After months of speculation, Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr today announced that the new CEO of Commercialisation Australian will be entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Doron Ben-Meir.
Senator Carr made the announcement in Melbourne while opening Collaborating for Success, a conference designed to bring together the Rudd Government’s innovation advisory bodies.
Of the new appointee, Senator Carr said:
“Mr Ben-Meir will play an essential role in building Australia’s innovation capacity and ensuring that great Australian ideas are developed in this country rather than going offshore.
“He has over 20 years’ first-hand experience in the venture capital market, building technology-based companies, assisting early-stage entrepreneurs to develop their businesses, and supporting the efforts of innovators to commercialise their intellectual property.
“Having founded and supported start-up companies, he has an intimate understanding of practical challenges they face and how to overcome them.”
Ben-Meir, who was a judge at Anthill’s 2007 Cool Company Awards, now has $196m to deploy over the next four years in the service of commercialising innovative Australian companies and ideas.
Commercialisation Australia is currently open to applications. For more information, visit www.commercialisationaustralia.gov.au or phone 13 22 56.
Doron Ben-Meir’s bio…
According to the press release…
“Mr Ben-Meir has extensive experience in the venture capital industry and commercialisation more generally. Over the past twenty years, he has been involved in numerous venture capital organisations, and has been a founder or co-founder of six start-up companies, as well as an investor, investment manager, and advisor to several other companies. Through these activities, he has built a substantial network both domestically and internationally.
Mr Ben-Meir has wide-ranging experience in innovation, commercialisation and technology across various industry sectors. Having founded and supported start-up companies, he has an intimate understanding of the practical challenges they face, as well as of what is required to make a company successful. Through his investments and advisory work, he has been involved in identifying and assisting innovative companies to commercialise their intellectual property and transition through various stages of business development.
Mr Ben-Meir is the Founder and CEO of Prescient Venture Capital, and has also held the positions of Principal, Private Equity and Venture Capital at Jagen Pty Ltd; General Manager, IT&T Investments at Escor Pty Ltd; and Investment Director at Momentum Funds Management. Mr Ben-Meir has also co-founded several companies, including EneSolve Pty Ltd (energy efficiency); Centricom Pty Ltd (on-line payments); Giesecke & Devrient Australasia Pty Ltd (smart card manufacturing), and Security Magnetics Pty Ltd (identification security).
His qualifications include a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering (Hons) from Monash University, Melbourne. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the ANZA Technology Network, and a former member of the Australian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association Ltd (AVCAL).”
