Launching innovative Ballarat businesses

The City of Ballarat is proud to be supporting the Runway Incubator Program, designed to guide budding entrepreneurs who have innovative business ideas with the potential for success.  

The Runway Incubator Program is designed to support those who have a business idea and believe there is demand in the market for it.  

The program will support the entrepreneur to launch their idea as a startup business, whilst connecting and learning from others.  

The program commences on 7 August 2023 with a face-to-face session at Runway Ballarat.  

The Runway Incubator Program continues with a combination of in person and online sessions, which will be outlined to the participants at the commencement of the program and include participants from across Regional Victoria.  

The Incubator program finishes on 30 November 2023 with a graduation ceremony.  

Applications are open now and close on Sunday 25 June 2023, with interviews being held in early July to lock in the participants.

For those interested in applying, a series of information events in regional cities to explore the program’s opportunities will be conducted in the coming weeks. Ballarat will host the first event across Victoria on Tuesday 16 May 2023 at the Ballarat Town Hall.  

Experts speaking on the night will be Matt Penhall from Pro-tekt about their business journey in the GPS world, Professor Peter Vamplew, from Federation University will detail the impact of Artificial Intelligence on business, and Rob Layton from Eurekative will discuss the agile prototyping process.  

The event is being run in partnership with Runway HQ and Eurekative and will be held from 5:30pm – 7:30pm, to register visit Runway's website here.  

City of Ballarat Councillor Peter Eddy said innovation and technology are areas that help grow the Ballarat economy.  

"We believe there are people in Ballarat with very good ideas and this program enables these ideas to be developed into practical options,” he said.  

“This program is a great way we can support our community to bring their innovative ideas to reality.”

Managing Director of Runway, Linda Wong said they have been delivering the Incubator program since 2017 in Geelong and 2018 in Ballarat.

“Through our strategic partnerships that we have developed over the years, we are pleased to be extending the offer of this program from Surfcoast to Goldfields with our 13th cohort starting in August 2023,” she said.  

Director of Eurekative, Rob Layton said the programs are based on many years of experience and improvement, designed for impact in your business journey.

“These incubator programs are a great way to find local resources to help you develop, establish, and grow businesses. You get to talk to real people who have been through the process and find a cohort of others sharing the journey with you,” he said.

For more information about the Incubator Program, visit Runway HQ.