The opening of the iAccelerate building at the Wollongong Innovation Campus in coming weeks is being seen as significant for the region. Many in business circles have spoken about how important the new business incubator building for startups is going to be in helping to further diversify the Illawarra economy.
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It comes as iAccelerate prepares to farewell its founder and chief executive Dr Elizabeth Eastland who is heading to the CSIRO. On May 24 she will say goodbye by giving guests a tour of the new 4000sqm facility.
The construction was made possible when $16.5million was secured from the state government’s $100m Restart NSW Illawarra Infrastructure Fund. Dr Eastland recently said the facility would be a lightning rod for innovation and will provide a “state of the art” business incubation program and facilities to over 280 entrepreneurs and fast-growth companies. Since iAccelerate was launched in 2012 the initiative has provided assistance to more than 50 companies and helped create 100 startup jobs.
A recent Property Council hosted forum MacroPlan Dimasi director Brian Haratsis spoke about the University of Wollongong’s ongoing role in the economic performance of the region. He said with tertiary education the second largest contributor to Australian GDP what was happening at the innovation campus was sensational.
The importance of the iAccelerate building and what it will mean was also mentioned at the Advantage Wollongong sponsored April meeting of The Illawarra Connection where Deloitte’s Allan Mills said he was really impressed with the foresight and investment in the city over the last decade. “The Innovation Campus..is awesome. Companies are looking at that. It is such an important part of your economic growth going forward”.
Mr Mills said Wollongong’s vision would result in some really good exciting career roles and pathways for generations to come. Interest in the city’s progressive evolution was also mentioned in analysis of the local property market at different presentations by MMJ commercial leasing agent Michael Croghan and Colliers International managing director Simon Kersten. Mr Croghan said the university’s success in securing Servcorp and the completion of the iAccelerate building were great examples of exciting things happening. “That is potentially an absolute game changer for the region”.
Mr Kersten said the proposed Badgerys Creek airport was creating growing interest in Wollongong and iAccelerate was one of the reasons. He said industrial land was running out in western Sydney and smart industry/manufacturing were looking at the Illawarra just as the new building was about to open..and with that will come business attention like “we have never had before”. Keira MP Ryan Park spoke of iAccelerate’s importance to 120 Australian-Chinese business people bought to Wollongong by Peter Taranto Real Estate and The Property Investor Alliance.
At the end of 2015 it was supporting 28 startup companies in the present iAccelerate Hub. Four resident companies secured funding during the year, six expanded their international presence and nine had new product launched. Almost half iAccelerate startups had a female co-founder.