Executive

Chairman

Dr Andy Sierakowski completed his BSc and PhD at The University of Western Australia and carried out Post-Doctoral work in the UK and Switzerland. In 1980, he joined Kodak Australia in Melbourne as a Group Leader R&D. He has considerable experience in commercialising his and co-workers inventions, including intellectual property that has been either patented or kept as trade secrets. He has co-ordinated large technology transfer and commercialisation projects for Kodak on a worldwide basis and has extensive knowledge of product development processes.

Dr Sierakowski gained wide experience with Kodak working in manufacturing, technical marketing, and quality assurance in Australia, France, Asia and the US. From 1992 to 1997, he was Business Unit Manager of Kodak Professional with responsibility for Australia and New Zealand with a sales turnover in excess of $100 million. He has experience in setting up joint venture companies and acted as Executive Director of such companies.

In 1998, Dr Sierakowski returned to Perth as General Manager of Joyce Rural, an agrichemical company and a subsidiary of Joyce Corporation. This role encompassed R&D, sales and marketing, manufacturing, logistics and distribution functions.
In January 2001, he joined The University of Western Australia and heads up the Office of Industry and Innovation. He is also on the Board of two UWA spin-off companies.

Dr Andy Sierakowski
Director, Office of Industry & Innovation
The University of Western Australia
Tel: +61 8 6488 7048
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Vice Chair, Partnerships

Jan has more than 17 years of experience in the financial sector, including 11 years at the Sydney Futures Exchange, where she managed research and business analysis for market and product design projects, including that of a ‘carbon credit’ market. Prior to joining CSIRO, Jan was active in facilitating funding in Australia for technologies promoting green energy and coupling those projects with secured carbon credits.

Jan has been with CSIRO since 2003 and heads up CSIRO’s IP, Licensing and Technology Transfer team. The team provides commercialisation services to CSIRO’s research and capability groups. Included in the team is an innovative approach to engaging with SMEs through CSIRO’s SME Engagement Centre and CSIRO’s Australian Growth Partnership program which provides funding to SMEs so they can access innovation. Together with our researchers, we are focused on growing a diverse commercialisation revenue stream over time and maximising CSIRO’s impact for the benefit of Australia.

Jan’s team is responsible for originating and executing a number of transactions across a range of sectors including venture capital backed spin-out companies, licensing IP to industry in Australia and internationally and joint ventures with promising Australian SMEs, all of which form CSIRO’s IP revenues. CSIRO has 3,379 patents and 712 patent families as at 30 June 2010. Annual revenue from IP licensing activities as at 30 June 2010 was $46.7M, not including the proceeds from the wireless lan technologies settlements. The revenue arising from these settlements to October 2009 was approximately $205 million. Jan’s team manages the outcomes from commercialisation including CSIRO’s equity portfolio which consists of 24 companies ranging from early to mid stage companies that originated in Australia and as at 30 June 2010 was valued at $32.6M.

Jan has been a board member of number of CSIRO startup companies and is currently a board member of Commercialisation Australia. Jan holds a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) degree, is a Certified Practising Accountant (CPA), is a Member of the Australian Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (FAICD).

Ms Jan Bingley,
General Manager, IP and Licensing, CSIRO Operations
Tel: +61 2 9490 8208
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Vice Chair, Innovation

Rob Chalmers is Managing Director of Adelaide Research and Innovation Pty Ltd (the University of Adelaide's commercial development company). Rob has 2 decades of experience in the field of technology development and commercialisation in multiple roles across a broad range of fields – including Health, Agriculture and Defence. This has exposed him to a wealth of technical development in fields including: functional foods, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, structural biology, information security technology, sensors, communications, software (including expert/AI systems), as well as plant biotechnology, crop management, and the development of new plant varieties.

Rob's past roles include work with private and government law firms, specialising in IP and commercial transactional work relating to the development and commercialisation of new technology, for DSTO, CSIRO, Universities and companies. He has also worked within CSIRO in a mixed commercial and legal capacity, where he was part of a team awarded the 2005 CSIRO Medal for Business Excellence. In addition Rob has an academic background, having held a position with the University of Adelaide's Law School since 1999, where he was responsible for elective subjects on Intellectual Property and Technology Regulation

Mr Robert Chalmers
Managing Director, Adelaide Research & Innovation Pty Ltd
Tel: +61 8 8303 4337
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Vice Chair, Metrics

Kevin was appointed CEO of New South Innovations (NSi) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney in August 2011.  He is responsible for developing the UNSW model for knowledge exchange and commercialisation, with particular emphasis on supporting the translation of the university’s excellent research outputs into use by external partners. 

