I.LAB - The Entrepreneurial Incubator Helps Business Bloom in the Sunshine State

Greg McLean 

 QANTAS MAGAZINE

For too long, an IT brain drain left the Sunshine State in the dark. Today, however, Queensland calls itself the “Smart State” and is reaping the benefits of a locally grown business incubator.

Since its own birth in 2000, i.lab, a Queensland Government initiative, has been nurturing some of the state’s best and brightest budding IT entrepreneurs. By providing logistical and mentoring support for new IT concepts developed in Queensland, i.lab wants to improve the culture of coorperation between its participants and big business.

Since i.lab began with a government grant of more than $3 million, almost 40 businesses, both new and established, have been nurtured by the organisation, with many more receiving advice.  Up to 15 emerging companies work out of i.lab at any one time, benefiting from venture-capital networks and the legal, financial and marketing nous of a highly experience and advisory panel.

Chief executive of i.lab Steve Copplin says the core principle of the business incubator is the help differentiate between a good idea and a profitable venture in a highly experienced advisory panel.

“We’re looking for products or technology that you can sell more than once, and there needs to be an outward focus that makes it suitable to export either interstate or overseas.”

Copplin describes i.lab as a “high-class introduction agency”, and says he thinks Queensland’s close-knit business community helps enhance the journey through the venture-capital pipeline.

“We facilitate the experience,” Copplin says. “With most ideas, you can tell from the first meeting whether it is likely to succeed or fail. Sometimes you don’t have to say or do much to get them into a position where the product is an attractive investment opportunity.

“For others, we have to play the devil’s advocate and either tell the proponents to totally re-invent their concept or forget about it altogether.”

Fusion Sport’s Markus Deutsch is on the verge of revolutionising sports training techniques with a remote-data unit to measure speed and reaction times that was launched during this year’s Rugby World Cup.

Already, the Auckland-based Blues Super 12 rugby team has signed up to use the Smartspeed reactor device, with several more professional sporting outfits keen to put it through its paces. Deutsch says he couldn’t have imagined such growth when he first pitched his concept to i.lab’s advisory panel in November 2002.

“It’s been a huge learning curve and has happened so fast it’s unbelievable,” the sports scientist says.

“Suddenly doors opened for us and people took our product seriously.”

Deutsch is expecting sales in excess of $1 million next year as the Smart Speed is marketed around the world. He is already working the next generation of automated training devices to help coached get the best from athletes.

However, you don’t need to be a start-up company to take advantage of i.lab’s kudos connections.

Software firm Omnix has been a part of the IT sector for more than a decade, delivering mobile solutions that enable transport carriers to track goods from dispatch through to deliver. Drivers are equipped with the technology to transfer data back to base from wherever they are on the road.

 Director Cappy Engelbrecht says the company was a virtual nobody on the corporate landscape. Then i.lab helped her company realise its business potential and it is now beating heavy-weights such as Oracle and JD Edwards for lucrative tenders.

“We already had a product and were on the brink of commercialisations when i.lab took us on,” she says. “Suddenly Omnix went from being an absolute nobody to a company with a significant profile. This gained us introductions to the business community that helped us to forge ahead.”