- The NSW government has announced it will establish a new technology industry hub in Sydney, at the south end of the city.
- Atlassian Co-founder Scott Farquhar says that the plan sends “a really strong signal to the world that Sydney is open for business for technology, the largest industry on the planet.”
- The hub’s ambition is to be home to 10,000 new jobs by 2036.
The goal is to make the brightest and best minds on the planet wanting to work here.
The government hopes the precinct, at the south end of the Sydney CBD between Central station and Eveleigh, will cement the city’s reputation as the innovation capital of Australia.
A taskforce, headed by Jobs for NSW chair David Thodey, will lead design and development of the new precinct.
Co-CEO and co-founder of Atlassian Scott Farquhar said it would help the next generation of tech startups grow.
“Fifteen years ago there was no technology precinct or technology industry in Australia,” said Farquhar, speaking at a launch at ProtoSpace, an advanced manufacturing facility at the University of Sydney.
“As computer science graduates the best we could hope for was working at a bank or a consultancy organisation… and Mike and I weren’t up for that. So with a healthy dose of naivety we started out on our own.”
“Fast-forward to today, Sydney now has a thriving tech industry. We have VC… we have great universities, we have lots of startups, we have tech incubators, and we have co-working spaces, but what we’ve been missing until today is a home.”
The NSW Government seems to be backing innovation, tech and startups all the way.
The Premier, Gladys Berijiklian would not put a cost against the project. She said the state government has already dedicated “quite a few dollars” in relation to supporting existing startups and will potentially forgo on land for the development of this new precinct – being ‘Australia’s version of Silicon Valley’.
The new unnamed precinct in Eveleigh will work separately but in compliment with the recently launched $35 million Sydney Startup Hub near Wynyard Station.
