The Capital, Brisbane’s new innovation hub, has opened its doors to 200 startups to offer unique support to Brisbane’s rapidly expanding startup community.
The innovation hub has the intention of engineering “creative collisions” with the industry and government, a collaboration that is crucial to helping startups grow and find investment.
Nurturing Brisbane’s startup ecosystem and creating a dynamic innovation hub was one of the seven key economic priorities outlined in the Brisbane 2022 New World City Action Plan. The Plan was created to define priorities that will drive Brisbane’s economic growth for the next seven years and beyond.
Compiled by the Lord Mayor’s Economic Development Steering Committee and handed over to Lord Mayor Graham Quirk in 2015, the plan followed a three month consultation with more than 1,000 people representing over 500 different local, national and international organizations. It created an economic blueprint, which presents the opportunity for Brisbane to become a leader in urban success.
Key to the hub is connectivity to the local, national and international startup ecosystems that enables meaningful collaborations with the brightest minds in the knowledge economy.
The council is committing $5 million over five years to the project to ensure that the city’s upcoming startup community has a focal point to nurture and expand ideas. The investment into the hub seeks to create hundreds of new jobs and aims to boost its startup ecosystem. The Capital will house Digital Brisbane and the city’s Chief Digital Officer, will be home to Entrepreneurship 101, the Visiting Entrepreneurs Program, CoderDojo and other digital events.
The expandable, multi-purpose Clever Business District (CBD) space will provide co-location opportunities for existing companies and operators that nurture the startup community. Tenants for the new space, Sydney-based Fishburners and Brisbane-based Little Tokyo Two will help cultivate the city’s startups through their business life-cycle. Jock Fairweather, founder of Little Tokyo Two, said,
The new location will provide even more flexibility and room for our members to continue their journey with us and the physical co-location with industry experts and organizations will provide unprecedented opportunities for them too.
This opportunity supports new, high-impact, scalable startups looking to create something big in a collaborative community. Brisbane startups have been making massive headway in both local and international markets, Mayor Quirk supports this fact in his statement,
Brisbane not only embraces the disruptive technologies re-shaping our world, but this initiative will also help the city play a key role in creating and exporting them to global markets.
