While new businesses in the Queensland capital may have global ambitions, Brisbane is also home to arguably Australia’s finest university commercialisation centre.
UniQuest, located in the inner city of suburb St Lucia, was established by the University of Queensland in 1984. It specialises in global technology transfer and granting access to world-class university expertise, IP and facilities.
Since 2000, UniQuest and its start-ups have raised more than $400 million to take university technologies to market and have enjoyed a string of recent successes, such as needle-free vaccine innovation Nanopatch and pain relief product Spinifex.
There’s no shortage of networking opportunities in the city, including Entrepreneurs Brisbane and Mobile Monday Brisbane. There’s also StartUp Brisbane and OpenCoffee Brisbane.
If start-ups are really keen, they can sign up for Brisbane Innovation Camp.
Meanwhile, Brisbane City Council has created the Brisbane Innovation Scorecard in partnership with Deloitte, Brisbane Marketing and the University of Queensland Business School.
Enterprise Connect is also involved in the initiative, along with the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation.
The objective of the scorecard is to measure innovation within the city’s businesses and its effect on their growth, productivity and the region’s economic prosperity.
“Brisbane’s growing reputation for innovation in key knowledge sectors continues to attract vital social and economic benefits to the city,” Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk says.
“From digital technologies to life sciences, aviation to mining technology, food and beverage to logistics and distribution, Brisbane is rapidly proving its worth… at home and internationally.”
“Our commercial ties to lucrative global markets, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, continue to flourish.”
John Mactaggart, chairman of Brisbane Angels, says while Brisbane isn’t as high-profile as Sydney, there is a lot happening in the city as far as start-ups are concerned.
“We did eight deals last year, so we’re fairly active. But it’s difficult – a lot of investors up here are more interested in property. It is a little hard to get them motivated in newer areas,” he says.
“We don’t brag about the start-up scene here very much… There are some good deals up here – good deal flow. From an investor’s point of view, there are good pickings.”
According to Kondoot co-founder Cracknell, Brisbane was an ideal starting ground for his business, with strong IT and business networks that provided ongoing support and advice.
“Brisbane has room to grow in many different areas. I feel that places like [online creative community] The Edge really facilitate the initial growth stages well,” he says.
“That said, as there is less competition and less generally happening in the IT start-up scene here in Brisbane, there are fewer opportunities for growth in general.”
“Many of the talented IT professionals decide to leave and move to the US.”
The inner city suburbs of Milton and Toowong are the traditional home of ambitious start-ups, and there’s still some activity there, while Eight Mile Plains is known as a biotech hub.
However, tech ventures are starting to gravitate towards “trendier” suburbs such as Fortitude Valley, which has a strong IT community.
Kondoot
We Are Hunted
Reload Media
This is the third of StartupSmart’s city’s profiles. To read how Adelaide’s start-up scene compares, click here, or for Perth, click here.
