I am joined by Dr. Sarah Pearson, the current Deputy Director-General for Innovation at Advance Queensland. We discuss Sarah’s career that started in Particle Physics but has since included, cancer research, Cadbury confectionary, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), with a huge focus on collaborative innovation.

Sarah’s LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahpearsoninnovation

Sarah’s Twitter https://twitter.com/InnovationSarah

Advance Queensland Website https://advance.qld.gov.au/

Timestamps:

00:01:14 – Sarah’s current work at Advance Queensland

00:02:14 – Innovation out of COVID-19

00:03:40 – The ups and downs of Sarah’s Oxford PhD

00:09:00 – Careers Highlights

00:11:17 – Moving to Australia

00:11:47 – Working at McKinsey

00:12:52 – Becoming a parent – refocusing priorities

00:14:40 – Moving to Armidale – moving back into Physics and restructuring

00:16:36 – Breast Cancer research

00:18:23 – Outreach programs to get young people, especially women into STEM

00:19:18 – Open Innovation at Cadbury

00:22:33 – Back to Australia – struggled for a bit

00:23:08 – CEO at ANU Enterprise + Night jobs like the Scaling Frontier Innovation Program

00:26:54 – Canberra Innovation Network – company to build an ecosystem. Mass collaboration.

00:28:33 – Brief UoN stint

00:28:37 – Chief Innovation Officer at DFAT

00:30:29 – Head of Innovation Queensland

00:30:44 – Work-life balance

00:32:11 – Important Networks and influential people

00:36:10 – Childhood impacts on career. Moving around a lot.

00:38:37 – Merging innovation with encouraging women in STEM

00:43:14 – How to build inclusive new economies?

00:44:07 – How will innovation change the future?

Intro Music by Supakarn Nakavisuit (https://bit.ly/33ZtIh8)

Outro Music by Kasimir Gregory

SMArt – “Puppy” by Kasimir Gregory