UTS Business School and venture technology company BlueChilli have formed a partnership to develop startup-like innovation skills within the corporate sector.
Under the three-year agreement, UTS and BlueChilli X (BCX) – BlueChilli’s corporate unit – will collaborate on programs for the Business School’s executive education clients. In addition, BCX will provide business acceleration expertise when required, while UTS will share academic research with BCX.
“Innovative business solutions are highly dependent on disruptive thinking yet corporates are often bound by rigid, business-as-usual mindsets that sideline creative corporate entrepreneurs,” the chief executive of BlueChilli X,” BCX founder Steve Dunn said in a statement.
“Together, our focus will be on creating business agility by delivering programs that ’teach’ and ‘do’ in parallel, thereby equipping corporates with the capabilities to seek and rapidly convert innovative business opportunities,” he said.
UTS Business School’s director of strategic partnerships, Gauri Bhalla, said the collaboration would combine BlueChilli’s entrepreneurial nous with the school’s rigorous corporate learning background.
While executive education will be the initial focus, the partnership will also include student access to programs and internships and the development of new models of ‘intrapreneurship’ using UTS research. Intrapreneurship is commonly defined as the application of entrepreneurial qualities within large organisations.
“The initial focus will be on intrapreneurship and capability building inside large organisations,” Bhalla said. “We’ll work together on helping client partners accelerate their business innovation. Clients will get rigorous capability building from UTS, and BCX will lead us through the execution.”
First trial projects are underway, including one with Commonwealth Bank of Australia. CBA has signed a three-year contract with UTS Business School to provide training and development to 6000 staff.
