The Future of Work: The role of startups and businesses in Smart Communities, with Colin Kinner

In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have a great chat with Colin Dinner. Colin is a startup ecosystem specialist, company director with over twenty years' experience working with high-growth technology-based companies and a startup coach and trainer, so I knew he was the right person to speak to about the role of startups and small businesses in the future of work in Smart Communities. Colin shares a bit about his background in startups in lots of different contexts, and why it's important that Australia gets better at building an economy based on high value, knowledge-intensive jobs rather than just resources and agriculture. We discuss how Smart Companies contribute to not only Smart Communities but economically prosperous ones too, and some examples from places like Singapore where investing in young people's knowledge to build Smarter Cities. Colin tells us about Startup Onramp, and what he's observed during the program about innovation in regional Australia and the relative immaturity of Australia's startup ecosystem. We talk about the myths and mindset challenges that stop people pursuing startup opportunities, as well as the absolute importance of validation when starting any venture. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trend of social entrepreneurship and why we need more than buzzword bingo in our understanding of emerging trends! As always, I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Colin via LinkedIn or on Twitter @ColinKinner Connect with me via email: [email protected] Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod