Innovation happens by design.
The Innovation Mission is the executive advisory practice of Will Schmitt — working at the intersection of government, industry, and capital to design and deliver the strategies, policy frameworks, and investment environments that make innovation possible.
Will brings twenty years of experience helping governments make smarter bets on innovation investment, helping institutions design ecosystems that attract and deploy capital effectively, and helping organisations understand how to position themselves at the frontier of where public and private resources meet. The Innovation Mission exists to apply that experience where it matters most.
Will’s Areas of Practice
Governance and Executive Advisory
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.
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
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
NSW Department of Primary Industries & Regional Development (DPIRD)
Meat & Livestock Australia
Australian National University
FREO2 Foundation
Resonance Global
Charles Sturt University
Hort Innovation