400 jobs at $400m Entrepreneur and Innovation Centre at Adelaide’s Lot Fourteen

Hundreds of jobs will be created at an Adelaide hi-tech hub billed as a beacon of hope for young people’s future careers.

Up to 400 jobs will be created during construction of a landmark Lot Fourteen building billed as a generator of hi-tech future industries – the $400m Entrepreneur and Innovation Centre.

Premier Steven Marshall will today reveal private equity property company Quintessential Equity will develop the EIC, which is designed for defence, space, tech and cybersecurity businesses.

Aimed at luring global tech firms to Adelaide, the centre has been pitched by Mr Marshall as a beacon of hope because of its potential to stop an exodus of educated, talented people from South Australia.

Early site works and excavation have started for the 16-level, 35,000sq m building – the linchpin of Lot Fourteen, North Terrace’s former Royal Adelaide Hospital site.

An artist’s impression of the Entrepreneur and Innovation Centre, Lot Fourteen.

It is scheduled to be finished in late 2023. The centre will include a flexible, campus-style innovation hub and secure commercial, education, research and networking spaces, along with basement parking space for 300 bikes and a retail and food hall.

“The EIC will be a powerful generator of jobs of the future and represents the next major stage of investment at Lot Fourteen,” Mr Marshall said.

The $722m Lot Fourteen transformation is a key focus of Adelaide’s $551m City Deal, signed in 2019 by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Mr Marshall and Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor. Under the City Deal, the Federal Government has committed $20m to establish the innovation hub on the centre’s ground and first floors.

An artist’s impressions of the ground floor of the Entrepeneur and Innovation Centre.

This year, Lot Fourteen is expected to have attracted 1000 workers, students and researchers, with further growth forecast.

The world’s biggest online retailer, Amazon, on February 8 revealed it would establish a Lot Fourteen office, focusing on artificial intelligence and machine learning research, and also said it planned to create 50 jobs in SA by 2024.

The Australian Space Agency, Australian Space Discovery Centre and Mission Control, Australian Institute for Machine Learning are also based at Lot Fourteen.

Quintessential Equity executive chairman Shane Quinn said the EIC would bolster the State Government’s objective of creating an innovation precinct for the next generation of businesses in SA.

“Technology and flexibility will be deeply embedded in this building, allowing our tenants to attract and retain world leading talent, which is a massive driver in the competitive modern world,” Mr Quinn said.