Small companies and people new to business often do not know who to talk to and how to make the business connections necessary to develop their intellectual property (IP). Volunteer Business Mentors are an additional resource to further assist Commercialisation Australia participants in this regard.

Our diverse range of Volunteer Business Mentors have hands-on experience in building and/or selling a business, specialist domain expertise, knowledge of international markets and extensive networks in their areas of expertise.  The mentors are well placed to offer guidance and practical approaches to assist Commercialisation Australia participants tackle specific commercialisation hurdles and to build valuable business networks.

How does it work?

The Volunteer Business Mentors will complement the assistance provided by Commercialisation Australia’s specialist Case Managers.

As a first step, the Case Managers will work with participants to determine their specific business needs and match them to appropriately skilled mentors.  As participants move through the commercialisation process, their needs may change and they can be matched to one or more mentors as required. 

Unlike traditional mentoring programs, the Commercialisation Australia mentor sessions are short, sharp and topic specific.  A participant may only meet with a mentor on a few occasions over a couple of months.  Whilst long-term mentoring is not provided under the program, the initial introductions facilitated may lead to the formation of ongoing relationships between individual mentors and participants.