The Tamworth incubator consists of an open office space where up to 18 separate start-ups or small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) can operate from, while sharing the University’s research, data, and expertise.

The program is part of Deputy Premier and Minister for Skills and Regional Development John Barilaro’s $12 million Building Business Innovation Scheme, launched last year.

“This fantastic new incubator will be a launching pad for SME’s and start-ups with the potential to boost innovation and create jobs and growth in the region and beyond,” Mr Barilaro said.

“It will provide access to research data to create commercial agribusiness and agricultural technology opportunities while offering a collaborative working environment for start-ups.” 

While the Tamworth incubator will be slanted towards agri-tech businesses, they are open to anybody that has an idea or even those that have already started and are looking to take the next step.

The first business start-up will be stepping into the office space on Monday although UNE Business Development Manager Lou Conway is expecting that the incubator will get plenty of interest over the next six to 12 months.

“To begin with we are really just going to throw open the doors and see what and who is out there,” Dr Conway said.

“We want to create an innovation ecosystem and create a sticky community that are interested in working together. It will help businesses get over that first big speed bump of starting up.” 

Around 95 per cent of all start-ups in Australia fail, however about a third of start-ups succeed when they go through the structured development process provided by business incubators and accelerators.

UNE alumni and Start-up Advisor at Bluechilli Catherine Eibner was the special guest at the launch and told the audience that there are two main reasons why start-ups fall over.

“They either build a product that no-one wants or run out of money, mainly because they are building a product that no-one wants,” Ms Eibner said. “It’s no use just being slightly better than other solutions, the research tells us that you need to be ten times better than whatever people are using now.”

President of the Tamworth Business Chamber Jye Segboer welcomed the innovation boost.

“It is a fantastic step forward for the region, without the large office overheads it provides an opportunity for like minded people to build networks that they probably wouldn’t normally engage with,” Mr Segboer said.