As many will know I have had the pleaseure of lecturing on Creativity & Innovation as part of Swinburne University's Master of Entrepreneurship & Innovation program since 2000, initiallyin Israel and in the last six years in Melbourne as well.  As the end of the year approaches it is a always a time for reflection on what has been accomplished and the message from Alex Maritz below was a great one to receive.

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Greetings to our MEI Community 

The 2009 year-end has certainly been good to our MEI community. Firstly, please join me in congratulating Peter Bares and his "Double Tamper Gaurd" Team for winning the John Heine Entrepreneurial Challenge (JHEC). As most are aware, the  JHEC is the leading national graduate business plan competition (under the auspices of Global MOOT CORP Competition). The Team (Sasha Fichera) also took the 60 second elevator pitch award. The other two team members included Travis Hardy and Paul Sharkey. They will now participate in the International Moot Corp Competition in USA. 

Secondly, 4 MEI teams were nominated as finalists in the Venture Cup.2 MEI teams came out as joint winners: The ENCASE Bushfire Shelters Team (Andrew Thomas, Alison Durham and Patrick Un) and the Double Tamper Gaurd Team.  

Please join me in congratulating all participants and winners. A gentle reminder, in the MEI, there is no such thing as failure, just varying degrees of success.

Last, but certainly not least; the MEI has been nominated as a finalist for the "Global Entrepreneurship Education Award" at the 2010 Excellence in Entrepreneurship Awards, hosted by the United States Association for Small Business & Entrepreneurship (USASBE). I will be pitching at their annual conference in Nashville, Tennessee in January 2010. USASBE is the largest association and gathering of entrepreneurship educators on the globe, and to be nominated in the top 3 international entrepreneurship programs speaks volumes for the MEI! (BTW, a first for any program outside USA).  

May I also take this opportunity of wishing our entire MEI community a safe and prosperous Festive Season, and we all look forward to yet another successful 2010.

Kind Regards

Alex 

Dr Alex Maritz

Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship

Director: Master of Entrepreneurship & Innovation (MEI)
Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship (AGSE)
Faculty of Business and Enterprise

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I'd like to add my hearty congratulation to everyone named above and all my colleagues and students in the MEI, MBA and other programs.