Discover the best of UQ’s innovation community at ScaleUP Showcase - an event bringing together Queensland scale-ups, UQ alumni ventures, investors, and industry executives.
We're spotlighting the voices shaping Queensland’s innovation economy. Our speaker lineup features a curated mix of local and global founders, investors, industry leaders, and ecosystem builders who bring deep insight into startup growth, investment trends, and scaling ventures.
Program
Download the ScaleUP Showcase digital event program here
ScaleUP Showcase offers a full day of curated content designed to spark ideas, foster connections, and accelerate growth across a main stage and breakout rooms. The program features a mix of confirmed sessions and exciting additions still to be announced.
We’ll be revealing more sessions and speakers in the coming weeks — stay tuned as the full program unfolds.
Date: Tuesday 21 October 2025
Time: 9am - 9pm
- ScaleUP Showcase: 9am - 4:30pm (registrations open at 8:30am)
- Networking Drinks for Showcase & Pitch Night: 4:30pm - 6pm
- Pitch Night: 6pm - 9pm
Location: Plaza Auditorium, Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Grey Street, South Brisbane
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
8:30am | Registrations open |
| 9am | Welcome
|
| 9:30am - 10:30am | Scaling from Queensland to the worldKeynote speech: A Global Perspective on Scale
Keynote panel: The Vicebio Effect: from breakthrough to blueprint ViceBio is the largest exit ever for an Australian biotech based on university IP. How can we turn this success into a repeatable approach that drives more research into real-world impact? Join us as we discuss commercialisation and investment models that build on this success and create an innovation engine for global impact.
|
| 10:30am - 10:45am | Morning tea and refreshments |
| 10:35am - 11:30am | ShowcaseFounder Showcase and Walkthroughs |
| 10:45am - 11:30am | Main stagePanel: On Country: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Business Building Learn how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander owned and led businesses are leveraging thousands of years of cultural knowledge to build and grow the future of business in Australia. From regenerative agriculture to snack products inspired by native ingredients, business ecosystems are bringing like minds together.
|
| 11:45am - 12:30pm | Main stagePanel: From Clicks to Bricks to Bots - What Investors Will Back Next Is AI still the hottest play? Is the old SaaS business model dead? Which markets are most ripe for disruption? We explore the drivers and untapped pulses shaping investment trends of the future and ask where Australia will emerge in this ever-evolving landscape.
|
| 12:30pm - 1:30pm | Networking LunchIncluding a selection of sandwiches, salads, hot and sweet meal options. |
Choose how you experience ScaleUP Showcase Pitch Night:
Full Experience: Attend the entire ScaleUP Showcase during the day—including expert panels, breakout sessions, networking, and the Innovation Showcase—and stay into the evening for Pitch Night.
Pitch Night Only: Join us just for the exciting Pitch Night finale.
Combined Discount: Save when you book both events together with our discounted ticket option.
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 1:30pm - 2:30pm | BreakoutsPanel: Growth Strategies - Scaling Passion and Purpose Scaling a startup is one of the most exciting yet complex phases in entrepreneurship. What’s critical to know, before you grow? How do founders build and lead teams powered by the same sense of purpose? And what’s really at stake when your vision takes on a life of its own?
Panel: The Talent Equation - Attracting & Retaining Top Talent Moonshots are groundbreaking, industry-building endeavours that can transform the world around them. Startups with this kind of ambition don’t just build skilled teams, they grow the talent pool, creating whole ecosystems around them. We talk to trailblazers who are doing just that in South East Queensland to explore the role universities and government play in growing the talent pipelines of emergent industries.
|
| 2:30pm - 3pm | Afternoon tea including refreshments |
| 3:15pm - 3:25pm | Main StageSustaining Practice for a ScaledUP Lifestyle
|
| 3:30pm - 4:15pm | Main StageFireside: Failing Up Everyone loves the “success story,” but not enough people talk about the chaos before the win — the stuff that nearly broke them. This session is about that ugly middle: the setbacks, the sacrifices, and the brutal calls founders had to make just to survive long enough to succeed.
|
| 4:20pm | Showcase Closing Remarks |
| 4:30pm - 6:00pm | Networking Drinks and CanapesAn opportunity to engage over drinks and canapes before the evening's highlight - the ilab x Momentum Accelerator Pitch Night. Brought to your by Dare Capital Australia
|
Choose how you experience ScaleUP Showcase Pitch Night:
Full Experience: Attend the entire ScaleUP Showcase during the day—including expert panels, breakout sessions, networking, and the Innovation Showcase—and stay into the evening for Pitch Night.
Pitch Night Only: Join us just for the exciting Pitch Night finale.
Combined Discount: Save when you book both events together with our discounted ticket option.
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 4:30pm - 5:45pm | Networking Drinks and CanapesAn opportunity to engage over drinks and canapes before the evening's highlight - the ilab x Momentum Accelerator Pitch Night. Brought to your by Dare Capital Australia
|
| 6pm - 8:30pm | ilab x Momentum Accelerator Pitch Night Grand FinaleKeynote speech
Speakers
|
| 8:30pm - 9pm | Pitch Night Post-Grand Finale Drinks |
Choose how you experience ScaleUP Showcase Pitch Night:
Full Experience: Attend the entire ScaleUP Showcase during the day—including expert panels, breakout sessions, networking, and the Innovation Showcase—and stay into the evening for Pitch Night.
Pitch Night Only: Join us just for the exciting Pitch Night finale.
Combined Discount: Save when you book both events together with our discounted ticket option.
Showcase Details
Date: Tuesday 21 October 2025
Time: 9am - 9pm
- ScaleUP Showcase: 9am - 4:30pm
- Networking Drinks & Canapes: 4:30pm - 6pm
- Pitch Night: 6pm - 9pm
If you have any enquiries about the Ventures ScaleUP Showcase, please contact ventures@uq.edu.au
Our ilab x Momentum Accelerator
The ilab Accelerator is UQ’s flagship program designed to fast-track UQ student, staff, and alumni startups. Delivered in collaboration with the Momentum Accelerator, this combined initiative offers two tailored tracks for founders at different stages of their journey.
Read more about our Accelerator
In 2025, the ilab x Momentum Accelerator is powered by UniQuest and QIC.
Pitch Night is sponsored by Everest Engineering, Google Cloud, Pitcher Partners, The Product Bus, and UniQuest.