ICT OPPORTUNITY STUDY IS POSITIVE FOR THE REGION

The study was carried out by Deloitte Growth Solutions, on behalf of the G21 Region Alliance Ltd and led by the G21 Telecommunication Pillar, with half of the study’s funding coming from Multi Media Victoria and matched by the G21 Alliance and its five municipalities, along with contributions from Telstra, Neighbourhood Cable and Optus.

Without pre-empting the findings or the final recommendations of the study, the interim report found that there are well over two hundred ICT business in the Geelong region employing more than 1,000 staff which makes Geelong a major regional player in the ICT industry.

The ICT sector in the Geelong region has been identified as one which will provide significant opportunities for the region based on local strengths in areas such as health, advanced manufacturing, application development, education and training.

While manufacturing will continue to play an important role in the region’s economy, Geelong will rely, more than ever, on diversification into other business sectors in order to guarantee sustainable economic performance in the future.

The ICT industry is seen by some observers as being ideal for Geelong’s workforce of the future and is also seen as having major potential in the region and, with the huge expansion in Deakin University’s Geelong campuses and the Geelong Technology Precinct, as announced earlier this year by its Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sally Walker, Geelong will rapidly move towards becoming a Smart Region.

Further, the recently established postgraduate medical school at Deakin’s Waurn Ponds campus, which will commence in early-2008, will further enhance the continued advancement in health and allied activities throughout this region.

The regional ICT industry will be strongly involved in these expansion plans resulting in many more positions needing to be filled and leading to the ICT industry being much more self-sufficient.

This aspect was recognised by attendees at two ICT forums, conducted as a part of the study, when they showed strong support for structured collaboration and cooperation between the many regional ICT businesses which will result in increased ICT business activity. This expansion will also be driven by improved telecommunications infrastructure, more implementation of eCommerce and web applications regionally, and lower equipment and technology prices when group purchases are done.

The ICT representatives also identified a number of key downsides for local ICT businesses if they did not work together to promote and achieve growth in the sector. These included a drain on local ICT talent as staff are lured to the metropolitan areas through more career options and higher salaries.

This increased collaboration and member cohesion are likely to lead to the establishment of a Geelong region ICT cluster. This would certainly fit in with the aims of the Victorian government, under its ICT Industry Plan 2005-2010, where major initiatives and investment will be undertaken by it to help the ICT industry grow and prosper.

If this comes about, and the cluster is as successful as the fairly recent Geelong Bio Tech cluster has demonstrated, the overall gains for the ICT industry and the region would be very significant.

The Chamber looks forward to these things happening in the Geelong region as quickly as possible.