Welcome back to a brand new (5th) season of Startup West for 2023. And what a start – with Danelle Cross and Brodie McCulloch talking with the Minister for Innovation and the Digital Economy, Hon Stephen Dawson MLC.
Growing up in Ireland, the eldest of four children, he moved to Australia in his teens with his family, and became involved in student politics. His father was active in trade unions. Starting out as a drama teacher, Stephen Dawson became a Labor member of the upper house of Western Australian government in 2013 becoming a cabinet minister in 2017, and Innovation Minister in 2021.
Minister Dawson explains his hopes for the local innovation ecosystem, and what it needs now.
The ideas are here. The expertise is here now as well. We’re growing it locally and we’re bringing it in from overseas. But money, if we had more money here we could do so much more quicker.
Minister Stephen Dawson MLC
Part of that’s my role, and we’ll have some announcements over the next 12 months – hopefully the next budget will be good to us – but certainly working with people in Perth who have got money, convincing them how good an investment this will be, is important.
You can play the episode in the box below, or simply search for ‘Startup West‘ wherever you get your podcasts…
For more: https://www.wa.gov.au/nif
~
* OFFER from Dinner Twist for Startup West listeners in Perth: so you can focus on creating the next unicorn, let Dinner Twist worry about dinner. Here is $30 off your first box. Enter SW30 at the checkout. Go to www.dinnertwist.com.au to enjoy *
Startup West is recorded at Riff studios in beautiful downtown Perth, Western Australia; produced by Startup News, edited by Carmen Yee Kai Wen and brought to you thanks to support from Tekkon, Dinner Twist, RSM, the City of Perth, Spacecubed and Curtin University.
Startup West acknowledges the Whadjuk Nyoongar people, traditional owners of the lands and waters of Perth, where this podcast was recorded, and pays respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
~
