Accelerate to Impact – Introducing Irene Lemon, the new CASS Business Development Manager.

Irene Lemon has found a home at ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences to bring her industry knowledge and creative industries expertise to the role of CASS Business Development. One of the first initiatives Irene is involved with is implementing a pilot program to help investigate ways support can be tailored to Researchers.

The CASS External Partnerships Accelerator is a pilot program brings together 16 CASS Researchers and 16 Champions from across the university to accelerate opportunity development and trial new ways to support innovation and partnership outcomes.

Lead by CASS Research Manager Sejul Malde, the new Associate Dean of Innovation and Impact Simone Dennis and an ANU Program Team investigating strategic partnering, Irene has joined the Accelerator team to facilitate the program and lay the ground work for her Business Development approach. “I think roles involving business development can mean many things to many people’ says Irene ‘and the pilot Accelerator Program gives CASS an opportunity to find out exactly what future support Researchers need and delivering that in a timely manner”. 

For external partners, that is anyone outside of ANU, the value of research and university partnerships are understated and sometimes difficult to understand. Where do you start? Who do you talk to? These questions are relevant for both our academic community and researchers, and for Industry partners looking at the R&D capacity of universities and wondering how they can benefit.

“I believe there is a lot of interest in external partnerships, impact and co-creating value for our college, and CASS has strengths, and a long history, of transforming Australian society with HASS research outcomes. Business Development is part of a process to realise those opportunities and I hope my enthusiasm for this new role carries across”, says Irene

With more than 20 years’ experience turning impact into sustainable operating models, Irene knows Business Development encompasses more that “just” a commercial return. “I’ve raised close to $40 MILL USD on several projects that have radically transformed communities across Australia, the Asia-Pacific region and for First Nations and Indigenous communities across the globe. The money is certainly very nice; however, it’s the collaboration and effort that all project partners bring to tackling entrenched disadvantage that means the money is well spent and achieves something meaningful”.

Previously, Irene worked with social innovators at The Mill House Ventures, Canberra’s only social enterprise intermediary, where she delivered the Social Venture Accelerator program GRIST. Originally hailing from Armidale NSW, Irene is also a Country Music Comedian and performing artist with more than 20 years’ experience touring regional and remote communities across Australia.

“I think this grounding in creative industries has given me a very deep appreciation for the contributions of the academic community to our cultural identity and, most excitingly, how we embed value in other sectors and disciplines. Many creatives I meet in my travels have extensive grounding in academic pathways and often have a postgraduate degree, as well as a mean lick on a slide guitar or banjo, and make their money in every sector from sanitation and water to technology, renewables and community development. The HASS STEM connection is something I am very keen to pursue, and I am sure the Accelerator program will help unleash multi-disciplinary opportunities and external partnerships that showcase the strengths of CASS”.

This pilot iteration of the CASS Accelerator Program runs just prior to the Porous Boundaries Forum and focuses on early stage and potential partnerships. “We are accelerating the trust building and values alignment of a potential partnership, and our Researchers are working on a Mutual Value Exchange approach that will trial strategic thinking, resourcing and toolkits to determine how we build long term impact with our partners”.

If you’re seeking support and a sounding board for advancing your research impact with external partnerships, or you just want some help to figure out what’s possible, please get in touch. Irene is situated with the Research Office team in the Beryl Rawson building.