President of ICT Illawarra, Tony de Liseo has told ABC News that the region is promoting itself as a place to invest and a region where Australian operations can be based. Advantage Wollongong has a CeBIT stand at J30.
Advantage Wollongong Stand at CeBIT 2012
NSW Trade & Investment, the University of Wollongong, Port Kembla Port Corporation and Wollongong City Council say they are very serious about attracting new business to the city, offering facilitation services to businesses relocating or establishing a new operation in Wollongong including assistance with key local introductions, site selection, decision support material and advice on government regulations, policies and incentives.
Wollongong Advantage say that some of the key developments in their region are:
- The University of Wollongong’s $500 millon Innovation Campus
- Establishment of the $30 million Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute
- Expansion of trade and logistics facilities at Port Kembla harbour
- A planned $350 million upgrade of the city’s main shopping precinct by Wollongong Central owners the GPT Group.
- The $350 million TRUenergy Gas-fired Power Station at Tallawarra, on the shores of Lake Illawarra. The development includes Tallawarra Business Park, a 100-hectare greenfields site being developed by TRUenergy for light industrial, general industrial and enterprise industries
- The SMART Infrastucture Facility, a $60 million research and training centre at the University of Wollongong.
- The development of key growth sectors in trade and logistics, ICT, business and financial services, manufacturing and Mining & Technology Services is also driving economic activity.
Mr Liseo said that “as a business you could either move everybody or you could just move sections of your team,” he said.
“We could look to create a centre for excellence in Wollongong – be it someone specialising in development or support, or even just shared services with your accounts people. Wollongong can give businesses the infrastructure they need. More importantly, we can give businesses smart people that can run a business,” he said.
“There are various businesses in attendance such as equipment manufacturers that are producing some very large routing and networking infrastructure products that are used by telecommunication companies and potentially broadband,” he said.
“Also in attendance are the major software players and the main consulting companies.”
Mr de Liseo said that Illawarra businesses are global players and that many people don’t realise that the region is competitive in the international marketplace.
“The people we compete with are global players as well, but what they don’t realise is that Wollongong is going toe-to-toe with them,” he said.
“We in Wollongong forget just how much of Australia is touched by us – over 60% of the people I have spoken to at CeBIT said they knew Wollongong. Liveability and lifestyle is a really big thing when we are looking at talented people – talented people bring good revenue into the area and that leads onto other flow-on jobs.”