University of Newcastle Pro-Vice Chancellor Industry Engagement and Innovation, Dr. Sarah Pearson has been appointed as Australia's Innovation Leader in the newly formed MIKTA Group.
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| Dr. Sarah Pearson [Image: UON] |
MIKTA was first established in 2013 and is led by the Foreign Ministers of member countries who come from diverse backgrounds but share core values.
Dr. Sarah Pearson says she's thrilled to be representing the nation as she joins forces with other leaders to solve complex global problems.
"I think it's really exciting to be linking in with other countries around the world on innovation," she said.
"We've all got a lot to learn. It's sort of a space where we're all trying to grow and do different things so it's wonderful to be a part of Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey and Australia all trying to do this together."
She says the MIKTA Group has a range of short term and long term goals which support cooperation and growth between member nations.
"Short term is about connectivity so we've got innovation leaders from each of those countries all connecting and then longer term, we're thinking about how to make the most of our similarities and our differences. So, are there big challenges that we can solve together either social or economic or corporate that we can actually solve by putting the brains of all of our countries together?"
"[For instance] if we have some ideas in Australia which we think might work well in one of the other countries, we've now got those strong connections with those countries so [we can] connect those people to the right resources and routes to market."
The MIKTA Innovation Group visited UON's NeW Space City Campus just this week to explore Newcastle's role as a regional innovation ecosystem.
