Social venture improves risk taking and mental health in 1400 schools across Australia
Commercialisation is an important part of the research process, taking great ideas from journals or lab benches into the real world. There’s no one-size-fits all approach for turning your intellectual property into a commercial venture, which is why the University’s Commercialisation Office encourages you to think about what structure may help your ideas make the biggest difference to the world.
Social ventures are organisations that integrate a social or environmental purpose into their core objectives, reinvesting the bulk of their profits to further these aims and utilising innovative, commercially viable methods to ensure financial sustainability.
Dr Katrina Champion, Sydney Horizon Fellow, and Professor Nicola Newton, Director of Prevention from the Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, give us a run-down of the social venture formed from their research, OurFutures Institute.
"One in two Australians will experience a substance use or mental disorder in their lifetime. Imagine a future where every young person has the skills to reduce the significant harms and social costs attributed to substance use and mental disorders - two leading causes of disease burden among young people worldwide. School by school and student by student, OurFutures is creating this world.
"Underpinned by decades of research, OurFutures is a suite of digital programs to prevent the uptake of substance use and improve student well-being. The interventions are delivered to high school students via engaging online cartoon lessons (think Home & Away) and interactive activities developed with young people, for young people.
"We evaluated the interventions via eight world-first randomised controlled clinical trials with over 21,000 students. Contrary to popular beliefs, we demonstrated for the first time that, digital interventions can be more effective than face-to-face health education in preventing substance use and reducing psychological distress, for up to three years post-delivery. Notably, we also demonstrated the interventions can have long lasting effects into adulthood; students who received the alcohol intervention at age 13 were 96 percent less likely to develop an alcohol use disorder by age 20.
"These findings represent some of the largest and most sustained effect sizes in the prevention field to date. Due to the success of our research, Professor Maree Teesson, ourselves and the broader OurFutures team secured significant philanthropic funding from the Paul Ramsay Foundation to drive large-scale implementation of OurFutures in Australian schools.
"In 2022, we established the OurFutures Institute, a joint venture not-for-profit with the University of Sydney. The publicly available interventions have had exceptional reach, supporting over 38,000 students from over 1400 high schools across every state and territory in Australia. Our ultimate goal is to reach all Australian high schools by 2030, empowering every young Australian to lead enriched and fulfilling lives.”
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research Enterprise) Professor Julie Cairney said social ventures are an exciting avenue to explore in translating your research into solutions that benefit us all.
“The University is here to help you find the right strategy for making the most of your intellectual property, especially where the potential to make a difference for good is apparent such as through a social venture structure.”
“Our expert teams in the Commercialisation Office and Sydney Knowledge Hub provide many opportunities for you to learn more about social ventures, connect with like-minded peers and mentors, and find funding opportunities that can accelerate the translation process.”
The Sydney Knowledge Hub has events and workshops for academics interested in commercialising their ideas and connecting with industry partners in November. University staff can also book in with the Commercialisation Office’s Online Café for short, informal discussions about their projects and commercialisation strategies.