Presenter: Brian Ruddle
Organisation: Impact Innovation Group

With Queensland and federal government programs offering unprecedented funding opportunities for businesses to grow from innovation, why is it that some ideas seem to attract more money than others?

Brian Ruddle has participated on numerous assessment panels, helping government and private investors evaluate which proposals are likely to deliver the best outcomes for the funds available —commercially, economically and socially.

In this webinar, Brian will talk about the common reasons why proposals might be rejected—what’s missing, what’s not clear, what’s not detailed enough, and what’s just plain waffle. He’ll also suggest what you can do to ensure your next pitch for a grant or to an investor has a better chance of success.

Brian is the Managing Director of Impact Innovation Group (IIG), leading a team of specialist innovation and technology commercialisation practitioners based in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and China.

Since founding the company in 2006, Brian has developed innovation systems for all size enterprises, from SMEs to multinationals. Working closely with governance boards and senior managers, he helps derive value from innovation programs and commercialisation efforts, turning ideas into assets.

Brian draws on more than two decades of experience across Asia, Africa and the Pacific, where he managed projects in 15 countries in sectors such as health, education, mining, agriculture, finance, trade, and water. He is a regular speaker at innovation conferences in Australia and overseas.

He acts on behalf of large Australian and global companies as a technology scout, connecting them with universities and other research centres to commercialise new discoveries and gain a sharper competitive edge. He has helped form four start-up companies based on university technologies, which have raised between $450,000 and $2 million in seed rounds.
Brian also runs innovation programs for government agencies and advises not-for-profit organisations on innovation and commercialisation strategy. In his role as Project Director for Innovate Queensland, Brian oversees a Queensland Government-funded program of innovation, commercialisation and collaboration activities across Queensland.

As well as building IIG’s capabilities, Brian’s current executive and directorship roles include part-time CEO for the venture capital-backed Nexgen Plants Pty Ltd (commercialising a plant virus resistance technology); interim CEO for NeoRehab Pty Ltd (commercialising a telehealth software solution); Director of Enterprise Access Pty Ltd (a technology commercialisation and collaboration platform); and Advisory Board member for the Value Added Engineering Group and the Queensland Government-supported Engineering, Construction and Mining Innovation Hub.

Missed a webinar? You’ll find recordings of previous webinars on the Innovate Queensland YouTube channel.