Michelle jasper

Michelle is a Māori woman with over 13 years’ experience working in business development, research commercialisation, intellectual property and technology transfer. She drives activity relating to the intersection of innovation, commercialisation, ventures and technological development with traditional Indigenous knowledge and practice.

Throughout Michelle’s career she has developed a passion for interdisciplinary collaboration, the on-ground application of technologies and IP commercialisation. She has led many large-scaled innovation projects and is a leader within the Australian Innovation Ecosystem.

Michelle is currently a member of the Canberra Innovation Network’s Advisory Committee, wherein she offers strategic advice regarding the network’s overarching strategy, work plans and objectives. She was previously a non-executive Director of Cicada Innovations, Australia's leading incubator for startups and scaleups working on science and engineering innovations.

Michelle is the Founding Director of Gandaywarra Innovation, an Australian National University initiative seeking to build and activate a pipeline of strong, long-term partnerships and capabilities, which will enable First Nations communities, academia, industry, government, and end-users to collaborate and innovate.

Her academic background spans quantitative finance, marketing, and applied cybernetics.

Michelle is a recipient of the Australian National University 2023 Florence McKenzie Supplementary Scholarship.