Ignite

About Ignite

The Ignite program takes innovation concepts - including student innovation projects conceived in Innovation Practice Program subjects - and further develops the opportunity through prototyping, testing and validating hypotheses of the innovation. The IPP's Opportunity Lab (O-Lab) exists to support these projects.

Projects are conducted by a team of 3 postgraduate students working together with a specialist from the sponsor organisation and supported by O-Lab Innovation Mentors. Projects are scoped to suit 36 (hu)man-weeks of effort and run over a 3 – 6 month period.

O-Lab projects help sponsor organisations better decide whether or not to commercialise their ideas, and help researchers bring their work closer to market by positioning it for further research funding (e.g. SME Connect, Linkage Grants, CRC-P’s).

Benefits to your organisation

  • Funded internships for prototyping, testing and validating hypotheses of innovation concepts
  • Support of specialist mentors in human-centred and customer-driven design and innovation
  • Space at Melbourne Connect for teams to meet and work, including use of the Telstra Creator Space
  • Develop a deeper relationship with the University through access to faculty members and expertise, including as project supervisors.

How it works

Step 1

Get in touch – bring us your concept and we’ll work with you to refine the prototyping and validation activities

Step 2

Choose a project sponsor and project specialist (who will be part of the O-Lab team) from your organisation

Step 3

Over 3–6 months a team of 3 students will work on your opportunity, supported by O-Lab mentors

Step 4

You will receive a report and prototype that will validate the hypotheses of your innovation concept.

Your commitment

The costs

Sponsor organisations make a financial contribution to the cost of the project depending on their size, capacity to pay and any commercial benefits sharing arrangements made as part of the project. Please use the 'Register your interest' form below to discuss your specific circumstances with the O-Lab team.

The roles

Participating organisations commit both a project specialist and a project sponsor to play important roles in the program.

  • The project specialist
    • This is the person who is ‘on the ground’, working as an equal member of the O-Lab project team and providing a link to information, people and strategic direction from the sponsor organisation
    • They will receive support from O-Lab mentors to build their skills in human-centred and customer-driven design and innovation
    • The time commitment from the project specialist is about 4–6 hours per week.
  • The project sponsor
    • The project sponsor is usually someone who is a bit more senior in the organisation. This person acts as the project owner and mentors the core team member throughout the program
    • The time commitment from the project sponsor is 1-2 hours per fortnight.

Register your interest

Would you like to start a conversation about getting involved? Register your interest and someone from our team will be in touch.

Register your interest

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