For a week from 21 September, thousands of founders, venture capitalists, policymakers and startup enthusiasts come together at over 100 sessions, right across Tech Central and NSW – with the aim of improving the dialogue between startups, government and investors.
And the best part? Everything is free – with everyone from investment banks to Parliament House throwing open their doors. Head over to spark.org.au to see the full program.
Here are 10 top sessions that you shouldn’t miss. Click on the even to book free tickets.
Monday 5pm, UTS Great Hall
This year, the Spark Foundation is being launched at the festival, a registered charity that will provide a permanent voice for Australian startups.
Spark Foundation CEO Harry Godber is delighted to welcome back to Sydney the Hon Arthur Sinodinos AO – flying in from Washington DC, where he has been based since his term as Australia’s Ambassador to the United States.
Arthur will draw on his immense experience as former Minister for Innovation and longtime Chief of Staff to the former prime minister John Howard, and will speak with Harry alongside Ranya Alkadamani, former press secretary to former PM Kevin Rudd.
In launching the Spark Foundation, Ranya and Arthur will reflect on the dialogue between startups and government in Australia, and how it diverges from the US and other major innovation ecosystems around the world.
Tuesday 11am, University of Sydney Knowledge Hub, Darlington
The University of Sydney’s startup accelerator is putting on a session that no early-stage founder can miss. You’ll hear from an incredible smorgasbord of resources for startup funding and support, all in one (very large) room.
Meet representatives from Investment NSW’s Office of the Chief Scientist and Engineer, Therapeutic Innovation Australia, CSIRO ON, Cicada Innovations, Uniseed, IP Group and the Advanced Manufacturing Readiness Facility.
A catered lunch follows so you can talk to the speakers directly.
Tuesday 12:30pm, Stone & Chalk, Haymarket
Redundancies and terminations are part and parcel of a high-growth startup as it evolves. But in 2026 founders across Australia have been hit with a barrage of AI-generated Fair Work claims and other employment disputes, often with no reasonable grounds.
Hear from two of Australia’s leading employment law practitioners on responding to those claims effectively and affordably, and on the employment arrangements that protect a company before one arrives – Michael Gonski, Partner at HSF Kramer, and Dominic Woolrych, cofounder of LawPath.
Tuesday 6pm, UTS Startups @ Tech Central
A multi-billion dollar proptech investor, a political commentator and a global construction software leader will join us next Tuesday evening for a fascinating Spark Festival discussion on our housing crisis.
Everyone agrees on housing. Build more, build faster — you’d struggle to find a politician or an industry body who’d say otherwise. Meanwhile, the search for answers on affordability has reached into capital gains treatment, and much of that has landed on the tech sector — the same sector we keep saying will help solve the problem. So: is the industry that could fix housing the one being asked to pay for it?
Spark Festival CEO Harry Godber will be joined by Reality Proptech Fund’s Chen Rosen, Procore’s Andy Rampton and political commentator Kristy McSweeney for a fascinating conversation.
Wednesday 8am, Parliament House (sold out)
Thursday 5pm, Google HQ, Pyrmont
Parliament House has thrown open its doors to the startup community for a critical conversation about AI sovereignty – hosted by the Parliamentary Friends of INVENT (MP Jason Yat-Sen Li and MLC the Hon Jacqui Munro MLC) and Decidr. This is such a hot topic that we sold out the entire Parliament House theatre within an hour!
But never fear – our friends at Google have invited us into their Pyrmont HQ for a second session on this critical issue, on Thursday evening. You’ll hear from industry experts including Google’s top engineers, and participate in a hands-on workshop with frontier AI tools. Speaking at Google are Decidr’s David Brudenell, LegalQuants’ Raymond, and Google engineers Ramesh Heidary and Brett Morgan.
All day, Wednesday and Thursday, UTS Startups @ Tech Central
This year, Spark is taking over UTS Startups for two days of practical problem-solving for people building and growing startups. Hosted by Passionberry’s Geoff Main, every session starts with a specific problem, then brings in someone who has actually solved it to show how: the systems, the decisions, the numbers, the mistakes and what they would do differently.
Sessions run across finding your first customers, scaling GTM, community-led growth, making AI products usable, AI video, cloud costs, raising capital, R&D and grants, SEO and AI search, scaling teams, and building a personal brand that creates real business value.
Register for the whole stream, or come for one or two – we have 20+ incredible sessions listed at the link above.
Wednesday 5:30pm, Cicada Innovations, Eveleigh
Join us for an inspiring evening with Australia’s deep tech innovators.
CSIRO’s ON Innovation Program is proud to collaborate with Cicada Innovations on the Deep Tech Mixer, bringing together founders, researchers and industry leaders driving the translation of scientific research into exciting new products and services.
This evening will explore how cutting‑edge research and technology are being transformed into globally relevant solutions.
Louise Brown cofounder of HydGene and Ben Wilkinson cofounder of Syenta will be sharing their research translation stories about how they enable on-site, low-cost green hydrogen production from waste biomass, and accelerate AI computing through advanced semiconductor packaging technology.
Wednesday 5:30pm, BCG Sydney
Governments everywhere are grappling with how agentic AI will reshape policy, service delivery and the machinery of the public sector itself.
This Town Hall brings together global leaders from government, strategy consulting and critical infrastructure to explore what that transformation looks like in practice, and what it takes to deliver it.
Spark Foundation’s CEO Harry Godber and Board Director Maria MacNamara will be joined by legendary former minister the Hon. Victor Dominello (CEO, Future Government Institute), Miguel Carrasco (Managing Director and Senior Partner, BCG and BCG-X) and Brad Eliot (former CTO, IMI Media). This event is sold out in-person but you can register for a live stream at the link above.
Thursday 1:30pm, Tech Central Innovation Hub, Haymarket
Join the Investment NSW team for a Lunch & Learn hosted by Tech Ready Women’s Renata Crollini, exploring the top challenges that four founders have faced as they’ve scaled.
AirLabOne’s Dr Mariam Mnatsakanyan, Algenie’s Nick Hazell, Undatech’s Emily Pyke and VueMotion’s David Klineberg will share stories of their biggest setbacks, the decisions that mattered, winning customers, and what they would tell someone at the start of the startup journey. Light lunch on arrival.
Friday 4pm, UTS Startups @ Tech Central
The festival closes with the community that made it. Spark Foundation CEO Harry Godber is joined by Tech Council of Australia Director the Hon. Paul Fletcher, former Minister and Member for Bradfield of more than 15 years.
They’ll discuss the state of technology policy in Australia and what founders need to know about dealing with – and selling to – government, and we’ll look back at the highlights of a jam-packed festival week over drinks.
The full program stretches right across Sydney, Parramatta, Wollongong and more with over 100 sessions!
Visit spark.org.au/festival to sign up and download the official calendar.
- Editor’s note: Startup Daily editor Simon Thomsen will join PR leader Marie Dowling in the conversation ‘Is Media Relations Startups’ Most Underrated Growth and Trust Lever?’ at UTS Startups on September 24. Details here.
