Two Indian entrepreneurs will tour Queensland as part of an initiative to boost trade and education links.
Innovation Minister Kate Jones announced the 2019 Queensland-India Innovators Experience while on a trade mission to India in late 2018.
Jones said the campaign to promote opportunities for Indian entrepreneurs to research, work and study in Queensland, had already reached more than 1.85 million people.
“Boosting our exchange of students is an important part of our strategy to strengthen our trade relationship with India,” she said.
“The Indian government has a series of strong targets when it comes to providing higher education for a greater per centage of their population.
“We’re making it crystal clear – we’re going to market Queensland aggressively in the subcontinent because we believe we’re in the perfect position to make the most of that growth – that’s exactly what this program is all about,” said Jones.
The 2019 Queensland-India Innovators’ Experience – a joint initiative between the Queensland Government’s Study Queensland and Advance Queensland agencies – will welcome two leading entrepreneurs to Queensland to promote the Sunshine State among entrepreneurs and students.
Zone Startups director Ajay Ramasubramania from Mumbai and Perfit 3D director Eobin George from Cochin will experience Queensland’s innovation and world class international education in April as part of the innovation festival QODE.
They will participate in QODE and visit key centres for innovation and education around the state – including the Precinct in Brisbane and the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct.
These entrepreneurs will share their experiences with local innovators at The Precinct, with international students across the state and prospective entrepreneurs and students back at home in India.
The 2019 Queensland-India Innovators competition used to select the two entrepreneurs was open to university graduate entrepreneurs, influencers or start-up founders.
“This competition was part of a campaign to educate Indian parents, agents and prospective international students on the opportunities that exist around studying and establishing a start-up in Queensland,” said Jones.
International education and training is Queensland’s fastest growing services export, worth $4.6 billion and supports 21,000 jobs.
There are more than 120,000 students studying across Queensland, with India the state’s second-largest source market for students.
Zone Startups has assisted over 230 Indian start-ups, including ‘empoWer’, which is Indian’s first technology accelerator, which has supported more than 56 female entrepreneurs.
Ramasubramaniam said at Zone Startups, the team works closely with tech entrepreneurs, and the digital innovation ecosystem within the industry at large.
“This program presents a great opportunity to establish strong bilateral ties within the start-up and innovation space, and I really look forward to meeting with a diverse set of stakeholders during my stay.”