AI entrepreneur Dr Michelle Perugini joins UniSA to lead research commercialisation
Leading South Australian health and technology entrepreneur Dr Michelle Perugini has joined the University of South Australia as its new Head of Commercialisation.
Dr Perugini is the founder of two successful Artificial Intelligence (AI) tech ventures, an award-winning predictive analytics solution that was acquired by global consultancy EY, and AI healthcare company Presagen, that developed an AI IVF tool, Life Whisperer, which was recently acquired by global medical equipment manufacturer, Astec.
Dr Perugini worked in medical research early in her career, including for UniSA at its Centre for Cancer Biology, following completion of biotechnology and medicine qualifications at UniSA and the University of Adelaide. Dr Perugini has been recognised by multiple awards including 2023 AmCham Alliance Award Highly Commended (AI), 2022 Pearcy Entrepreneur Award, Telstra Health 2022 Brilliant Women in Digital Health Award, and the 2021 Women in AI Healthcare Award.
Dr Perugini will bring her proven strengths in commercialising research to a critical role at UniSA, leading its intellectual property (IP) and research translation activities including as CEO of UniSA Ventures, the University’s commercialisation subsidiary.
UniSA Director of Enterprise Partnerships, Peter Stevens, said “I am delighted to welcome Dr Michelle Perugini back to UniSA, in this key strategic role.
“UniSA has a strong legacy in research translation through the creation of startups, and growth of entrepreneurs and IP licencing, now centralised through our Enterprise Hub.”
The University is a global top 100 university for industry, and number one in Australia for industry collaborations and income. It has executed well over 100 commercial deals from emerging research in the past decade and created more than 30 spin-out companies.
“While Australia has a strong reputation for discovery research, it has a relatively poor record for translation compared to other geographies such as the USA, Europe, and UK,” Stevens said.
“This newly created position recognises the critical importance of research translation and innovation, including the crucial role universities play in commercialising research to grow the Australian economy and improve lives around the world.”
Dr Perugini said, “I have a deep appreciation for the complexity of university research commercialisation and I am excited to bring my academic and commercial experience to UniSA to work with its outstanding researchers and commercialisation team.
“I am looking forward to helping expand UniSA’s impressive outcomes in research commercialisation, and facilitating partnerships between more of its innovative researchers, and industry and investor partners.”
