EDA Journal Vol 11. No.2 Summer 2018 | Page 14

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS WINNER CITY OF ADELAIDE City of Adelaide and TPG Telecom Partnership Ten Gigabit Adelaide is a revolutionary high-speed, high-performance fibre optic data network that is being rolled out to commercial buildings across the City of Adelaide. The network will enable businesses and organisations to share and receive high volumes of data at phenomenal 10Gbps data speeds. The City of Adelaide has partnered with TPG Telecom as the ‘Official Network Provider’ to implement the first and most visible element of Ten Gigabit Adelaide: the delivery and installation of a fibre optic network across the City of Adelaide, 10Gbps data transfer capability and a range of high- performance services for the business community. The transformational network will unleash a wide range of new possibilities for businesses and organisations, without being inhibited by the restrictions and congestion often experienced with traditional internet services. Each service in the Ten Gigabit Adelaide suite has its own, dedicated and uncontested connection, meaning businesses can access the same upload and download speeds via a clean, super-fast, low-latency connection. The response from businesses and building owners has been extraordinary. FINALIST WOLLONGONG CITY COUNCIL “Advantage Wollongong” Advantage Wollongong is a partnership between Wollongong City Council, the University of Wollongong and the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet. The focus is on attracting new businesses, investment and jobs by promoting Wollongong as a superior business location in key growth sectors. Advantage Wollongong represents a long term, strategic approach and has developed a range of promotional resources and activities, aligned to key target sectors. Advantage Wollongong has been promoting Wollongong as a superior business location since 2008. It is recognised as a best practice approach to business and investment attraction and has generated significant momentum over the past decade. This long term, strategic approach has allowed the three partner organisations to pool resources, avoid costly duplication of effort and mostly importantly, ensure a co-ordinated and consistent approach. Advantage Wollongong has been leading the City’s efforts to diversify the economic base of the region away from its traditional industries of steel making and coal mining. Over the last decade, Advantage Wollongong has facilitated over 100 projects, and created just over 3,000 jobs for the region. A major recent win was the attraction of global IT solutions and services giant, NEC to Wollongong to established its new corporate office, growing to 180 staff in the past 2.5 years. The new corporate office is the centrepiece of a $40M investment by NEC in the region and supports major customers across Australia. REMPLAN modelling quantifies NEC’s ongoing contribution at $59M annually to the local economy. FINALIST GOLD COAST HEALTH & KNOWLEDGE PRECINCT PROJECT OFFICE Gold Coast Health & Knowledge Precinct Partnership The Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct (GCHKP) is Asia-Pacific’s emerging health and innovation hub – a unique global business location for high tech industry, research collaboration and jobs of the future, and a transformative initiative for the Gold Coast and region’s economy. The GCHKP is being developed through a collaborative funding partnership between City of Gold Coast, Griffith University and Gold Coast Health, with the support of the Queensland Government. The 200-hectare precinct includes an urban renewal of the former Parklands Precinct adjacent to Griffith University, leveraging the co-location of the Gold Coast University and Private Hospitals and the VOL.11 NO.2 2018 | 14