CSIRO report reveals 36 mini Silicon Valleys across regional Australia

The Tech Council of Australia and the CSIRO have released a new report into where Australia’s digital clusters are. While there are some unsurprising findings around some of the country’s capital cities, the report also revealed burgeoning industries in the specific parts of regional Australia.

According to the report, there are a total of 96 digital clusters across the country. While these only account for 4% of the country’s land mass, they do provide 63% of all tech jobs in Australia.

The biggest ‘super’ clusters are made up of the usual suspects — Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra. Smaller cities such as Parramatta, Hobart, Perth, Darwin, and Adelaide were also noted.

However, there are regional pockets that are becoming mini powerhouses for various tech industries and professions throughout the country, and we now have the data to prove it.

Kate Pounder, the CEO of the Tech Council of Australia, said that there are a total of 36 specialist tech clusters in regional Australia, including Noosa, Newcastle, Queanbeyan, Geelong and Torquay. All of these areas have large tech workforces in one or two specialised areas.

“This research shows that great ideas and industries can spring up anywhere in Australia,” Pounder said.

“It’s an incredible achievement as a nation to have 96 different clusters spread around the country creating jobs and opportunity for a range of communities and workers.

“Given tech jobs are amongst the fastest-growing, best-paid and most flexible jobs in the country, it’s a great advantage for any community to have a cluster in their area,” she said.

Lead report author and CSIRO principal researcher, Dr Stefan Hajkowicz, also identified this regional trend. He specifically noted a penchant for graphic design companies and entrepreneurs in Burleigh Heads.

“We’re not searching for Australia’s Silicon Valley, we have our own clusters with their own unique blend of technology specialisations, companies, and cultures,” Hajkowicz said.

“Giving a range of communities access to this opportunity is vital as this report highlights the benefits for communities of being in a cluster.”

This data provides hard numbers to what those of us in the startup space were already aware of — the rise of regional tech companies. Particularly since COVID, we’ve seen increased investment into regional startups that are finding that they don’t have to be in a major city to be successful.

Some industries, particularly agtech, are better off being in regional hubs where their customers, and the problems they’re trying to solve, are actually located.

Over the last few months alone we have seen big investments into the likes of The Melt (Upper Hunter, NSW) and Stacked Farm (Arundel, QLD), as well as of Loam Bio and SparkLabs Cultiv8 — both located in Orange, NSW.

River City Labs also opened up a new space in Maroochydore while AirTree is looking to bolster angel investors from the region.

That’s a lot of investment effort during a time when cost of living, as well as a dryer VC environment, has made things more difficult than ever for Australian businesses. It seems there’s something in the water once you escape the M1.