About Us

Marea Fatseas (Managing Director) set up Ideas Connect® in 2006 to pursue her passion for connecting people and ideas to help bring about innovation.

She is committed to supporting innovation aimed at addressing challenges such as climate change and environmental sustainability, and improving education, human health and well-being, including in developing countries.

She has over 25 years of public and private sector management experience, including in:

  • Building effective working relationships with a wide range of organisations in Australia and internationally;
  • Developing and implementing policies, strategies and programs;
  • Monitoring and evaluating performance, and introducing business process improvements;
  • Undertaking market research to underpin effective marketing strategies.

Marea has special expertise in managing funding programs, and in advising on large-scale collaborations, such as Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs), that bring together the providers and users of research. From 2002 to 2005 she was Manager of the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres Program that, at that time, provided up to $200 million annually to around 70 Centres.

Since establishing Ideas Connect®, she has advised government departments, research organisations, universities and companies on multi-million dollar grant programs and proposals.

Marea has extensive experience engaging effectively with international organisations and foreign governments. She has specific expertise on Vietnam. The Australian Government posted her there in 1994-98 to implement bilateral cooperative activities in education and training and workforce development. As the first Vietnam Director, Australian Education International, she managed market research and marketing programs, and an information and advisory service for Australian education and training institutions interested in becoming active there.

More recently, Marea has assisted clients with their projects and activities in Vietnam. She speaksVietnamese and has completed Vietnam-focused postgraduate studies.

Qualifications
MBA
MA Asian Studies
BSc Psychology (Hons) and sociology major
Diploma in Humanities

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