Ignition Labs draws experience from a pool of mentors, each with entrepreneurial experience, skills and experience in the health & medical technology industry, or a significant health technology industry network.
Our mentor pool is growing, keep an eye out for updates to this page.
Ignition Labs mentors get involved. They provide sage advice and get their hands dirty when projects need a boost. A mentor is married to each project, acting like a case manager to ensure you’re always headed in the right direction.
Hamish Hawthorn is a co-founder of Ignition labs and the Chief Executive Officer at ATP Innovations, Australia’s leading technology business incubator. Hamish has been involved in the commercialisation of technology for over 15 years and worked in the advanced manufacturing, IT and life sciences sectors. In late 2008, Hamish co-founded Sydney Angels, a Sydney-based Angel group that invests in early stage high growth companies. Hamish is a Visiting Fellow in the Entrepreneurs in Science Program at the University of New South Wales, and lectures on entrepreneurship at the University of Sydney, the University of Technology, Sydney and the Australian National University. He is a qualified mechanical engineer with postgraduate training in business and technology.
Andrew is a co-founder of both Ignition Labs and Sydney Angels. He is the Director of Business Development at ATP Innovations, Australia’s largest community of technology entrepreneurs and lectures in entrepreneurship at the University of Sydney. Andrew adds successes like the sale of a search technology to Google to his 15 years experience in the global information technology and telecommunications sector. Andrew has a Bachelor of Science (Hons) from the University of Sydney, an MBA from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management, is a graduate of the Royal Military College Sandhurst, is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD) and was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2009.
Ben is a co-founder of the Ignition Labs Seed Accelerator and the Director of Commercial Development at ATP Innovations, a facilitated innovation ecosystem. He has worked in and on start-ups for more than 13 years and has held both research and management positions, gaining significant experience in research & development, clinical trials, business development, operations, and the financial management of both private and ASX listed biotechnology and medical device companies. Ben has launched two successful small businesses of his own since 2005.
Prior to working with ATP Innovations, Ben was the Business Development Manager of a medical devices start-up. During his tenure, Ben played an active role in steering the business focus from research & development to market validation, product manufacture and launch. As part of this process Ben’s team successfully lobbied for changes to clinical best practice in the USA, which led to the business first distribution deal.
Ben has a Bachelor of Science (Biological Sciences) from the University of Western Sydney and a Graduate Diploma of Biomedical Engineering from the University of New South Wales.
Petra is an experienced strategist and business developer with a strong passion and a natural flair for spotting and acting on business opportunities. She has a long and proven track record in successfully positioning/repositioning companies to achieve success in domestic and overseas markets.
She has broad international work experience from holding senior strategy consulting, business development and executive roles in Europe, the US and Australia. She speaks multiple European languages and has worked for governments as well as the private sector as an advisor as well as an implementer of corporate strategy, opening up and developing new markets in different technology based areas in particular Life Sciences and IT. Petra is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Ignition Labs has pedigree. The seed accelerator operates within ATP Innovations, Australia’s leading business incubator. Since 2006 ATP Innovations has worked with more than 80 businesses. These companies have:
▪ Raised over $80 million from private investors.
▪ Secured more than $18 million of competitive government grants.
▪ Filed 240 patents and trademarks applications with 94 granted.
▪ 6 portfolio companies were acquired.
In 2010 ATP Innovations was involved in Australia’s first seed accelerator, Startmate, a highly successful ICT program that resulted in significant follow-on funding for its business portfolio. ATP Innovations continues to support the Startmate initiative and builds on its success with Australia’s niche seed accelerator, Ignition Labs.
The Ignition Labs seed accelerator was founded in 2012 by the team at ATP Innovations, Australia’s leading deep technology incubator. Ignition Labs Program 1 focused on clean technologies that enhanced the use of renewable resources or decreased the use of finite resources. Five teams were selected from the applicant pool and completed the 3-month accelerator program in October 2012. Highlights from Ignition Labs Cohort 1 include a hydrogen generation technology company on the cusp of closing a significant angel investment round, a collaborative consumption company that recently signed a multi-site community trial with one of Australia’s largest property developers and an electric vehicle company deemed so cool, Audi approached them to star in an advertisement for the launch of the Audi Q5 in Australia.
The ATP Innovations executive team has extensive experience in developing early stage businesses, excellent life science credentials and the skills required for successful business incubation. The team is complemented by the inclusion of Australian and US mentors, whose close industry connections and experience at developing start-up businesses will be leveraged to multiply success within the accelerators health & medtech portfolio.
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