Uniting Australia and China's brightest young entrepreneurial minds

UTS and UTS:INSEARCH today announced they will be joint partners in the China Australia Millennial Project (CAMP), leading its Entrepreneurship Thinktank.

CAMP is a new initiative to bring the brightest young minds from Australia and China together to tackle challenges common to both countries, including how to foster entrepreneurship and innovation.

Over coming weeks, a number of thinktanks, each bringing together delegates from both Australia and China, will work on individual challenges under the guidance of industry and academic mentors. This will culminate in a summit in Sydney for 100 Australian and 100 Chinese young people in June.

As a partner, UTS will guide the 10 participants in the Entrepreneurship Thinktank, tapping into the extensive resources and networks of UTS Business School.

"We are pleased to be able to support this new initiative, which reflects our own focus on innovation and entrepreneurship," says UTS Vice-Chancellor Attila Brungs. "CAMP challenges young people to think laterally and work together to solve problems, which is something we advocate through our curriculum and culture."

The Dean of UTS Business School, Professor Roy Green, says CAMP shares with the school a commitment to fostering "boundary-crossing skills" such as creative thinking and collaboration.

A number of UTS graduates are among those selected as delegates to the CAMP program, including UTS Business School alumnus Matthew Ho, who will join the Entrepreneurship Thinktank.

CAMP also aligns with UTS and UTS:INSEARCH's strong history of educational partnerships in China, including with Tsinghua University. In addition, UTS recently established the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI), whose Director, Professor Bob Carr, is patron of CAMP.

"We have been building bonds between China and Australia through education for many years, and this program is a natural continuation of that process," says UTS:INSEARCH Managing Director, Alex Murphy.

"Participants in CAMP will debate practical solutions to problems and communicate across cultures. As business links between Australia and China continue to expand, these skills and networks will be invaluable for participants and both countries."

Ten high-performing applicants have been selected for the UTS Entrepreneurship Thinktank, coming from diverse backgrounds such as finance, online retail, social innovation, risk management, technology and law.

UTS Business/Law graduate Matthew Ho will bring a history of entrepreneurship to the Thinktank, having developed businesses such as the Native Tongue language learning system and the Tapmint consultancy since graduating in 2003.

"I'm looking forward to making more connections in China and learning more about the nuances of its business culture and society," Mr Ho says.

The lead mentor for the UTS Entrepreneurial Thinktank is Stephen Rutter, Manager of Executive Programs at UTS Business School, who has worked with a number of global and growing businesses. He will manage a team of mentors made up of experienced entrepreneurs, innovation experts and industry executives, drawn from both Australia and China.