Innovation happens by design.
The Innovation Mission is the executive advisory practice of Will Schmitt — working at the intersection of government, industry, and capital. Will designs and delivers the strategies, policy frameworks, and investment environments that make innovation possible and he helps individual growing businesses thrive.
Will brings twenty years of experience helping governments make smarter bets on innovation investment, helping institutions design ecosystems that attract and deploy capital effectively, helping organisations understand how to position themselves at the frontier of where public and private resources meet, and helping growing businesses attract capital, build relationships and make strategic choices that drive growth.
Will’s Areas of Practice
Government-as-customer and Government-as investor for startups & scaleups
Governance and Executive Advisory
Will has been on both sides of the table: as a senior executive and buyer in government and as a founder in private business himself. In our radically changing market environment, governments are increasingly important customers and investors. Will helps founders and teams demystify government as customer and investor, approach government relationships with confidence and transact with government for maximum benefit to all parties.
Helping governments, companies and universities design the investment frameworks, funding architectures, and policy settings that direct capital toward innovation that matters — from fund design to national strategies and mission-oriented investment programs to precinct strategy and open innovation.
Innovation Strategy and Investment
Ecosystem design and development
Supporting boards, investment committees, and senior leadership teams on what well-designed innovation looks like, how to evaluate it, and how to govern the deployment of public and private capital over time.
Building the connective tissue that makes innovation ecosystems work — the intermediaries, capital pathways, international linkages, and public-private partnerships that turn proximity into collaboration and collaboration into investable outcomes.
Client List
Advance Queensland
CSIRO
Monash University
Rocket Seeder
AgriFutures Australia
DFAT (Australia)
Palladium
The Nallawilli Group
Charles Sturt University
Hort Innovation
Meat & Livestock Australia
Australian National University
FREO2 Foundation
Resonance Global
NSW Department of Primary Industries & Regional Development (DPIRD)
Univ of Technology Sydney (UTS)