About

ACE is currently planning the 2021 conference in collaboration with Bond University.

ACERE stands for Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research Exchange, an annual conference in its 17^th year.  Initiated by Professor Murray Gillin AM and inspired by the Babson College Entrepreneurship Conference (BCEC) in the United States, these conferences were organised annually by Swinburne University (and co-hosts around Australia and New Zealand) under the label “AGSE IERE” (2004-2011).  Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship (ACE) has produced the ACERE Conference since 2012.

The conference covers a variety of Conference Themes, which you can read more about here.

To read more about the academic leadership of the conference, please click here.

• Conference Organisers
• Academic Committee
• Doctoral Consortium Co-ordinator/s
• Paper Development Session Co-ordinator/s
• Entrepreneurship Educators’ Forum Co-ordinator/s

History

Originating from attendance at the Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference (USA), the first AGSE-Babson College Regional Entrepreneurship and Innovation Research Exchange Conference was held at Swinburne University of Technology in 2004.  At this first iteration of ACERE, 87 Papers were presented during the two days of exchange sessions representing 45% from Australia, 25% from New Zealand, and 30% from the rest of the world, particularly Europe and UK.  Following the Babson model, the proceedings of the Exchange were published in “Regional Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research” – 33 papers published in full along with 53 extended summaries.

In late 2004 and with Babson College no longer partnering with Swinburne’s Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship (AGSE) to facilitate the regional entrepreneurship research conference, the name be changed to the AGSE Entrepreneurship Research Exchange and was later known as AGSE-ERE.

Following invitations to interested academic schools, the committee for the 2005 conference included: Queensland University of Technology; University of South Australia; Swinburne University of Technology; RMIT University; University of Western Australia; UNITEC New Zealand; Massey University New Zealand; Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

The 2005 conference was again held at AGSE with 91 papers presented and a PhD consortium. A new initiative was the inclusion of international keynote speakers who reviewed opportunities for entrepreneurship research.

The 2006 AGSE-ERE was held in Auckland, New Zealand and jointly sponsored by UNITEC and Massey Universities.

Subsequent AGSE-ERE conferences were hosted by Queensland University of Technology, 2007; Swinburne University of Technology, 2008; University of Adelaide, 2009; University of the Sunshine Coast, 2010; and Swinburne University of Technology in 2011.

In 2011, responsibility and management of the AGSE-ERE was transferred to the Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship (ACE) at Queensland University of Technology under the chair of Professor Per Davidsson and under the new name “ACERE”.  ACERE stands for “Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research Exchange” thus marking the continuity with its predecessor.

ACE has continued the tradition of partnering with other universities to deliver the conference in a different location annually, with the 2012 conference in Perth, at the University of Western Australia, 2013 in Brisbane, at Queensland University of Technology, and 2014 in Sydney at UNSW, Australia.  The 2015 conference was held in Adelaide and was co-hosted by The Entrepreneurship Commercialisation and Innovation Centre, The University of Adelaide. In 2016 ACERE was held on Australia’s beautiful Gold Coast with co-hosts Griffith University.  In 2017 the conference traveled to Melbourne and was co-hosted by RMIT.  In 2018 we returned home to Brisbane at the Gardens Point Campus of QUT for the main conference program, with the University of Queensland hosting the Doctoral Consortium.  

In 2019, along with his appointment as ACE Director, Martin Obschonka took the reins as ACERE Academic Chair with the 2019 conference held in Sydney co-hosting with The University of Technology Sydney.

In 2020 we travel to the beautiful city of Adelaide, with The University of South Australia as our co-hosts.  The Doctoral Consortium was sponsored by the University of Adelaide and the Entrepreneurship Educators’ Forum was sponsored by Flinders University.

ACE is currently planning the 2021 conference in collaboration with Bond University.