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About our facilitators and mentors

Woman speaking into microphoneOur program participants benefit from sound, real-world advice from people who have been there before.

We have partnered with leaders in Australia's entrepreneurial and innovation sectors to build a national network of expert mentors and facilitators to support delivery of our accelerator experiences and innovation programs. 

Alongside our mentors, we are supported by a network of skilled facilitators who run our programs, coach our teams and offer expert advice throughout our programs.

And no need to worry - they have all signed non-disclosure agreements, so your ideas are safe with us.

Become an innovation mentor

Do you have broad experience in the startup lifecycle, have a business development background or have experience within a deep tech industry sector? Are you looking for an opportunity to share your insights and passion with others who are developing their skills in this space?

We are always looking to add to our enthusiastic team of mentors. We seek people who are passionate about science, innovation, and entrepreneurship, and have the drive to deliver their passions to others.

We’re delivering a range of innovation programs that are designed to help Australian organisations and publicly funded researchers develop the skills they need to fast-track the impact of their technology and ideas.

What’s involved with being a mentor

Becoming a mentor in our innovation programs provides you with a unique networking opportunity. It’s a great way to connect with likeminded professionals with whom you can share insights and experience while participating in creating new knowledge, processes and innovations.

You’ll also have a front-row seat into some of the best and brightest ideas coming out of Australia’s publicly funded research institutes.  We do our best to match mentors with a team (or teams) that can benefit most from their skills and experience.

We ask that our mentors:

  • join the mentor briefing webinar at the start of the program
  • evaluate and provide feedback on submitted applications (typically five to 10 applications of two to three pages in length)
  • meet with your team for at least an hour per fortnight during the program face-to-face, online or by phone (~9 weeks for ON Prime. ON Accelerate will have additional time commitments.)
  • join us at the showcase presentations.

How you would support teams

We appreciate that our mentors volunteer their time to support teams and ask that mentors meet with their teams for at least one hour per fortnight. Of course, if you want to meet more often that’s entirely up to you.

To help get the most out of these sessions, mentors need to be willing to:

  • provide advice on industry connections and market trends
  • provide feedback on the value proposition, commercial readiness and alternative paths to market
  • provide the team and individuals constructive feedback on presentation, communication, and language
  • ask questions that expand, change or challenge the team's viewpoint and assumptions
  • help the team to design the work they need to do, to validate the value proposition and proof of market
  • share feedback on team progress with facilitators or CSIRO team members. 

If selected as a mentor, our team will provide program support and resources to help you to meet the expectations and needs of the team/s you are partnered with.

Your video or audio is here! ID: {45344074-3145-4853-8BEE-33173256BE27}

Administrative details

  • Mentoring roles are unpaid positions.
  • We will ask you to sign an agreement with CSIRO covering confidentiality and IP. 

How to register your interest

The first step to becoming an innovation mentor is to register your interest.

Have a question?

If you have questions about becoming an innovation mentor, please contact us on email on@csiro.au

To be the first to hear news about our innovation programs, subscribe to our mailing list.

About our facilitators and mentors

Our program participants benefit from sound, real-world advice from people who have been there before.

Our programs are supported by an extensive network of expert mentors and facilitators. ©  CSIRO, Karl Schwerdtfeger

We have partnered with leaders in Australia's entrepreneurial and innovation sectors to build a national network of expert mentors and facilitators to support delivery of our accelerator experiences and innovation programs. 

Alongside our mentors, we are supported by a network of skilled facilitators who run our programs, coach our teams and offer expert advice throughout our programs.

And no need to worry - they have all signed non-disclosure agreements, so your ideas are safe with us.

Become an innovation mentor

Do you have broad experience in the startup lifecycle, have a business development background or have experience within a deep tech industry sector? Are you looking for an opportunity to share your insights and passion with others who are developing their skills in this space?

We are always looking to add to our enthusiastic team of mentors. We seek people who are passionate about science, innovation, and entrepreneurship, and have the drive to deliver their passions to others.

We’re delivering a range of innovation programs that are designed to help Australian organisations and publicly funded researchers develop the skills they need to fast-track the impact of their technology and ideas.

What’s involved with being a mentor

Becoming a mentor in our innovation programs provides you with a unique networking opportunity. It’s a great way to connect with likeminded professionals with whom you can share insights and experience while participating in creating new knowledge, processes and innovations.

