Melbourne’s success as a global city rests on its reputation for innovation – being smart, creative and progressive. From promoting Melbourne as a gateway to biotechnology in Australia and the Asia Pacific to supporting innovative small business ventures, Council has attracted and facilitated business growth to ensure the city is vibrant and prosperous.
City employment numbers continue to grow, while investment demand for quality office buildings is strong, with 163,000 square metres of new office space under construction in the CBD as at September 2002. Latest figures also show a retail street front vacancy rate of just two per cent. The City of Melbourne’s economy is forecast to grow by more than 35 per cent over the next decade with the major players being the information technology and advanced manufacturing sectors.
Melbourne is increasingly staking its claim as an entrepreneurial and competitive ‘knowledge city’ as it focuses not only on traditional strengths, but also on emerging ‘knowledge intense’ sectors, such as biotechnology, information and communication technologies, specialist finance, legal, and administration services, educational services and environmental technologies.
Council has a 10 year guiding vision, the Knowledge Strategy, which promotes Melbourne as a globally connected city driven by research, technology and creative content and ideas. It has also approved a Bio-Action Plan, which outlines Council’s strategic role in helping develop the biotechnology industry.
Backing for small business
Council’s $1.5 million Business Development Fund for 2002-03 is divided into three programs – the Small Business Development Program; the Investment Attraction and Strategic Support Program and the Business Information and Promotion Program. In 2001-2002, Council handed out 24 grants totalling $485,384 under its Small Business Development Fund, which supports innovative new businesses and business support services in the city. The funding created 244 jobs in the municipality. Some recent Small Business Development Grant recipients have included the following.
- A biomedical business development agency, focusing on supporting, promoting and developing the commercialisation of biomedical research in Melbourne.
- A business specialising in sustainable living and renewable energy products and services.
- A computer software developer, specialising in games and gaming applications.
In 2001 the City of Melbourne contributed $150,000 from Council’s Business Development Fund to help set up Australia’s first and only fashion incubator. Melbourne Design and Fashion Incubator is a not for profit organisation that nurtures, guides and promotes young designers and helps their businesses compete locally and internationally. One of only five in the world, the fashion incubator features a retail gallery, studio and working space for designers.
Attracting overseas investment
Melbourne is the only Australian city in the Business Partner City (BPC) Network whose members include the Asian cities of Osaka, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Jakarta, Seoul, Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh City and Mumbai (Bombay), which have a combined population of about 70 million. Each of these cities has a strong commercial and international business culture and is invaluable in promoting two way trade through the creation of business opportunities for Melbourne, Victoria and Australia in Asia. In particular the network creates opportunities for small to medium size enterprises to establish links with their counterparts throughout the network.
Over the past four years, more than 75 Melbourne businesses have received direct international exposure to markets within the BPC Network cities through product displays, trade missions, business networking and investment promotion events.
