Wollongong City Council adopted its new economic development strategy in late September which proposes to create 10,500 jobs in the next 10 years.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The plan's growth target is double that achieved in the past decade. It includes a renewed focus on increasing the number of quality jobs and increasing the opportunity for people to work closer to home, reducing the need for so many to commute.
The strategy outlines actions to achieve the ambitious target such as targeting knowledge-based jobs and capitalising on the growing highly skilled talent pool in the start-up community. There are presently more than 6000 people working in the knowledge services sector that already boasts some major international and national corporations as well as many local startups that have quickly established a global client base.
Infrastructure and business support and attraction, procuring more goods and services locally, advocacy and collaboration are also in council's plan.
Wollongong Economic Development manager Mark Grimson said the 10,500 jobs target is critical to the new economic strategy.
"With council formally adopting that it has set a target and is actively looking at what things it can be doing. And it is ensuring all its policies and the way it operates seeks to align with that target," he said.
"It is quite unique. There are very few councils in NSW and across Australia who have actually set a long term jobs target. By setting that ambitious target it is doubling the number of net jobs we have had compared to the last decade".
Mr Grimson said there was a good mix of actions being taken internally within council.
As well as externally by organisations such as Advantage Wollongong which is promoting the city and opportunities as well as supporting existing businesses and sectors with identified strengths.
The growing prominence of startups in the knowledge services industry was evidenced at the 2019 IMB Bank Illawarra Business Awards on Friday when FinoComp, Easy Agile and allcare all won awards.
CASE STUDY:
What does the startup community want?
As Wollongong City Council adopts an ambitious economic development plan to create 10,500 new positions in the city over 10 years Accelo is an example of how the target can be achieved.
Accelo is a knowledge services enterprise that shot to the stars quickly and continues to employ University of Wollongong graduates as well as attract experienced talent from Australia and overseas.
Co-founder Eamonn Bell said after its rapid rise Accelo has continued to grow this year. It has just moved into a large new renovated office space in Regent St so it can accommodate much more growth.
"We literally ran out of space in our old building and we just needed more space to hire more people," Mr Bell said.
"Our biggest constraint is resources for people to achieve what we wanted to achieve. We needed a bigger office to allow us to grow even more. We are recruiting right now".
"In the last two years we have doubled in size. Over half of all our clients are North American based. We have a solid number of Australian and Asia Pacific clients as well and many in Europe."
But what Mr Bell also finds heartening is the number of other startup businesses enjoying similar success. Enterprises such as Easy Agile and FinoComp.
"Everyone gets along really well even though technically we are competitors for talent. We just want the region to succeed".
Historically Accelo has hired software developers in Wollongong. But as the business grows so are the number of different roles.
"In the last six months we have started focusing more on hiring people in customer service roles. As we become more popular with Aussie clients we have begun employing more people to provide support in this time zone. There are account manager roles and technical support roles. We have hired three people in that area in the last six months," Mr Bell said.
"We have had a huge amount of success employing UOW computer science and IT graduates and we will continue to do that. But we are also looking for experienced people in niche specific areas. At the moment we are after an experienced software developer, head of engineering, mobile team leader and a technical trainer".
Experienced talent can come from Australia or overseas. But more UOW graduates are being lured back to Wollongong as they discover great opportunities for them in their home town.
"We want those people. We want that talent. So we are doing what we can to try and attract people to come back. And we also want to attract people who have never been to Wollongong," Mr Bell said.
Promoting greater awareness is one way of attracting more startups and more skilled talent.
"There are still many people who don't know there are companies that exist like ours," Mr Bell said.
"In figuring out how to reach those people local startups have done a couple of things. One has been building community locally through Siligong Valley. We are starting to attract people who are commuting to Sydney but live down here. They still want to have that connection locally. They also want Wollongong to succeed and want to be part of that and do everything they can to help".
"We have had people who work for big tech companies in Sydney that have come by for Siligong tech events in our office. They have been blown away because they just weren't aware that there were companies like this, offices like this and roles like this in Wollongong".
What Siligong has done is make a growing number of talented people aware of what is happening in Wollongong.
It is one of a number of factors that will keep the sector growing.
They include the need for university courses to keep pace with the rapid change in technology.
"UOW students have been consistently great which is important for all the tech based companies in Wollongong who hire grads," Mr Bell said.
Asked what will help the city achieve its 10 year goal Mr Bell said great office space in the CBD was a key.
"People in this industry want to be close to public transport, cafes, bars and restaurants," he said.
Lifestyle is important. The startup community loves living in and working in a modern diverse city with festivals, events, eateries and bars as well as plenty to do at night and on weekends.
"All of that is now making Wollongong a way more appealing place than it was 10 years ago. It is all heading in the right direction. We just need more of it," Mr Bell said.
Read more:
- The acceleration of local start-up Accelo is showcasing Wollongong's potential to become Australia's Silicon Beach
- How Siligong Valley networking meetups in Wollongong are unearthing and giving opportunities to local uni students
- Wollongong born tech guru flies into town with job offers and shows city is on track to create 10,000 new jobs in 10 years
- Did you know almost 35,000 Illawarra people travel outside the region for work?
- How startups are helping drive Wollongong's employment future and creating globally significant local job opportunities for UOW graduates
- Wollongong tiny home start-up Panorama Prebuilt
- Gong startup competes in Australia's largest pitch competition
- Easy Agile doubles in size this year and is still hiring and looking for more space in Wollongong
- Meet the man behind a hi-tech Jamberoo IT startup employing 35 people in three of the towns old buildings
- How a Wollongong startup is improving road safety
- Gong startup allcare is looking for ways to change aged care for people who want to stay at home and make it better