Robyn Denholm, chair of the Tech Council of Australia and also Tesla Board Chair, reckons opportunity exists in south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales to become the nation’s newest tech corridor.
She told the QUT Business Leaders’ Forum yesterday that the region was offering a “new way forward” for the Australian economy, which had traditionally relied on selling primary produce and resources to the world.
“While mining and agriculture will always be a strong pillar for our economy…in order to compete on the global economic stage, our economy cannot afford to forever rely on the luck of our natural resources,” she said.
“If we do not act now to forge a new vision for what the Australian economy will look like in the next decade, our luck just may run out.”
There are a few things to unpack here. For starters, we’ve been hearing for y e a r s that Australia needs to emerge out of the Mining Boom and into the Ideas Boom. And while that was a specific tagline from former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s $1 billion innovation passion project that got thrown out with the trash when his successor Scott Morrison took helm, it was a sentiment that has since continued. Current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his party used such an idea for its pre-election campaign, with Science and Innovation Minister Ed Husic mentioning it a few times since. But while this is nothing new, it’s getting annoying that it’s still being repeated in 2023.
But Denholm is optimistic.
“These days we have amazing world-beating companies born and bred right here in Queensland,” she said.
“Many people in Sydney and Melbourne are surprised – and perhaps a little indignant – when I tell them that south-east Queensland is a leading light in a vibrant start-up ecosystem in Australia.”
Which brings us to the second thing to unpack. What even is a tech corridor? Well, it’s an area where tech companies/startups/innovators/incubators all sort-of exist in the one space and produce great things. The idea is that the tech fiends all gather in the one area, akin to what we now know as Silicon Valley. There have been numerous attempts at a tech corridor in Australia, NSW Tech Central precinct also comes to mind, as does the Victorian government’s campaign to get international firms to set up a HQ in Melbourne. But there’s no real area that we can point to and go “that’s where all the tech companies are”. Which brings us back to Denholm’s thoughts.
It would be great, no doubt, but these are just thoughts.