Edhem “Eddie” Čustović (Choostovich) has been an active IEEE member since 2010, when as a Ph.D. student, he established the La Trobe University Student Branch in Melbourne, Australia. Since then, Eddie has not looked back holding dozens of senior leadership roles within the IEEE including Chair of the IEEE Victorian Section, member-at-large at one of IEEE’s major board Publication Services and Products, Vice-Chair of the Young Professionals global committee and most recently he was the chair of the Industry Engagement Committee and Industry Advisory Committee appointed by the IEEE Board of Directors. In 2016, Eddie founded the grassroots entrepreneurship program, ‘IEEE Innovation Nation’ that has to date educated hundreds of young upcoming entrepreneurs in developing economies.
Eddie is an experienced engineer and problem-solver as well as a founder and owner of numerous businesses. He is an entrepreneur, thought leader, mentor, philanthropist and global citizen. His entrepreneurial mindset is partly “genetically encoded” and partly influenced by the environment he grew up in as he likes to say. As a 7-year-old, Eddie fled with his family from the civil war in the former Yugoslavia and found shelter in Switzerland. This is where Eddie and his brother took their first entrepreneurial steps by learning how to recycle glass and plastic bottles at local shopping centers. It wasn’t long until the Custovic brothers had an “army” of refugee children working for them, collecting bottles and cans and thus cleaning entire suburbs of Zurich (Switzerland) to turn into cash. “I remember making our first thousand Swiss Francs at 8 years old. Our parents thought we robbed someone. Turns out we had a knack for making the best out of any situation. We are a product of our environment. Spending almost 4 years as a refugee without a proper home instils survival instinct into anyone”, says Eddie.
Today, his motivation is to use the powers of engineering, education, networking, entrepreneurial mindset and the spirit of positive change to empower individuals and grow local economies while delivering the scientific advancements of our finest minds for the benefit of future generations. His multicultural background, multilingualism and ‘borderless’ approach to work enable him to take a politically and culturally sensitive perspective on life, volunteer roles, and professional career. His passion for innovation, design thinking and entrepreneurship that have culminated into a deep commitment to making positive change for the world. For him, the intersection between scientific innovation and human empowerment is where we can really “disrupt the future”.
By day, he is an academic and coordinator of the Work Integrated Learning program in the School of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, La Trobe University. He is also the founder/director of the La Trobe Innovation & Entrepreneurship Foundry (LIEF), an interdisciplinary think tank, and he has secured millions of dollars for R & D projects in infrastructure, program and travel grants in a variety of sectors including defence, communications, power, food & agriculture, automotive, health, sports technology and civil/construction. His current research encompasses work with four of five La Trobe University’s Research Focused Areas; Building Healthy Communities, Securing Food Water and Environment, Transforming Human Society and Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation. He has founded and co-founded numerous companies where he still plays an active role in, including Scientific Instruments Australia where he serves as managing director.
In 2015, with his brother he founded the Bosnia & Herzegovina Futures Foundation that empowers youth through education, technology, mobility, & leadership development. Their life goal & vision is to bring positive change to a country that has been ravaged by war & ethnic division. Eddie is a regular contributor to online & print media, TV & radio globally.