Exciting times for concept centre

The Australian Concept Centre is now officially up and running with its first cohort of students already working on major projects including a desalination device bound for Ethiopia.

Chief executive Dave Simmons said the centre was going through exciting times.

“We’ve had solid interest in what we’re doing, strong interest for 2017 from school leavers and we are now working with schools to see how we can fill the gap between school, university and beyond,” he said.

Last week Senator Zhenya Wang toured the centre for the first time since it opened, meeting with students and hearing about the projects they were working on so far.

“The senator has been involved from the outset and maintained a keen interest to ensure we met our first goal of establishing the centre and getting the first cohort of students in,” Mr Simmons said.

During the tour Senator Wang said it was only the beginning of an exciting journey.

“Innovators don’t need a university degree so we want to give those kids the opportunity to be the best they can,” he said.

Mr Simmons is now working towards setting up more centres throughout regional WA and the rest of the country to give young people especially in rural areas educational opportunities.