Dr Werner van der Merwe
Dr Werner van der Merwe is the inaugural Vice President, Innovation and Enterprise at Swinburne University of Technology, charged with invigorating the innovative spirit at Swinburne in partnership with industry.
Since his appointment, Swinburne has become one the most inventive universities in Australia, and owns shares in more startups for its size than any other Australian university. Werner also chairs one of the country’s largest and oldest university venture funds, Swinburne Ventures Limited. In 2025, Swinburne took the bold step of allocating innovation time to every academic, and embedded innovation and engagement as a standalone category in the academic promotion process.
Before joining Swinburne, Werner led the Commercialisation function at CSIRO during a period when the organisation created one of the largest equity portfolios and one of the largest licensing portfolios in Australian research. Prior to joining the public sector, Werner had an extensive career in industry across Africa, North America and Europe in roles that spanned engineering, research and development, and commercial positions.
Werner has a PhD in hydrodynamics, is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and an INSEAD alumni. He has served on the boards of Knowledge Commercialisation Australasia, local manufacturing company Boron Molecular, Swinburne Sarawak, and is an incoming director of the Bionics Institute.
