Everyone wants to be a millionaire, but who wants to be an entrepreneur?

Flinders University last week hosted a visit by Year 7 students and staff from Christie Downs Primary School in one of the first school-age projects to promote high-tech business enterprises, education and career paths at the new Tonsley facility.

The Business Enterprise project seeks to encourage the next generation of young entrepreneurs and innovators, with lessons on:

• Who wants to be a Start-up? from the University’s New Venture Institute,
• Things that make you go hmmm by the Business and Commerce school, and
• a presentation from the Flinders Design and Technology Innovation team.

The school students had an opportunity to see interactive 3D printing demonstrations at the Hills Innovation Centre, which is the iconic South Australian company base at Tonsley.

Christie Downs Primary School principal Gail Evans said the Year 7 project aimed to encourage students to create a business concept, conduct market research, develop and manufacture a product and then sell it at Colonnades shopping centre.

“The mentoring program with Flinders will really open our students’ eyes to the world of work and the possibilities of higher education pathways,” Ms Evans said.

“It’s a creative way to teach them the life skills they need to choose a career pathway and what might be needed to exist in the world of work.”

The project continues later in the year with visits to the Flinders Campus at Bedford Park and the school for further interaction with University students and staff under Flinders’ Inspire Mentor program.

Rebecca North, from the School of Business at Flinders University, said the Tonsley day aimed to showcase exciting parts of careers and higher education in the areas of business, commerce, finance, marketing, management, human relations and international business.

“We’ll have a lot of fun connecting examples of real-world business initiatives with the business plan they’re developing in their year level,” she said of the Tonsley tour.

More than 1,500 students and 150 staff are located at the new Flinders campus at Tonsley Park as part of a $120 million investment by the University.

The new education and research precinct also includes the University’s School of Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics, Medical Device Research Institute, the Centre for NanoScale Science and Technology and commercialisation arm, Flinders Partners.

The Tonsley precinct brings the University into new collaborative networks with industry and the community to create high-tech jobs for the future.