The Western Australian government today launched the blueprint for the country's biggest technology precinct exclusively dedicated to the ICT industry.
The goal is to establish Western Australia as an innovation leader and attract ICT investment competing against other states and territories that have undertaken similar initiatives.
WA Industry and Enterprise Minister Francis Logan said the Bentley Technology Precinct would establish Western Australia as a dynamic technology-driven destination and secure its international standing as an innovation leader.
He said the precinct boasted cutting-edge architecture and eco-friendly services.
"It will be Australia's Silicon Valley - but with soul," the Minister said.
"The Bentley Technology Precinct will become a destination where business meets research and research has access to business; where knowledge is shared among companies and partnerships are established.
"The precinct will become a lifestyle, integrating people, business, technology and education within an energetic and vibrant environment.
"Cafes, bars and restaurants will become boardrooms and central, shared facilities will provide mentoring and support for companies at all stages of commercialisation.
"The precinct will be an environment where established businesses can grow and new businesses have opportunities and support to develop, further strengthening the future growth of the state's economy."
The existing 42ha Bentley Technology Park was already one of the biggest in Australia, but will increase seven-fold to create the 314ha ICT precinct.
It will be home to telecommunications, information services and computer gaming companies, as well as companies that service this sector including specialised lawyers, patent specialists and financial houses.
Logan said the state government had committed $8.55million for the initial infrastructure requirements for the long-term project.
He said the precinct would feature one of the fastest transmission networks in Australia, allowing business to interact with others, faster and cheaper.
A $2.2million investment would see the construction of a high-speed fibre network within the existing park that would be linked to the CBD and provide initial connection speeds of one gigabit per second.
It would eventually be expanded to incorporate the whole precinct, with upgrades in connection speeds up to 10 gigabits per second.
Architecture would be complemented with innovative images, as buildings used revolutionary technologies to broadcast messages to people on the streets.
The draft structure plan for the precinct was developed in consultation with the neighbouring Curtin University of Technology, City of South Perth, Town of Victoria Park, government departments, industry, academia, researchers and the community.
Page Break
Curtin University of Technology vice-chancellor, Professor Jeanette Hacket, said the precinct provided a tremendous opportunity for students and graduates to work hand-in-hand with the ICT sector, providing an environment to seamlessly exchange information and employment possibilities.
"On an international level, universities that have collaborated with technology precincts in the past have been highly successful in delivering strong technological outcomes," Professor Hacket said.
Local Victoria Park MP, Ben Wyatt said WA, and Bentley in particular, would become known as a destination of ICT-related activities and companies involved in emerging technologies.
"The Bentley Technology Precinct will become the heart of the state's ICT industry and Australia's biggest dedicated ICT destination," Wyatt said.
Logan said numerous ICT companies from around the world were looking to move into the precinct.
The US-based company Interzone, which develops online entertainment products, has already established its game development studio within the precinct.
The precinct faces fierce competition as every state and territory in Australia has undertaken similar initiatives in a bid to attract ICT investment dollars in the past two decades.
For example, Victoria and Queensland have established a number of industry clusters covering ICT, gaming and biotechnology.
Victoria also has a technology park where IBM has established its headquarters for the entire South East Asian region including a regional software solutions centre.
More than $500 million is spent each year on ICT research and development in Victoria with industry giants such as Ericsson, NEC, Nortel and Fujitsu establishing their headquarters in the state, according to Multimedia Victoria.
Australia's first technology park was established in South Australia in 1984. It is located 12km from Adelaide's central business district and there are 70 companies located at the 70-hectare site including Motorola, Tenix, Skunkworks and Vision Systems.
The Australian Technology Park (ATP) located in Sydney is spread over 13.8 hectares and is serviced by fibre-optic cabling, LANs and WANs - even the park's energy needs are met by its own fuel cell (the first in the southern hemisphere) which converts natural gas into electricity.
More than 80 technology companies and four universities now have a presence at the ATP, and it was selected as the initial headquarters for Australia's National ICT Centre of Excellence, NICTA. A key feature of the park is its supercomputing centre - advance computing services (ac3) - a cooperative venture between the NSW government and a team of international IT companies.
Page Break
Since 1998 the Queensland government has committed more than $1.5 billion to the life sciences industry as part of a 10 year biotechnology plan. This is in addition to an e-security cluster which boasts the headquarters for a range of IT security companies and start-ups.
While the Northern Territory also has its own technology park which features a range of business incentives to attract investment, Tasmania is home to Australia's call centre industry and is leading Australia's e-health pilots.
In total, Australia's ICT industry contributes 4.6 per cent of GDP, employs 500,000 people and exports $5.7 billion in goods and services.
Meanwhile, the federal Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr, has announced that four international innovation experts have agreed to act as advisors to the government's review of Australia's National Innovation System.
The international experts are: Professor Alan Hughes of the University of Cambridge (UK); Professor Richard Lester of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA); Professor Stan Metcalfe of the University of Manchester (UK) and; Professor Keith Smith from the Australian Innovation Research Centre.
Additional participants in the review include Nick Donofrio, IBM's global vice-president and head of innovation and technology and Professor Mark Dodgson, director of the University of Queensland's technology and innovation management centre.