Pathways to Science Entrepreneurship
If you are a deep tech innovator, come and learn about three unique pathways into science entrepreneurship from three successful founders.
As part of the Australian National Science Week, we’ll explore three entrepreneurship journeys from: a researcher who founded a business, a corporate leader who became a founder, and a serial entrepreneur. Deep dive into each unique pathway and learn the key defining lesson they've learnt throughout their journey to entrepreneurship.
Meet the panelists:
Alison Todd PhD FTSE, Chief Scientific Officer & Co-Founder of SpeeDx
Adj/Professor Alison Todd co-founded SpeeDx in 2009 and is its Chief Scientific Officer. She is an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering; and along with Dr Elisa Mokany, was the recipient of academy’s Clunies Ross Innovation Award in 2020 for “discovery, development, and adoption of a technology that has significantly improved societal or industry capabilities”.
Alison is a serial inventor with a portfolio of 18 patent families that comprises over 85 granted patents which protect SpeeDx ‘s IP including PlexZyme and PlexPrime. She is a pioneer in the field of personalised medicine, having pursued a career which has focused on developing and commercialising diagnostic tests for the tailoring and monitoring of therapy for patients with cancer or infectious diseases.
Peter Tomich, CEO of Sustinent
Peter, CEO of Sustinent, is a seasoned senior-level leader with hands-on experience in a range of global corporate environments. His proven track record in leading numerous critical high value programs and building successful consulting practices for almost 20 years has led him to the startup realm. His Accounting, Finance and IT background, combined with a very ‘growth-centric’ inclusive leadership style, brings clarity and focus to the Sustinent team.
Sustinent is a biotechnology ecosystem that partners with industry to transform and upcycle green waste into bio commodities and materials that can be used to manufacture consumables and goods. By unlocking the potential of green waste, we improve safety, reduce environmental impact, and increase economic sustainability.
Liesl Yearsley, CEO of akin.com
Liesl Yearsley is the CEO of aKin, an AI company building assistive AI and robotic technology for the home. aKin delivers robotic technology to NASA, is expanding rapidly in the disability sector, and will ultimately take on the 25 hour a week task of running the home, with its empathic AI and a range of intelligent devices.
Prior to aKin, Yearsley was founder of Cognea, an AI platform which was acquired by IBM and now powers Watson. Prior to that, Yearsley was founder of a search engine company she took public. She has 4 patents in AI with over 600 citations.