Benchmarking report calls on government to sell Sydney’s global tech skills to investors

Sydney has been ranked on the world stage with the results showing where the city shines compared to global cities and where it needs to improve. See how it stacked up and have your say here.

Sydney has been ranked against 19 global peer cities.

Sydney is missing out on overseas investment and talent because it is failing to sell itself beyond beaches and the Harbour bridge, a new report has found.

The Committee for Sydney’s biennial Benchmarking report released on Wednesday found the city was among the best for tech start-ups and computer start-ups but was failing to tell that to the world.

The Committee’s chief executive Eamon Waterford said it was up to the NSW Government to explain to investors and businesses globally that there was more to Sydney than beaches and the Harbour bridge.

“Our brand is old fashioned,” he said.

“People looking to invest or move to Sydney are not aware that we have globally competitive tech and engineering sectors and our cultural production is at an all time high.”

Sydney is globally recognised for the city’s beautiful beaches, like Bondi Beach. Picture: Jenny Evans/Getty

Sydney’s culture was ranked third across the peer cities. Picture: Don Arnold

The report measures Sydney against cities that share the same characteristics and challenges as Sydney including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dubai, Hong Kong, Miami, San Francisco, Singapore, Stockholm and Toronto.

It found Sydney was top for the number of female start-up founders and a leader for high tech careers and for access to nature and green office space.

Mr Waterford said those selling points would only improve once current transport infrastructure projects came online. That is the message we need to sell,” he said.

However the city trailed its rivals in other areas particularly around housing affordability and the cost of living with it coming bottom for the cost of public transport.

“We are going to lose investment and talent if the housing crisis is not addressed and people cannot afford to live here,” Mr Waterford said.

“The NSW Government strategy of increasing housing density around transport hubs will improve those problems over time,” he said. “But not by the time we do our next report.”

The peer cities Sydney was reviewed against.

One of the start-up companies thriving in Sydney is agriculture technology pioneer Loam Bio which is developing ways to store carbon in soil and now employs 130 people in four countries.

Loam Bio’s global talent acquisition manager Amy Halligan moved from working with Google and Facebook in Singapore to join the company in Sydney and was surprised to find there was more to the city than just nice beaches.

Loam Bio Global Talent Acquisition Manager Amy Halligan and Chief Of Staff Jaime Painter. The Committee for Sydney Benchmarking report shows that dynamic start-up tech companies are Sydney’s hidden powerhouse. Picture: Richard Dobson

“A lot of people move here because of the lifestyle but then they find a professional upside working with a very diverse and high calibre team from all over the world,” she said.

Loam Bio also has strong links with the bush and chief of staff Jaime Painter said that she was delighted to find that a global city maintained close regional links.

“Sydney is a world class city that maintains its ties to the regions,” she said. “We live in a city that has a great lifestyle but also an incredible array of talented people. Many do not realise that until they move here.”

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