Spotlight on the Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre (MEC)

As Australia confronts a growing need for greater economic complexity and commercial deep tech success, the Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre (MEC) is uniquely placed to lead the charge. As the University of Melbourne’s front door to entrepreneurship, the Centre bridges the critical gap between world-class research and real-world impact.

Established in 2018, MEC has served as a launchpad for aspiring and established entrepreneurs across the University’s ecosystem, including academics, students, staff, alumni and industry professionals.

In 2025 MEC entered a new era with the launch of its MEC 2030 strategy and the appointment of a new Executive Director Michael Poisel, from the University of Pennsylvania. A global innovation leader, Michael established and led the Penn Centre for Innovation Ventures (PCIV), launching more than 280 spinout companies that collectively raised over US$900 million in funding.

The MEC 2030 strategy articulates its mission – to grow global impact through entrepreneurship over the next five years – by turning more ideas, research and technologies into companies and providing the next generation of leaders with more entrepreneurial training and pathways.

MEC is moving beyond educating people in entrepreneurial thinking. We are now turning them into actual entrepreneurs. — Michael Poisel, Director, Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre

“The reason we want and need to commercialise the University’s research is because by doing this we are contributing to changing the world, to improving people’s lives and having a positive impact. Never has that felt more important and urgent than right now,” Mr Poisel said.

To realise MEC’s ambition, the strategy focuses on: creating new early-stage MEC programs to support more innovators all year round, refreshing and expanding delivery of later-stage MEC accelerator programs to help more startups grow, and building more investment-ready companies through the new MEC Venture Studio.

Expanding and nurturing the MEC community is also key to MEC’s success with an engaged community network providing more opportunities for mentoring, funding and support for all MEC innovators, founders and ventures. By 2030 MEC will have supported 24,000 innovators, built 250 new ventures and grown its community by 30 per cent.

MEC’s team of entrepreneurial educators and experienced commercial professionals come from diverse backgrounds in academia, business, strategy and innovation. With a strong track record in delivering high‑impact programs and growing early‑stage ideas, the team will accelerate MEC’s reach, scale successful ventures, and further embed entrepreneurial thinking across the University and beyond.

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