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Weekly UpdatesThe Queensland State Government also has a significant stake in the economic development of the Gold Coast. The approach of that level of government has been informed by the 'Smart State' strategy which was introduced by the newly-elected State Labor Government in 1998. This initiative is part of a nationwide trend whereby '.... from the late 1990s, the State governments have become more active in supporting regionally based research, knowledge infrastructure and industry cluster development' (Garrett-Jones 2004: 4). The Smart State strategy aims to foster a broader-based and more innovation-focused economy. As the Premier indicated when he released the second phase of the strategy for 2005--2015, '... we focused on broadening the economy from just a rocks and crops culture to create new industries and make traditional industries smarter' (Beattie 2005).
The rhetoric promoting the strategy emphasised the need for change in order to sustain the standard of living in the State:
For the future economic development of Queensland, there is thus a 'need to move up the value chain in terms of the agriculture and mining industries and to diversify from these traditional industrial bases' (Department of Education Science & Technology 2003: viii). A central underlying theme of the strategy is that Australia has become a 'knowledge-based economy' and so R&D, innovation and key 'enabling technologies' play an increasingly-important role. The four main goals of the strategy have been: to develop the skills base and research infrastructure necessary for higher levels of R&D and innovation in the State economy; to ensure that the State has state-of-the-art information and communications technology infrastructure to enable all economic actors to effectively interact and access global information systems; to ensure that researchers and innovators can gain access to the 'angel and venture' capital necessary to successfully commercialise new product and process innovations; and to foster effective linkages and collaboration among public sector R&D performers (notably universities and government research agencies) and research users in industry.
The strategy has been realised through a plethora of programmes aimed at fostering R&D, innovation and commercialisation and for which Government funding has been provided (e.g. through the Smart State Research Facilities Fund, the Smart State Innovation Funds, the Innovation Start Up Scheme, the BioCapital Fund, and the Queensland Industry Development Scheme). Particular attention was initially paid to the development of biotechnology and its underlying research infrastructure, which has involved significant investment in selected facilities such as the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland and the Institute for Glycomics at Griffith University. The strategy focused ostensibly on a State level but in fact located most investment in Brisbane and immediate surroundings, recognising the greater innovation potential of the city.
By mid-2007, the Queensland Government claimed that it had invested '... over A$3 billion to boost Queensland's innovation, science, research and commercialisation capacity, with almost A$1 billion of this to help build some of the largest and most significant research facilities in the Southern Hemisphere'. It is now widely accepted that the strategy has created the capacity and infrastructure to develop existing and emerging innovation-focused industries (Smart State Council 2006). However, little of this investment has found its way to the Gold Coast, as investment has followed established research institutions in Brisbane.
The Queensland Government is also involved in the 'sustainable economic development' of the city by providing a range of economic development services, notably facilitating business investment and encouraging the export performance of local firms, and by liaising with other agencies, such as the Gold Coast City Council, although it must be asked whether this latter role leads to any positive outcomes.
The Gold Coast Council is the second largest local authority in Australia by population and has the most direct engagement with local economic development. The Council's stated vision for its City emphasises the 'quality, diversity and sustainability of its lifestyle, economy and environment' and envisions that the City be seen as Australia's most desirable place to live and favourite place to visit' (Gold Coast City Council 2007a). A key element of the Council's approach to realising this vision, and the responsibility of one of its six Directorates (the Economic Development and Major Projects Directorate), is the diversification and strengthening of the local economy. To this end, an Economic Development Strategy was formulated by the Directorate in consultation with the Gold Coast Business Advisory Board and a range of other industry stakeholders. This strategy proposed a vision for the city in the year 2010 as 'Have it all--innovation city'), with at its core an image of a city that is 'no longer considered solely as a holiday destination' and where 'industry will be diverse and highly export oriented providing quality, well-paid and sustainable jobs'.
The vision was thus highly ambitious and involved a major shift in the economic basis of the area from a tourism-based and regional servicing economy to that of a 'globally focused exporter' with businesses leveraging 'regional knowledge to add value in the global marketplace'. To realise this vision and to facilitate the creation of conditions necessary for the shift in economic development and diversification, the Council's strategy identified eight 'fundamentals' as essential. These included such concepts as learning city' (acknowledging a key tenet of a knowledge-based economy), 'innovation city' recognising that innovation is about generating new ideas and successfully commercialising them), 'creative city' (based on the belief that '... creativity is fundamental for the quality of life of individuals, communities and economies'), and international connections' (argued to be an important determinant of a city's economic success in a globalised environment). Nine key industries were identified as crucial for the future competitiveness and effectiveness of the local economy: the creative industries (notably the film production industry), food processing (including food and wine-based tourism), education, environment, health and medical, ICT, sport and tourism. An Economic Action Agenda specifies a set of distinct Council actions that, in collaboration with industry actors, will facilitate the development of each of these industries. These actions seek to organise industry clusters, support existing industry associations and promote networking, and they include industry promotions, the formation of partnerships, the promotion of training opportunities, and the strengthening of an industry's export focus.
A second central element of the Gold Coast Economic Development Strategy was the designation of a 'Pacific Innovation Corridor' (PIC). This was '.... one of the Gold Coast City Council's signature economic development projects that encapsulates the vision for transforming Gold Coast City into a globally connected innovation, human capital and technology 'hot spot' and knowledge economy' (GCCC 2005). This Corridor is composed of ten 'precincts' spaced along the north-south axis. Within these, the Council aims to foster the development of industry clusters '....characterised by a critical mass of similar and related firms, and by the intensity of knowledge, R&D, innovation and extensive inter-firm and international interaction' within each of these precincts based on the key growth industries at each of the centres. These are boatbuilding, tourism and theme parks at the Coomera centre, for example. The Council also intends to ensure that the centres are serviced by a state-of-the-art telecommunications infrastructure.
While some industry clusters have indeed emerged on the Gold Coast, for example, the marine industry at Coomera and ICT at Robina, the grandiose rhetoric of the PIC project remains as yet just that. The PIC Centres are currently tracts of commercial or industry-designated land within a defined locality and are supposedly centred on existing 'anchor' organizations and the achievements of the Gold Coast City Council on this 'project' have been modest to date. This slow development is not unexpected given the constraints faced by a local government body and the tiny dedicated workforce within the Directorate (the PIC team has only six Council staff ). Indeed the achieved projects, mostly involving such activities as analytical studies, the creation of working parties, training needs analyses and skills audits and marketing activities are little different from the everyday business of local bodies generally.
So far there is little evidence of the Pacific Innovation Corridor being anything other than a promotional label that is consonant with the Smart State discourse, and claims of more innovation in the local economy cannot be substantiated. This conclusion is reinforced by the Council's latest annual report (Gold Coast City Council 2007b) wherein innovation is barely mentioned with respect to economic development and diversification but whereas much space is devoted to improvements in city transport, the management of city assets, such as water supply and storm water infrastructure, and maintaining the City's image. Although the Pacific Innovation Corridor and the focus on the eight key growth industries do rate a mention in this report, there is no discussion of these or of what has been achieved to date. Only two innovation-related initiatives are presented in any detail: the establishment of a Gold Coast Technology Incubator at Griffith University (funded by the State Government) which aims to improve the survival rate of new high technology start-up firms, and Gold Coast Council's 'Innovation House' a 'home of the future' that showcases innovation in building design to contribute to more sustainable living.
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