Taking Victorian Innovation to Global Markets
FB IDEAs recently supported our partners at the Victorian Cleantech Cluster to host a session of their 'Taking Victorian Cleantech Global Masterclass' series at the FB IDEAs Hub. The session on “Market Entry Strategy Development” brought together the City of Melbourne, Global Victoria and Austrade to explore international market opportunities, combining expert insights, practical case studies and hands-on work on business and market entry plans.
Adapt, partner and scale on the superhighway to growth
A highlight of the session was an in-depth look at the Indian market, with Vinod Kumar N from Austrade India sharing insights into the opportunities and considerations for Australian businesses. He highlighted green energy as a clear "superhighway to growth", with opportunities across rooftop solar, electric vehicles, energy storage and buildings.
While the Australia-India Free Trade Agreement is making trade easier, Vinod also emphasised the importance of driving factors such as trusted relationships, local networks and trust in policies for a successful market entry. His advice to businesses looking to enter India was simple: adapt, partner and scale. To determine market fit quickly, he provided participants with a structured 90-day India validation plan.
Learning from the journey
The masterclass also featured a case study from Allume ANZ, with Co-founder and CEO Cameron Know joining online to share the company's experience entering the US and UK markets. He highlighted the importance of a clear strategic direction which builds on the fundamental understanding why a particular market is worth pursuing. For the next step, choosing the right approach to market entry, he shared lessons learned, including what didn’t work. The experience shared was to leverage local partners for scale rather than to determine product market fit. An interesting aspect on how a presence in different global markets allows to de-risk against the impact of policy shifts was brought up, especially when incentives such as tax benefits and subsidies influence the market entry decisions.
Matching Victorian capabilities with global opportunities
The following panel discussion broadened the conversation to opportunities across the global markets.
Lisa Hui (Global Victoria) highlighted the importance of identifying matching, sector specific opportunities across markets such as South East Asia, Latin America and Europe for the emerging sectors in Victoria such as water, waste to recycling, battery technologies and solar.
Aiman Hamdouna (Hatch Quarter) brought his experience across the Middle East and North Africa to the panel. While sceptical about the number of opportunities in these regions, he shed light on specific sectors with potential and noted countries favourable due to their regulation quality.
Azain Raban (Earth Systems) provided the outside look on the strong brand Australia, beyond the large scale resources, agriculture, beef and mining. Amongst the top 15 countries for professional tech and business, and financial services, Australia is highly regarded for the quality of services, and the strong regulations and policies.
For innovative, highly specialised businesses, represented in Fishermans Bend, the following discussion reinforced that international growth does not necessarily mean scaling at all costs. In niche B2B markets, strong relationships, due diligence and understanding the right pace for growth can be more important.
From insights to action
The session concluded with participants developing the next steps in their own business plans, followed by informal pitches and networking.
As a hybrid series, the next masterclass session continued the conversation with a spotlight on Vietnam and the in-person session at International Chamber House.
Registrations for individual sessions are still open, with only two more sessions coming up: Cross-Border Contracting, IP Protection & Risk on 19 August and the final session with International Pitch Refinement & Showcase on 26 August.