Kevin has a strong track record in developing the university/industry interface, with 16 years experience across the range of licensing, spin-out, company support and economic development.  He also brings to the role a detailed understanding of the “impact’ agenda and how to optimise the contribution of the university to delivering benefits to the economy and society.  Kevin was the architect of the Knowledge Transfer metrics and funding allocation models in Scotland and the UK and is recognised as a leading thinker in the field of academic technology transfer.   Most recently he has led the creation of an Easy Access IP consortium of universities, a radical new model to accelerate the transfer of IP into commercial use.

Kevin joined NSi from the University of Glasgow, where he was Director of Research & Enterprise from 2003.  His qualifications include a PhD in physical-organic chemistry from the University of Edinburgh.

Dr Kevin Cullen
CEO New South Innovations
University of New South Wales
Tel: +61 2 9385 6505
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Vice Chair, Professional Development

Alastair Hick is Director of Commercialisation in the Industry Engagement and Commercialisation group at Monash University. Following ten years as a research scientist in the UK he has spent ten years involved in commercialisation of technologies from Universities and Research Institutes around the world. He spent three years at Plant Bioscience Ltd, an independent technology transfer company managing technologies in plant and microbial science and then four years at Cambridge Enterprise at the University of Cambridge. There he was Head of Life Sciences, responsible for commercialisation of all technologies in the life and medical science areas.

Since arriving in Australia he has worked at Monash University where he has a played a key role in building the Industry Engagement and Commercialisation Group, as well as helping establish the $30M Trans Tasman Commercialisation Fund. He had considerable deal making and negotiating experience, and has lectured on aspects of technology transfer for Praxis in the UK. Dr Hick has a Bachelor of Science degree (Honours) in Chemistry with Biochemistry from the University of Southampton, a PhD in Chemical Ecology from the Open University and an MBA from the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge.

Dr Alastair Hick
Director Commercialisation, Industry Engagement and Commercialisation, Monash University
Tel: +61 3 9905 1655
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Vice Chair, New Zealand

Duncan Mackintosh is the Chief Executive of WaikatoLink Limited.  Duncan has initiated a number of key strategic initiatives while at WaikatoLink including the set-up of seed funds, an international internship programme and collaborations to facilitate commercialisation and increase the impact of innovation.  He has also founded or co-founded a number of new ventures based on University of Waikato IP.  He is the Founding Manager and Director of AngelLink, a national angel investment network backing New Zealand high growth technology ventures with an emphasis on life sciences, engineering and ICT.   Prior to WaikatoLink he held roles in commercialisation and technology incubator development and management.  Duncan graduated from Massey University in 1995 with a BVSc in Veterinary Science and worked as a veterinarian for seven years.

Duncan is currently the Vice Chair of Knowledge Commercialisation Australasia (KCA) and an Advisory Council Member for NZBIO.

Duncan Mackintosh
Chief Executive, WaikatoLink Limited
Tel: +64 7 858 5172
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Vice Chair, Marketing

Bruce has been actively involved in innovation, at a practical level, for some 15 years. He currently directs Swinburne Knowledge, Swinburne University of Technology’s commercialisation unit, and is also CEO of Swinburne Ventures Ltd.

Bruce is Chairman of INNOVIC, the Victorian Innovation Centre Limited, having been its Executive Director for nine years. This organisation evaluates new products and technologies, then plans and implements commercialisation strategies to optimise the likelihood of market place success. Previously Bruce was General Manager, Training and Innovation, for the Strategic Industry Research Foundation, developing and delivering innovative industry training, together with a range of consulting and related activities. He has had close links with Swinburne’s Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship for many years, providing sessional teaching input on innovation and creativity to Swinburne’s Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation program. Bruce also has extensive industry experience, holding a range of research, technical, operational and management positions.

Dr Bruce Whan
Director, Swinburne Knowledge, Swinburne University of Technology
Tel: +61 3 9214 5979
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