We have worked with 40 schools and in excess of 1,000 students to help facilitate the delivery of the program. We have developed and delivered Masterclasses to students on-site and in schools and organised two venture showcases, providing students with the opportunity to present their innovations to a wide audience. In the process, an incredible and diverse array of ideas have been developed. One of the most remarkable and heart-warming of these is ‘1 Step at a Time’. This inspiring group of students from St Peters’ Girls’ School worked alongside alongside Bangladesh charity Walk For Life to help children born with clubfoot. Every year in Bangladesh an estimated 5000-6000 children are born with clubfoot deformity: approximately 1 of every 1,000 children born in the country. The team’s improved splint design corrects the condition and allows children’s feet to properly heal after surgery and reduces the chance of relapse in infants, due to the increased mobility in the splint’s design. The key to this innovation is that the splint can be easily produced locally using a 3D printer.

The Shark Tank eSchool is not only a course but a competition, with several categories students can enter. 1 Step at a Time took out the top prize, winning $5000 cash, which they donated to the Walk for Life charity so that they could purchase a 3D printer on the ground in Bangaldesh. This inspiring group of girls also won a ‘Minister for Education’s Children’s Week’ award for their innovation.

Being part of the delivery of the Shark Tank eSchool program, has provided an opportunity for deeper learning around school communities and school engagement. Working directly with schools and schoolteachers we have been able to not only contribute to but position ourselves as leaders within a growing ecosystem of youth entrepreneurship.

They key to success has been to align course design, delivery and outcomes with the requirements of our State’s governing education body, SACE. In aligning key course outcomes with SACE, and by providing participants with University of Adelaide undergraduate credits and credits in Vocational Education and Training, the program has become a seamless and integrated pathway for success for both students and teachers. With key stakeholders in the University of Adelaide and support from industry, the success of the program has been its ability to create a real-world learning and engagement experience for students in their schools. In providing opportunities to meet industry experts in entrepreneurship to provide guidance to students, MIELab’s facilitation of the program with the University of Adelaide has enabled the Shark Tank eSchool program to be the entrepreneurship program of choice for schools for Years 10 and 11.

The program has benefited greatly from collaborative partnerships, and the combination of education and industry, together with mentors, government supporters and the input of active entrepreneurs has created a truly unique experience for students and teachers alike.

We have learned a lot from our pilot year, having sought as much feedback as possible from the students, teachers and our partners. Consequently, we have consolidated the program design and teacher training, ready for an even bigger 2020. Currently, there are over 50 schools enrolled deliver the Shark Tank eSchool program in South Australia (more than double this year’s Semester 1 quota), with a target of adding a further 20 schools in Semester 2. Additionally, the program has been launched in Queensland and Victoria with schools from those states participating in 2020. We anticipate producing well over 2000 graduates of the program next year, and are excited about their future potential both as entrepreneurs and innovators, but also as potential University students in 2021.

The University of Adelaide is involved in all marketing of the program, even interstate, and is thus leveraging off engagement with schools from all areas. The Adelaide Business School has also committed to a pilot research program with two regional schools who will be delivering the program next year, customised towards the needs of their students and engagement with local communities. Being involved in the marketing of and delivery of the program has created an opportunity for the University to build their research capability in entrepreneurial learning at school level, with a view to encouraging young people to further develop their knowledge and skills in the sphere of entrepreneurship through studies at the University.