The event brought together in-house experts, as well as customers and stakeholders within the sector, to workshop and pitch business ideas for MCEC to a panel of esteemed judges, including Melbourne’s Lord Mayor Sally Capp, AFL star, television personality and hotelier Luke Darcy and MCEC Chair and former Victorian Premier, John Brumby AO.
While the ideas that came from the process remain top-secret for the moment, many of them dealt with new and unexpected ways to use MCEC’s world-class facilities, award-winning expertise and enviable location on the banks of Melbourne’s Yarra River.
Teams with a mix of MCEC employees and external partners worked across 12 ideas, with the event culminating in a final pitch to the esteemed judging panel.
Helen Fairclough, Director of Business Relaunch said that it was heart-warming to see a number of MCEC’s valued partners taking part in the initiative.
“We believe the secret to ongoing success, is great partnerships. It’s working with employees, customers, suppliers and stakeholders who are willing to be brave, to innovate and to disrupt,” she said. “We invited creative thinkers and entrepreneurial minds, industry leaders and achievers, the analytical and the innovators and asked them to submit their unconventional ideas and were blown away by the response, with well over 50 ideas submitted.”
The newly created role of Director of Business Relaunch is unique in the industry to MCEC and leads a process for the business to explore new revenue streams, new business models and new initiatives that positively disrupt the sector. The four winning ideas from MCEC Unconventional Ideas will now proceed to the next phase of further exploration or delivery, with more details to be announced as they progress.
“Nothing embodies this more than our first ever MCEC Unconventional Ideas event, and we hope to run more in the future,” Ms Fairclough said.