Fuelled by our life and death struggle to survive and thrive through the millennia, the ability to innovate may be humanity’s most defining quality. For good or ill it continues to drive our ongoing conquest and transformation of the world.
Now with ‘innovation’ the hottest buzz-word of industry, government and media, do we risk diminishing its power to remain a powerful context for discovery and the realm in which creative young minds and future problem solvers can be inspired?
This Shapeshifters reaffirms innovation as the embodiment of possibility, imagination, creativity, invention, experimentation, refinement and reinvention. Offering the views and insights and the inspiring work of some exceptional speakers, you’ll also learn how UTS is hatching and crafting the next innovators and partnering with industry to cement Sydney as an incubator for talent and enterprise innovation.
Paul Butterworth, Visual Effects Supervisor, Animal Logic
Animal Logic’s Paul Butterworth is one of Australia's leaders in visual effects with more than 20 years’ film industry experience that includes Iron Man 3, Thor¸ X-Men Origins,The Painted Veil and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Recently he was nominated for a BAFTA Best Visual Effects award and VES Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature award for Ridley Scott’s film Prometheus. Working at the heart of creativity and innovation, Paul shares his knowledge and wisdom often, speaking at conferences and festivals.
Mahya Poueinag PhD in Innovation, Faculty of Engineering and IT
Mahya Mirzaei is PhD candidate specialising in innovation. In 2012 she graduated with a Bachelor of Aeronautical Space Engineering with Honours from Sydney University and has since attracted many scholarships including the prestigious IBM Fellowship Award that honours exceptional PhD students interested in innovation. Mahya is passionate about mathematics and the owner of two startup businesses.
Annabel Vici & Jake Bayssari, Tomorrow’s Innovators
Bachelor of Medical Science and Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation student Annabel Vici has a performing arts background and interest in neuroscience, hoping in future to complete a PhD in neuropsychology in learning. She also hopes to remodel the education system to maximise every child’s potential. Bachelor of Communication and Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation student Jake Bayssari is a budding entrepreneur who operates a thriving performing arts school. As a volunteer he has worked with orphanages and schools in Peru and Thailand. Both Jake and Annabel have partnered on projects with VISA, Accenture, Google and ABC as part of their UTS studies.
MC and Forum Moderator: UTS Vice-Chancellor Professor Attila Brungs
Attila has had a distinguished career spanning academia and industry, including positons with McKinsey and CSIRO before joining UTS in 2009 as Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research. As Vice-Chancellor he is committed to consolidating UTS’ place as a leading, future-focused technology university with social justice central to all activities. Under his leadership UTS is continuing to reinvent traditional learning and producing graduates equipped for the jobs of the future. Attila is committed to fostering collaboration between academia, industry and government to ensure creativity, curiosity and innovation continue to thrive in Australia.