Simmo (NSW north coast) has forwarded us a timely article by Edwina Cameron. Extracts follow.
Australia needs more serial entrepreneurs and less dependence on government support, according to Colin Graham from the Sunshine Coast Innovation Centre – a Queensland Government-backed incubator. He moved from Scotland to establish the incubator five years ago. About 30 businesses have passed through the facility – 27 are still operating. He says the incubator is vital in building a critical mass of knowledge-based businesses on the Sunshine Coast. “It is definitely maturing as a location…about 10 years ago, the University of the Sunshine Coast started and it’s a big part of the change that’s gone on…the university has just over 5,000 students and it’s on track to have 15,000 students by 2020.”
While government support is vital at certain parts of the entrepreneurial process, he believes there is too much reliance on hand outs in this country. “There’s an awful lot of government in Australia, and Australia has got a few things in common with Scotland in that in Scotland there’s a bit of a grant mentality going on…the better question than ‘where’s my grant?’ is ‘where’s my customer? There’s a lot of government support out there that is excellent and does have an impact, but you can’t use it to support your business. Mr. Graham guesses that part of the reason there has been no significant knowledge boom is that a lot of entrepreneurs end up moving away from Australia. “We need some more good success stories, like Mincom,” he said. “Microsoft has got its Microsoft millionaires, we could have our Mincom millionaires.”
Tags: Region - Asia Pacific
