Noel Lindsay to head University of Adelaide entrepreneurship team

Noel Lindsay has been appointed pro vice-chancellor (entrepreneurship) at the University of Adelaide.

Noel Lindsay has been appointed pro vice-chancellor (entrepreneurship) at the University of Adelaide.

Noel Lindsay has been appointed pro vice-chancellor (entrepreneurship) at the University of Adelaide.

The new role will see the professor lead a team teaching and undertaking research in entrepreneurship, innovation, technology commercialisation and project management.

It is hoped students will be able to commercialise ideas and take a leap into the business and jobs world. Lindsay will work on a halftime basis, and continue as director of the university’s Entrepreneurship, Commercialisation & Innovation Centre.

The ECIC organises a national student entrepreneur investor-ready program, the Australian eChallenge, as well as the ThincLab business incubator program. The eChallenge and ThincLab have been exported to France, with an inaugural eChallenge event in Paris in May, and a ThincLab announced for the city of Chalons-en-Champagne for later this year. The eChallenge will expand into Hungary and Italy next year.

Lindsay completed his PhD in commerce at the University of Queensland before co-founding businesses in Australia, South Africa and Malaysia, then worked in corporate insolvency, company liquidations, receiverships and private equity.

Cyber threats

An international study on the cybersecurity workforce has found companies say up to 15 per cent of positions will go unfilled by 2020, with the figure as high as 17 per cent in Australia.

The Intel Security study, with Washington, DC, think tank the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, considered the increase in cloud, mobile computing and the internet, as well as advanced targeted cyberattacks and cyberterrorism across the globe, and found the need for a stronger cybersecurity workforce is critical.

One in four respondents said a shortage of cybersecurity skills had damaged their organisation’s reputation and led to the loss of proprietary data through a cyberattack.

Internationally, 82 per cent of participants reported a shortage of cybersecurity skills in their organisations, and it was the highest in Australia at 88 per cent. The shortage also has driven up salaries.

In Australia, 44 per cent felt they were a target for hackers because of limited cybersecurity, the second highest behind Israel on 64 per cent.

The scarcest cybersecurity skills were in intrusion detection, at 87 per cent; software development, at 81 per cent; and attack mitigation, at 76 per cent.

Hands-on experience in the industry was considered a must, with 57 per cent of organisations looking for a bachelor’s degree as a minimum but only 27 per cent saying this was important when evaluating candidates.

Chasing the money

A higher salary is the main reason workers would leave their company for another one, research by recruitment firm Robert Half shows, and almost all leaders fear they will lose their best staff in the next 12 months because of it.

The survey found 79 per cent of managers feared they would lose staff, and 37 per cent of employees would leave over pay.

Asia-Pacific senior managing director David Jones says 28 per cent are also in search of a better work-life balance and 12 per cent would prioritise career development.

“Having a well-developed retention strategy in place is still a top priority on the business agenda and can be a decisive factor to retain a competitive edge,” Jones says.

He says managers should discuss career planning and goals with employees, offer incentives to top performers, put in place a retention strategy and never underestimate the power of recognition.