In keeping with the iC's focus on sustainability and environmentally friendly design principles, more than 200 guests were bussed into the business and research precinct for the opening.

The $32 million iC Central building will be the administrative and business hub of the 33ha campus, which will hold about 25 buildings, including a four-star hotel and conference facilities, and generate about 4000 jobs.

The Premier said knowledge-based institutions such as the iC would be the "engine rooms of the 21st century".

"This is how it should work - government, business and academia forming a partnership in an innovation campus," he said.

"Our future economic prosperity lies in our minds and this Innovation Campus places Wollongong at the centre of the knowledge economy and the future of Australia."

The Premier was joined by Minister for the Illawarra David Campbell, who said the iC confirmed "the Illawarra could set its own agenda".

"The expansion of Port Kembla will create new blue-collar jobs for Wollongong in the future, and the iC is where the white-collar jobs will come from," he said.

University of Wollongong Vice-Chancellor Professor Gerard Sutton said the $26 million investment by the NSW State Government and the Federal Government's $12 million Transnational Centre for Crime Prevention were significant investments that would enhance and expand the region's economy.

"This investment stands alongside the Government's investment into the expansion of Port Kembla and (that) made by BlueScope Steel in the region," he said.

"The Innovation Campus gives the region a vital stake in the knowledge-based industries that can underpin our economy in the 21st century and will complement the coal, steel and other manufacturing industries that have been the region's economic foundations for so long."

The campus will be completed in four stages over the next 10 years. Three other buildings are expected to be completed by early 2009.