Unleashing grassroots innovation with AI Sprint
Stone & Chalk's Ben Dunn talks about AI Sprint, AI challenges & opportunities, and cross-industry partnerships
With countries worldwide investing billions in artificial intelligence (AI) research, Australia is racing to transition from being an AI consumer to AI innovator.
By 2028, CSIRO predicts that digital technologies, including AI, could boost the Australian economy by $315 billion and revolutionise Australia’s productivity, citizen wellbeing, and sovereign capability.
Enter AI Sprint, a 3-month competition to encourage innovators to rapidly create novel AI solutions for pressing national issues. Now halfway through its first month, AI Sprint is a collaboration between innovation hub Stone & Chalk, Google Cloud, and CSIRO’s National AI Centre (NAIC), and has attracted 194 entrants.
I caught up with Ben Dunn, Stone & Chalk’s Director of Advisory Services, to get his quick take on:
The vision thing: What AI Sprint aims to achieve
Startup Challenges and Opportunities with AI
Tips for establishing successful partnerships
Building connections with Venture Konnect
The vision thing: What AI Sprint aims to achieve
With AI poised to radically change how we live and work, Ben’s vision for AI Sprint is to “flush out as many AI entrepreneurs as we possibly can in Australia, and to encourage that ecosystem and encourage those people in their ideas.”
His four goals for AI Sprint are:
Giving founders exposure to VCs looking for investment opportunities: “We have venture capital companies wanting to offer support and prizes because at the end of the day, this is where the investments are going to be.”
Bringing experts together: “Google have come to the party with some really great stuff in terms of not just education sessions on AI and all of the things that Google can do, but also consulting and mentoring help. So I think education from the calibre of people [from Google and CSIRO] is fantastic.
Surfacing and supporting early stage talent: “The kind of AI entrepreneurs who we're going to need to propel Australia forward in AI.”
Producing novel solutions that will put Australia as an proactive player on the global AI innovation map: “The kinds of innovations where we'll be able to kind of point to things that Australia has has contributed in the future.”
“We wanted to focus it in the areas where we thought the Australian nation would benefit the most. What we're trying to do is start lots of little fires in the directions which the government believes makes most sense for Australia.”
Startup Challenges and Opportunities with AI
Ben identifies the rapid pace of AI development as both a challenge and an opportunity for Australian startups.
Startups face a risk of being put out of business by the same technologies they use to build their businesses. “I think all startups are really nervous about being disintermediated by the infrastructure,” said Ben, citing the introduction of Open AI’s custom ChatGPT and its impact on AI startup closures.
He believes the opportunities for startups lie in identifying what business needs can be addressed with AI. This involves questioning assumptions about different ways of using AI, and testing the market with low-cost prototypes.
“I think that's an opportunity to say, “Do we need as many devs? Do we need as much capital? Can we create prototypes of products really easily, very quickly, get them to the market in the hands of the customer, and then turn it around, and then move on?”” he said.
This means startups need to make strategic choices about where to start in order to take advantage of the opportunities presented by AI.
Tips for establishing successful partnerships
With events like AI Sprint promoting cross-industry collaboration, the question that naturally follows is: What makes a good partnership?
Ben has two tips which emphasise the importance of professional, reciprocal relationships:
While some startups may see a casual, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach as a virtue, he advises: “The first thing is that you need good partners and relationships on both sides, right? Government and corporates have very little time for Captain Chaos stuff.”
“The second thing is organisation and project management. I think you’ll have good relationships with your partners if you’re organised. If you can manage your project, and it's not painful to work with you, then people will want to do with this stuff with you again and again, because you make them look good.”
In short, don’t be this guy 👇
Building connections with Venture Konnect
Along with events, Stone & Chalk also has Venture Konnect to promote relationships in the startup ecosystem.
Established in November 2023, the Venture Konnect platform facilitates connections between startups, investors, and corporates. For Ben, Venture Konnect solves the problem of founders trying to make connections outside of their immediate networks to build their businesses.
“We understand what an investor is looking for in terms of its investment mandate, and we understand what the startup does. If there’s a match, then we’ll put them together. That takes out an enormous quantity of money, cost and risk, and just makes the whole thing more efficient and effective,” said Ben.
To promote more efficient interactions in the startup ecosystem, Ben wants to see Venture Konnect expand beyond matchmaking founders and investors to include mentors, customers, and government.
“There are lots of people who want to plug into the innovation ecosystem in Australia. There's just not many sockets. What we're trying to do build that platform where it's not just Stone & Chalk that you're plugging into. It's much, much wider than that.”