Innovation and Entrepreneurship Academy
The Innovation & Entrepreneurship (I&E) Academy brings together education and research to shape the future of interdisciplinary innovation.
Our mission is to equip students and researchers with the entrepreneurial mindset, design science methods, and generative AI proficiency needed to deliver solutions that make a real difference.
By embedding these three pillars into teaching and research, the Academy ensures ideas do not remain siloed but are designed for impact, translation, and commercialisation. This aligns directly with the University’s Strategic Engagement Priorities, positioning the Academy as a catalyst for meaningful change.
Our Labs
Together, the Future Learning Lab and the Design Science Lab form the heart of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Academy. By integrating education and research, and uniting entrepreneurship, design science, and GenAI, the Academy creates a unique ecosystem where groundbreaking ideas are designed not only to be discovered, but to change the world.
The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Academy collaborates closely with many other institutions in the university, including Knowledge Exchange and Entrepreneurship (KEE), which leads the university’s commercialisation efforts, and I2N, which supports student entrepreneurs.
The Future Learning Lab (Education)
The Future Learning Lab is where human-centric, AI-first learning transforms education. Students gain immersive, hands-on skills in innovation and entrepreneurship, supported by generative AI tools that accelerate discovery and spark creativity.
- Human-Centric AI-First Pedagogy (HCAIF): AI is embedded into every aspect of learning, not added as an afterthought.
- Entrepreneurial Competencies: Students develop the ability to move beyond concepts and design scalable, practical solutions.
- Experiential Learning: Projects and collaborative challenges ensure innovation is not just taught but lived.
This lab empowers students to graduate with the confidence, creativity, and future-ready skills required to thrive in an AI-driven world.
The Design Science Lab (Research)
The Design Science Lab is a pioneering initiative that embeds structured design science methodologies into interdisciplinary research. While discipline-specific publications remain a cornerstone, design science workshops help research teams clarify their collective impact and align more strongly around shared outcomes, in particular for large bids. Teams co-create design principles for tangible artefacts such as platforms, applications and devices that demonstrate the value of their work and address real-world challenges.
The Design Science Lab focuses on:
- Empowering Researchers with Entrepreneurial Competency: Scholars gain the skills to transform insights into impactful, commercially viable outcomes.
- Driving Impact with Design Science: Interdisciplinary research is designed from the outset for practical application, ensuring rigour, relevance, and measurable outcomes, including for example design science papers published in leading journals.
- Amplifying Innovation with GenAI Proficiency: By strengthening researchers’ capabilities with generative AI, projects can unlock new insights, accelerate discovery, and enhance major grant applications.
This lab enables researchers to deliver on traditional academic outputs while also extending their work to achieve funding success, industry partnerships, joint publications, and scalable impact.
Major in Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Build the skills to create, launch and grow new ideas. Our Innovation and Entrepreneurship courses give you hands-on experience in making, designing, problem-solving and building real ventures. Whether you want to explore new interests, complement your business studies or develop your entrepreneurial mindset, there’s a study option to suit your journey.
Undergraduate Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship
The Undergraduate Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship is designed for students who are still discovering their interests and future pathways. This program provides a supportive entry point into university study while helping you build the confidence, skills and mindset to succeed in any discipline.
Partnerships and collaboration
The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Academy connects students, researchers and industry to turn ideas into real-world outcomes. Through collaborations across the University and with partners in our region and beyond, we create opportunities for students to gain experience, build ventures and contribute to meaningful innovation.
The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.