Ultimo’s ‘Silicon Valley’ to bring 10,000 new jobs to Sydney
A mini-Silicon Valley to rival key tech hubs such as Hudson Yards in New York City is set for Sydney after Australian tech giant Atlassian announced it will join with the NSW government in a project expected to create thousands of jobs.
Business
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An “innovation precinct” from Central Station to Eveleigh in Sydney will be “Australia’s version of Silicon Valley”, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said today.
Announcing the industry tech hub in Ultimo, Ms Berejiklian said it was expected to attract 10,000 new jobs to Sydney.
“We’ll make sure that every person around the world wants to work here…. for those tech innovation jobs,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“It will be Australia’s version of Silicon Valley.”
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A NSW Government taskforce, headed by Jobs for NSW chair David Thodey, will be created to run the design and development of the new technology and innovation precinct, and will include the University of Technology Sydney, University of Sydney and Sydney Business Chamber and industry experts.
“This is our Silicon Valley right here, right in the heart of Sydney,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“The precinct will be a creator of jobs but also an incubator for those best ideas in the world.
She said the State Government was investigating what land it might be able to contribute to building the precinct.
“The sky is the limit,” Ms Berejiklian said. “Initially (it will be) the Southern Hemisphere’s key technology hub and why not take on the world?
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The State Government expects the technology precinct to revitalise the inner city Central to Eveleigh area as well as retain its unique heritage.
Central to Eveleigh is already home to Australia’s largest cluster of start-up firms, Ms Berejiklian said.
Atlassian chief executive Scott Farquhar said successful innovation hubs around the world, from Silicon Valley to Tel Aviv usually came from “a centre of gravity – a place the start-up community calls home”.
“Sydney has the potential to be of one of the world’s leading tech cities and the creation of a tech hub sends a very loud signal – not only to the country, but to the rest of the world – that we’re in the race,” he said.
Sydney Business Chamber executive director Patricia Forsythe said the transformation of this area, which includes more than 50 hectares of government-owned land, was important to the future development of the Sydney economy.
She said it was a significant as the revisioning of the State Abattoir to become Sydney Olympic Park, or the dockland that was transformed into Barangaroo.
“Across the world large underutilised industrial sites are being transformed into key economic hubs such as Hudson Yards in New York City and the opportunities for the Central to Eveleigh corridor with two major universities, Sydney TAFE and an emerging start-up community to become a centre of new industries is strong,” Mrs Forsythe said.