ASTN Co-Founder James Demetriou AM appointed Honorary Enterprise Fellow

ASTN Co-Founder and Founding Chair James Demetriou AM, FGIA has been appointed as an Honorary Enterprise Fellow in the School of Computing and Information Systems, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Melbourne. Started in 2012, ASTN has grown into one of the world's significant sports technology innovation ecosystem boasting more than $7 billion in economic growth value add generated by more than 900 companies which employ more than 20,000 people. As an innovation intermediary, ASTN now connects Australian sports technology companies with government, universities, health organisations and global markets.

James’ appointment at the University of Melbourne now formally bridges ASTN's industry network with one of the world's top 40 universities and Australia's leading research and innovation ecosystem:

Research partnership access

ASTN member companies now have a facilitated link into UoM's Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, the Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre, the Genesis Pre-Seed Fund and the ARC Training Centre for Transformative Health Sensing Technologies including its 21 partner organisations.

Commercialisation pathways

James' role within the UoM ecosystem accelerates the pathway for ASTN members to access university IP, joint research programs, researchers and postdoctoral talent who can work directly with industry partners on product development and market validation.

International network access

UoM's global research partnerships across Japan, the UK, Europe and the USA complement access for ASTN members building international market pathways into those markets that Australia's sports, health and medtech technology companies need to reach to scale.

Health and aged care translation

James' doctoral research at UoM examines systematic innovation capabilities in elite organisations and directly informs how sportstech transfers into health, aged care, occupational safety and defence markets.

"The University of Melbourne has been central to my career. Being formally part of that university community as an Honorary Enterprise Fellow gives me the opportunity to bring the full ASTN industry network into the university ecosystem in a structured and meaningful way. For ASTN members looking to access research partnerships, funding programs, talent pipelines and international market connections, this is a bridge I intend to make work for the sector”, said James Demetriou.

This appointment is further recognition of a career that has already earned James the Member of the Order of Australia in the 2025 King's Birthday Honours for significant service to sport, education and business and the ASTN Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024.