Melbourne: The Tech from Down Under
Melbourne. World’s most liveable city in seven of the last eight years. In tech, it has firmly established itself as a thriving ecosystem, winning ‘Tech Capital of Australia’ in 2017. Victoria’s capital has benefited from dedicated city council involvement and is not only attracting a substantial number of startups, but it is also investing heavily in IoT infrastructure to bring it in line with other global smart cities.
Victoria State Perks
As the capital of Victoria, Melbourne acts as the hub for the state’s booming tech industry. Victoria’s ICT industry generates A$34 billion in revenue annually, and employs over 91,000 people. Melbourne is home to more than half of Australia’s top 20 tech companies, while industry giants have dedicated research and product centres in the city, including the IBM Studios.
Melbourne’s tech sector also benefits from strong support from the Victorian State government. LaunchVic was started in March 2016 as an independent agency designed to develop the state’s startup ecosystem, providing access to funding opportunities and other key support to early-stage innovative businesses.
A Strong ICT Industry
The Victorian government provides a range of programs and incentives for R&D of technology products and infrastructure. One of these is the Victorian Technology Plan for the Future — an A$85 million scheme which supports growth and innovation across a number of areas. As a city, Melbourne also has a large number of technical colleges that focus on industry-based learning, with more than 1,400 accredited courses on offer.
Melbourne also benefits from a steady stream of international ICT specialists adding to the city’s talent pool, thanks largely to its proximity to Asian markets.
IoT Growth and Smart City Evolution
Investment in the Internet of Things infrastructure in Melbourne is continuing to grow, with a healthy supply of specialist firms working within the sphere. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) in particular has been forecasted to grow 20–40% per annum, reaching US$1bn by 2020.
The City of Melbourne Council has set down a roadmap to utilise this IoT technology for the purposes of smart city infrastructure. In a partnership with Vision Australia, the council has piloted a beacon technology that transmits location-specific information to mobile phones in order to aid deaf and blind individuals. There is also a universally accessible Open Data platform, including a 24-hour pedestrian counting system, which will be utilised to better understand footfall in the city, and subsequently aid future urban planning.
Melbourne also hosts the IoT Festival, which is one of the industry’s biggest events in Australia, bringing together established tech leaders and emerging startups from across the Asia-Pacific.
Video Games Industry
Victoria boasts a vibrant games industry, with more than 130 companies and 800 employees. More than half of Australia’s video game industry income is generated here. This is predicted to grow to $3.3 billion by 2020. Melbourne acts as a hub for the state’s success — not only is the city home to the Game Developers’ Association of Australia (GDAA), but also The Arcade, which is an innovative not-for-profit coworking space for Australia’s digital games development community.
Melbourne has also become the only other city outside of the US to host the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), which is one of the largest video game expos in the world. On top of this, Melbourne city centre is home to EA’s largest mobile development studio, responsible for games like Sims Freeplay.
Cloud Technology
The largest cloud hub in the Asia-Pacific is found in Melbourne, and more cloud-based companies are located here than in any other Australian city.
Like other areas of tech, Melbourne offers SAAS companies and investors generous R&D tax rates, and there are tough national intellectual property laws which encourage companies of all sizes to base their operations here. Telstra, Australia’s largest telco, opened a A$100 million cloud centre in the city, and is also spending A$800 million on a cloud architecture development program.
Melbourne, despite its relative distance from other international hubs, is proving to be one of the most rounded investors in and facilitators of tech development. Do you think it’s the ideal location to launch our next blockchain-enabled shared workspaces for the tech community? We want you to have your say. Nominate the city you think we should launch in next here.
