Teen Start-Up is a fun, multi-day event where students are taken through the innovation development process from idea to execution.

Participant numbers are usually restricted to small groups to ensure teams get quality time with the volunteer business mentors who will be assisting over the course of the camp. Students work individually or may work together in teams to come up with an idea for that they believe provides a solution to a problem their generation will face in the future. Each Teen Start-Up has a specific theme that the teams are asked to develop their ideas around.

At the end of Teen Start-Up, teams will present their ideas to a panel of industry experts. 

WHAT WILL STUDENTS LEARN?

The kinds of skills students need to learn today are different from what they needed 20 years ago.  This has been an ongoing topic of discussion in relation to University education and more recently it has also been acknowledged as an issue by the school system.

Teen Start-Up provides a practical and immersive way of teaching the skills identified in the ‘General Capabilities’ section of the Australian School Curriculum. These are the skills that sit across the curriculum that will help students to live and work successfully in the twenty-first century. These skills are also crucial for innovation and entrepreneurship.

FORMING TEAMS

Students may work in teams to present a short 3-minute pitch about their idea on the last day of the camp. Students are able to register as individuals or as teams. For those who have registered as individuals, we will help them to identify team mates that share their interests if they are interested in being part of a team. Teams can be between 2 and 4 students.

Teamwork can often be challenging whether you are a grown-up or a child and one of the main learning outcomes we work to achieve through the Teen Start-Up format is to provide students with some tools and techniques to manage team dynamics.  These new skills can then be applied to any group work at school.

INDUSTRY MENTORS

Over the course of the program, participants will have access to business mentors, skill-based workshops, and have the opportunity to meet industry experts who will speak about their experiences and provide demonstrations to build context.

To aid the entrepreneurial and innovative thinking process, there will be a number of resources available to students, including:

• Active team building games;
• Short (10 -15 minute) interactive workshops on different brainstorming, idea validation and pitching techniques;
• Volunteer mentors – young entrepreneurs and industry experts from the start-up and business community.