Creative Enterprise
and Entrepreneurship

This unit provides a learning opportunity for students to engage with ideation and pitching real world ideas. The unit is designed around an intensive “startup bootcamp” experience supported by workshops covering the knowledge and tools required to transform a creative idea into a viable creative enterprise. In this unit students develop an understanding of enterprise and what constitutes an entrepreneurial mindset, through ideation, problem generation, solution development
and pitching ideas.

Innovative Features

 

  • The unit is supported by an innovation incubator industry partner (Creative Enterprise Australia: CEA) that is embedded in the delivery of the unit and support for the start-up intensive component
  • CEA has been in partnership in the co-creation and co-delivery of the unit
  • Student innovation is supported through a series of online modules preparing students for the intensive start-up week

Enablers

 

  • Coinciding the work of the Edge Project this unit was able to be developed through benchmarking with other universities, and incorporating key ideas around supporting student innovation
  • A positive collegial experience in the enactment of the unit, which allowed for the testing of ideas and receiving feedback on the unit
  • Multiple sources of feedback and benchmarks supported by conference roundtables, project retreats, and
    rigorous reviews

Unit Impacts & Outcomes

 

For students: 

  • More personalised and connected engagement with students
  • Intense learning about working as part of a team, with the secondary outcome being the actual pitch idea from which emerged from the process

For industry:

  • Industry has been challenged with the week-to-week grind of the university semester, which has clashed with a culture of ‘fast fail’

For teaching:

  • Value of online modules in supporting student learning and preparation for the innovation intensive
  • Integration of intellectual property concepts as a support for student learning and practice beyond the unit

Learning Outcomes

 

  1. Demonstrate and apply key principles and concepts of entrepreneurship and innovation within the contemporary creative industries.
  2. Identify, analyse and evaluate entrepreneurial opportunities.
  3. Develop a viable plan for a creative enterprise.
  4. Employ professional communication skills to present ideas in multiple media forms.

Evidencing & Assessment Strategies

Students in this unit evidence their innovation and enterprise skills through a pitch as part of an innovation ‘boot camp’.  This forms the central focus of the assessment strategy for the unit.

Student learning is demonstrated in the completion of support modules in preparing for the pitch, the quality of the pitch itself, and then a post-pitch analysis and reflection on future learning.

The pitch is assessed against four key criteria of: (1) quality of the idea, (2) customer validation through research, (3) creativity, and (4) team dynamics.

Contact

 

Dr Ruari Elkington

Creative Industries Faculty
QUT
ruari.elkington@qut.edu.au