LaunchVic’s CEO Dr Kate Cornick has been awarded the Global Policy Champion award at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) in Riyadh. 

The GEN Compass Awards’ Policy Champion is given to a member of the Policy community who has made the most significant contribution to advancing efforts to remove barriers to entrepreneurship through new policies, programs or changes to regulations at either the local, national or global level. 

Dr Cornick was selected for her exceptional leadership as the head of LaunchVic, the lead startup agency of Victoria, to accelerate the growth of the startup ecosystem through a broad set of policies to helps startups grow and ensure a thriving early-stage investment landscape in Victoria.   

Some of the initiatives include strengthening diversity and inclusion in the sector, funding new angel networks, establishing the Alice Anderson Fund that is supporting more investment in women-led startups and the Victorian Startup Capital Fund which is ensuring the success of Victoria’s venture capital landscape set to unlock up to $240 million into the sector. 

Dr Cornick said she was deeply honoured to receive the Policy Champion award and be recognised on a global stage by leaders in startup policy and ecosystem development from around the world.

“It’s incredibly rewarding and humbling to receive global recognition for the work we are doing at LaunchVic and particularly the policy outcomes we have driven, which are are novel and world-leading,” 

“Since LaunchVic was created by the Victorian Government in 2016, we have seen the value of our early-stage startup sector quadruple in size from $2.21 billion to $10.5 billion in 2021.” 

GEN POLICY CHAMPION AWARD

The Compass Award for Policy Champions is given to the member of the GEN Policy community who has made the most significant contribution to advancing efforts to remove barriers to entrepreneurship through new policies, programs or changes to regulations at either the local, national or global level.

Factors considered in the selection of the winner of this award include (in no particular order):

• Driving policymaking that considers entrepreneurs in recovery efforts
• Commitment to evidence-based policymaking
• Engagement with GEN national affiliate or leadership and GEN’s ecosystem partners and entrepreneurs in policy deliberations
• Ecosystem-wide recognition or proven impact in removing barriers to entrepreneurship through smart policies
• Ingenuity of recommendations and ideas
• Level of engagement with the GEN Policy global community through communication, contribution to the SNAP portal (Atlas) or use of ideas, and/or policy dialogues
• Seniority of government engagement

About GEC

The GEC is a gathering of startup champions from around the world who are working together to build one global entrepreneurship ecosystem through a shared engine of innovation and economic growth in cities and countries everywhere. 

The GEC will be hosted for the first time in Melbourne, Australia in 2023 from the 27 – 30 March 2023 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC). Read more >>

About LaunchVic

LaunchVic is Victoria’s lead startup agency established by the Victorian Government in March 2016 as an independent agency to fuel the growth of Victoria’s startup ecosystem.

• Melbourne’s startup sector value has grown by more than AUD $3 billion in the past 12 months to $10.5 billion. This is larger than Victoria’s racing and sports industries.
• Victoria is home to more than 2,700 startups – companies that use innovative business models and technology to grow fast and service global markets.
• For a free and dedicated source of real-time data on Victoria’s startup founders, investors, corporates, and policy makers including startup jobs, go to findingstartups.launchvic.org 

Media release originally published by LaunchVic, 29 March 2022