Australia's no-worries answer to Silicon Valley

11-Mar-2011 Sippy Downs, the Sunshine Coast’s rapidly growing university town, is beginning to gain an international reputation as a hotspot of innovation and entrepreneurship, thanks to the University of the Sunshine Coast’s Innovation Centre, according to leading business magazine CNBC European Business.

Of 17 hotspots to be featured by the magazine in special monthly reports, which have been running since April 2008, Sippy Downs is the only location featured outside of Europe. It was tagged as ‘Australia’s no-worries-answer to Silicon Valley’, and recognised as becoming Australia’s first dedicated university town.

In a feature article published in the CNBC European Business magazine with a monthly readership of over 650,000 readers, Sippy Downs is identifi ed because of the forecast $8 billion private and public investment over the next 15 years and the approved master plan that includes the new town centre with the potential to create 6,000 knowledge jobs.

Innovation Centre Chief Executive Colin Graham said state and local governments had already invested some $100 million in transport and IT infrastructure to attract private ventures.

A key building block in the development of a University town occurred in November 2010 with the Sunshine Coast Council offering preliminary approval to a major shopping and residential complex at the new town centre.

The proposed development at the entrance to the University of the Sunshine Coast campus includes a Woolworths supermarket and Big W retail store along with restaurants, speciality shops, offices, multiple-dwelling units and student style residential accommodation.

“With the expertise and networks of entrepreneurs and professional service providers already located here and the future investment for the new town centre and surrounding residential areas, the potential of the area to become a unique university town is massive,” Mr Graham said.

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