Griffith University App Factory moves into Cohort co-working space in Southport’s Health and Knowledge precinct

Top tech minds with a commercial bent have left their Gold Coast lecture buildings for a new home among the Glitter Strip’s entrepreneurs.

TOP tech minds with a commercial bent have left their Gold Coast lecture buildings for a new home among the glitter strip’s entrepreneurs.

Griffith University’s App Factory, a student application development group, has moved from the campus across the road to the co-working space COHORT in Southport’s Health and Knowledge precinct.

The move is aimed at allowing the city’s future potential “Steve Jobs” – the late co-founder of Apple – to work alongside entrepreneurs already in the business world, and test their technical skills.

The App Factory, which started in 2013, is already responsible for a number of apps including the Gold Coast Heritage app, a CliniHelp app for patients with chronic fatigue, and a disability services app called AccessGC.

Team members of the App Factory: Carl Albrecht, Ryoma Ohira, Dr Sebastian Binnewies, Jake Hashim-Jones and Cailen Robertson in Cohort at Parkwood. Picture: Glenn Hampson

App Factory director Dr Sebastian Binnewies said the new location would allow students to jump into the real world. “Within the next five years we would like to establish strategic innovation partnerships with external clients,” Dr Binnewies said.

He said students would also be able to hone skills that could not be learned in the classroom, such as communication and project management.

“The new space will make Griffith students uniquely qualified for the industry,” he said.

Once established within COHORT, the App Factory was expected to drive collaborations with industry and research partners.

PhD student Ryoma Ohira, who works as a project manager and business analyst for the App Factory, said before the move there was a lack of opportunity to develop ideas into a product.

“The new location exposes us to the culture and processes involved in launching a start-up but also provides access to the experience to help us kickstart those ideas.”