You’ll also have a front-row seat into some of the best and brightest ideas coming out of Australia’s publicly funded research institutes.  We do our best to match mentors with a team (or teams) that can benefit most from their skills and experience.

We ask that our mentors:

  • join the mentor briefing webinar at the start of the program
  • evaluate and provide feedback on submitted applications (typically five to 10 applications of two to three pages in length)
  • meet with your team for at least an hour per fortnight during the program face-to-face, online or by phone (~9 weeks for ON Prime. ON Accelerate will have additional time commitments.)
  • join us at the showcase presentations.

How you would support teams

We appreciate that our mentors volunteer their time to support teams and ask that mentors meet with their teams for at least one hour per fortnight. Of course, if you want to meet more often that’s entirely up to you.

To help get the most out of these sessions, mentors need to be willing to:

  • provide advice on industry connections and market trends
  • provide feedback on the value proposition, commercial readiness and alternative paths to market
  • provide the team and individuals constructive feedback on presentation, communication, and language
  • ask questions that expand, change or challenge the team's viewpoint and assumptions
  • help the team to design the work they need to do, to validate the value proposition and proof of market
  • share feedback on team progress with facilitators or CSIRO team members. 

If selected as a mentor, our team will provide program support and resources to help you to meet the expectations and needs of the team/s you are partnered with.

[Music plays and text appears in white on navy background: The ON Program brings togethers Australia’s researcher community to fuel the next generation of true innovation.]

 

[Image changes as previous text disappears to be replaced with text: Providing ON program participants with sound, real-world advice from people who have been there before.]

 

[Image changes as previous text disappears to be replaced with text: Hear from some of our participants and alumni directly on just some of the ways this community has had a positive impact on their research translation journey…]

 

[Image changes to a man with glasses in a long sleeved blue shirt standing in front of windows with a podium behind him and moves to a group of four people sitting at a table in discussion]

 

Speaker 1:  Can I just sneak in a big thank you to the facilitators, experts, mentors and coaches of the ON program.

[Image changes to a woman in a brown t-shirt standing in front of windows with a podium behind her and moves to a group of six people sitting at a table in discussion, a close up of someone in a group talking and then back to the woman]

Speaker2:  The time that the experts are putting into listening to our stories and then providing feedback and telling us, you know, giving us advice which is extremely valuable for us.

[Image changes to a man in a pink jacket and white shirt seated near some windows with plants in the background and moves through images of groups in discussion at tables in a meeting room, images of people standing and in discussion at a night event and back to the man]

Speaker 3:  Each week it was okay, you've gotten to this point. That's great. Now I want you to think about this next point. Get there. Those conversations became really instrumental in driving us forward and they still are.

[Image changes to a woman with short, curly hair in a striped top seated in a room that has plants on a stand in the corner, moves through images of people at tables in a meeting room and returns to the woman]

Speaker 4:  For us, it was having that concentration of experts that we could tap into at the right stage for what we needed, but can still do that today.

[Image changes to a woman with long curly hair wearing a black top and a grey jacket who is seated in a room with plants in the background, moves through images of people in discussion around tables, two people seated on stools in front of people in tiered seating  back to the woman]

Speaker 5:  As a team, you can think about and strategise, but there is nothing better than lived experience, was exclusively that conversation. And I think that is a quality that you definitely need in order to make a difference.

[Image changes to a man in a short sleeved blue shirt seated in front of a table and other seats, moves through images of a lady on stage doing a presentation, people at tables in discussion and back to the man]

SPEAKER S6:  It was a pleasant surprise for us. We had some idea about what we're getting ourselves into, but we didn't really realise the contributions of the mentor until we actually had one. And it has been very, very helpful.

[Image changes to a navy background with white text: Thank you to our wonderful network of supporters. Your contributions have been invaluable.]

[Image changes to navy background with blue text: Want to join our network of mentors and experts? Below is white text: csiro.au/ON]

ON Mentor, Expert and Facilitator Thank You video

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Administrative details

  • Mentoring roles are unpaid positions.
  • We will ask you to sign an agreement with CSIRO covering confidentiality and IP. 

How to register your interest

The first step to becoming an innovation mentor is to register your interest.

Have a question?

If you have questions about becoming an innovation mentor, please contact us on email on@csiro.au

To be the first to hear news about our innovation programs, subscribe to our mailing list.

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