Plenty of Australian graduates want to become entrepreneurs - the problem is keeping them in the country, a top business school executive says.
Manager of executive programs at the University of Technology Sydney Business School, Stephen Rutter, is sick of young Aussie talent moving overseas to set up their own business or join big corporations.
"We're having 8,000 graduates a year leave the university sector Australia wide, but 6,000 are leaving straight away to work for companies overseas," he said.
"We lose that knowledge capital and economic benefit."
Research by UTS shows 45 per cent of Aussie millennial graduates want to start up their own businesses or work for themselves.
However Mr Rutter says Australia needs to become a more attractive option for young entrepreneurs who are starting out.
Mr Rutter is helping a group of 10 young Australian and Chinese thinkers to address this problem as part of the China Australia Millennial Project (CAMP).
They'll work together online with the help of mentors like Mr Rutter to think of ways to encourage graduates to become entrepreneurs rather than enter the corporate world.
His team will also research investment opportunities that can allow more Australian start-up ideas to be developed at home rather than being taken to Israel or Silicon Valley.
The initiative is designed to build networks between young innovators from Australia and China as they tackle challenges common to both countries.
Participants will work on a variety of issues ranging from entrepreneurship to education, health, the ageing population and arts and culture.
The program culminates in a Sydney summit in June with 200 Chinese and Australian delegates aged 18 to 35.
Mr Rutter says Australia needs to think of new ways to do business with its largest trading partner.
"As our resource well dries up from mining exports to China, we have to look at knowledge capital as the next mining resource," he said.
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