Presenter: Cameron Turner
Organisation: Progel & UniQuest

Cameron has spent more than 20 years researching problems, developing solutions and executing innovation and commercialisation strategies to transform ideas into sustainable competitive advantage. He believes the world doesn’t need more ideas; it needs better execution of ideas that solve real problems, thus creating value. Entrepreneurship, business development, capital raising, public speaking and strategy – that’s what he’s good at.

Cameron has extensive experience working with retail chains and food, supplement, agricultural and pharmaceutical companies to commercialise a wide range of innovative new products, such as new drug formulations, health supplements, turf, cereal, and fruit varieties. He is also an inventor on two patent families. Cameron has founded four start-ups commercialising world-first innovations, including a biological herbicide and drought-proof brightly coloured flowering plants.

As the co-creator of probiotics industry game changer PERKii, Cameron led the way through its initial inception, development, branding and test marketing. As well as being Progel CEO, Cameron is  the Commercial Director – Food with UniQuest, the main commercialisation company of The University of Queensland.

TOPIC

DISRUPTION is the defining business term of this decade.

In 1958, corporations could expect to last 60 years on the S&P 500 index. But by 1980, average tenure had shrunk to ~ 25 years. And by 2012, that figure had sunk to just 18 years.

The inability to create and manage innovation and disruption is a primary reason for corporate lifespan decline…as Kodak and Nokia discovered.

Large companies become more risk adverse and less agile as they mature. Innovative fast moving consumer good (FMCG) companies are disrupting established markets with nimble business models for their new products. This paradigm shift presents an exciting opportunity for bold innovators to take their disruptive products to market, gaining significant rewards if their execution is successful.

In this webinar, Cameron will discuss his experience with taking a University of Queensland technology and turning it into a transformational probiotic drink and new spin-out company – PERKii. The PERKii shareholders, including investors UniSeed and Brisbane Angels, hope PERKii will disrupt the global beverage market, rewarding the risk takers in the process.