the Tom Morrissey building.
The inaugural Monash Law Clinic launched in September 2019 providing the opportunity for Monash Law students to gain valuable experience working on real business legal issues while also providing 12 of the EI Tribe with advice.
EI partnered with Monash Council, Monash Tech School, Monash Libruary and Monash Gallery of Arts to deliver a pilot workshop series ‘Finding Purpose for Seniors’ which offered four workshops for individuals to identify or rediscover their purpose. Read Impactful Monash Workshops…”You saved my life!”
Celebrating the EI Tribe is important to us. We have featured the EI Tribe in our Business Spotlights and Expert Tips from our Service Providers in theheadsup videos throughout 2019. Subscribe to our YouTube channel where you can catch up on all of EI’s videos.
The Innovation Show hosted by Danielle Storey, EI CEO, interviewed Founders of Accelerating Venture to uncover the gold nuggets of startup life. Check out the collection online.
The second annual ‘China (Jinan) New Drivers International Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition’ was held in June this year. Danielle was Chief Judge for the Australian competition and she attended the finals as an International Judge held in China. The competition saw 21 Australian Finalists up against competitors from around the world. These opportunities provide great exposure for EI community on the world stage. See the highlights below.
EI is a golden space in the middle of the fabulous Monash National Employment and Innovation Cluster. We are proud to work with our supporters, clients and raving fans to remain your trusted partner in innovation. Thank you for your support.
Danielle Storey | CEO | Eastern Innovation
EI revisited it’s Mission, Vision and Strategy, which lead to a refining of the EI website.
Liz Small, our Marketing & Events Coordinator has worked tirelessly to pull together all of our marketing assets and consistently display our brand in the funky style you see here.
And that’s a wrap … EI the year that was!