John Shi-Nash is the Director of Strategy for the recently announced Macquarie Park Innovation District (MPID) – a world-class, collaborative ecosystem where researchers, entrepreneurs and some of the world’s most-recognised businesses will come together to incubate creativity and find unique solutions to global and community issues. John took a quick break from his role to answer a few questions.

I’ve been at Macquarie for…
Almost five months now.

In a nutshell, my job is to…
Translate Macquarie Park into a true innovation district while increasing collaboration and providing opportunities for our students, researchers and local community.

The question I hear most often in my work is…
‘What’s with your name?’ My wife Amy’s last name is ‘Shi,’ and mine was ‘Nash,’ so when we got married, it only seemed fair to join the names together. We’re the only ones with this last name on the planet (so far)!

The top three things on my to-do list today are…
1) Meet key people in the University, government and industry.
2) Work out how we can measure in real time the impact of collaboration and innovation on the University, wider community and economy.
3) Working on our plans for MPID to create maximum opportunities for collaboration, internships, entrepreneurship and incubation.

If I could do any other job at Macquarie, it would be…
‘Entrepreneur in residence,’ working with start-ups to help them convert their concepts into successful, viable businesses. OK so that role doesn’t exist yet, but it might when we get the start-up ecosystem thriving here!

Name a Macquarie staff member who impressed you last week…
Amanda Dodds from Group Marketing and the whole creative and PR team, who have really pushed the creative boundaries on the MPID project, gone the extra mile to deliver superb marketing communications in a short time frame, and generally been fun, challenging and incredibly professional.

Outside work, you’ll often find me…
Playing jazz guitar (or trying to), cooking, hiking in the national parks, sailing (when I get a ride), or coming up with the next crazy start-up idea!

I’m really looking forward to…
Seeing our family in the UK and Beijing this year as we haven’t been back for a while now.

The most amazing place I’ve ever visited is…
The high desert in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico – it’s a whole lot of nothing with beautiful pink and orange rocks under a blue expansive sky. It has space to think, very much like being on the ocean.

In ten years from now, I hope to be…
Playing better jazz guitar, still exploring the great outdoors and building something significant with great people.

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Learn more about MPID and what it means for the University.