Employability starts with the skills to solve problems with real-world constraints. After bringing one of its biggest challenges to Innovator Pro students, Liverpool City Council is ready to put fresh ideas to the test.
How do you make sure government services and programs engage people across 140 diverse communities?
That’s Liverpool City Council’s biggest challenge.
“That includes making sure we can prioritise not only the amenity but also ensuring that there is something for people to do,” says Jason Breton, CEO, Liverpool City Council.
Liverpool is part of South Western Sydney, one of Australia’s faster growing regions. With 10,000 students predicted to be attending a Liverpool-based university campus by 2030, the council has a significant opportunity to tap into the area’s growth.
As a strategic UNSW partner, the council knows the value that students’ perspectives can bring to a problem. Liverpool City Council collaborated with UNSW Employability’s Innovator Pro program to draw on the creativity and fresh perspectives of 90 students across various faculties.
Connecting with industry to solve real-world problems
UNSW Employability’s Innovator Pro is an intrapreneurship program where students across all disciplines and stages of their degree come together to work on a real-world challenge set by an industry partner.
For partners like Liverpool City Council, it provides unrivalled access to fresh thinking and offers the opportunity to shape future leaders. And for students, it offers innovation workshops, direct industry mentorship and experience, collaboration and pitching ideas.
That’s precisely the experience Dylan, a master’s student studying finance, wants on his CV. That’s why he applied for Innovator Pro in Term 2, 2026.
“I signed up because of employability and being able to consult and solve real-world problems working with industry specialists,” he says. “And I like taking on a challenge. It was a perfect opportunity.”
Designing a vibrant entertainment precinct for Liverpool
With five university campuses, an innovation precinct and major commercial and administrative centres, Liverpool offers countless services for locals and visitors during the day. But after dark, the city goes quiet. Council wants to turn the CBD into a place people choose to spend time in, connect and return to – day and night.
Anna Rizos, Manager Customer Experience at Liverpool City Council, says UNSW’s presence in South Western Sydney means its students offer a new and local take.
“We want to give young people a voice and hear their ideas for making our city a place everybody will want to come work, be a part of and stay,” Rizos says. “We also want to build their skills and confidence, so when they take on leadership roles, they're looking at what's best for the community.”
With a $200,000 grant to kickstart the development of a Special Entertainment Precinct (SEP), Rizos and the Liverpool Council team set Innovator Pro students a brief:
“How might Liverpool evolve from a place people use for services into a place people choose to spend time, connect, and return to by better integrating everyday needs with public spaces, events, transport, education, and local activity in ways that are practical, scalable and measurable?”
Stress-testing ideas
The program kicked off with students spending two days in workshops with Council, followed by five days working in teams on ways to activate the precinct through tourism attractions, urban planning or activities and events, before pitching these by video.
Industry mentors helped the top five teams sharpen their pitches for ‘the finals evening’ where students pitched live, competing for industry experience prizes.
For third-year Bachelor of Commerce and Science student Talia, it was a chance to put what she’s learned at university into practice.
“It gave us the opportunity to collaborate with stakeholders in real time and get insight into how we can apply our skills in real life,” she says. “We also got to practice and enhance our communication and collaboration skills by working in teams, and pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zone.”
Talia Rossi presents her team’s project to the audience. © UNSW 2026
For Liverpool City Council, the students’ input was invaluable.
“They're the best temperature gauge of what students need and want,” Council CEO, Jason Breton says. “We heard really interesting ideas about how we can uncouple some of the constraints around lighting, parking and library services. These ideas come from students’ experiences of living, studying and working in the area.”
The winning pitch, ‘Liverpool Quarter’, proposed a series of precincts across Liverpool that bring together community, entertainment and business.
“There are a number of easy wins there,” Breton says. “We’re planning to do some trials, staged events and other things that are a low or minimal cost to the council to stress-test and maybe take forward.”
An ecosystem of innovation
UNSW has been active in South Western Sydney for more than 35 years, working with industry partners through Employability programs like Innovator Pro.
These programs pair students with organisations to work on complex challenges, helping solve real problems for industry partners while preparing tomorrow’s leaders to shape the future they want to see.
“The Innovator Pro program brings together industry, council and students,” adds Rizos. “We've got residents in the room. There's so much collaboration.”
For a council working out how to engage 140 different communities, that room is a good place to start.
Want to get involved? Find out more about UNSW Employability’s Innovator Pro program.
Join UNSW's leading intrapreneur program.
Learn more about our Innovator Pro program with UNSW Employability