NEW SOUTH WALES:
AUSTRALIA’S ICT
AND DIGITAL CAPITAL
New South Wales
is open for business
The state of New South Wales (NSW) is Australia’s
economic powerhouse.
With a population of more than 7.5 million people, and
a $500 billion economy, NSW is home to the Australian
headquarters of more multi-national companies than any
other state.
In fact, the NSW economy is larger than many national
economies in the Asia Pacific region. It has also recorded
23 years of uninterrupted economic growth.
The NSW Government is matching this economic growth
HONG KONG
MALAYSIA
SINGAPORE
with infrastructure – making it easier to do business in
this state. The NSW Government has unveiled plans to
invest an additional $20 billion in infrastructure over ten
years by leasing the state’s electricity assets, including
the construction of new rapid rail lines and motorways.
This will create more than 100,000 jobs and boost the
economy by $300 billion over 20 years.
The enviable NSW lifestyle is also a magnet for
investors. The state’s capital Sydney has the best
quality of living standards of any major Australian city,
according to the Mercer 2015 Quality of Living survey.
NSW
NSW economy
is larger than
Hong Kong, Malaysia
and Singapore
NSW QUICK FACTS
$492b 72%
gross state product
in 2013-14
of NSW’s knowledge-led
economy comprises services
AAA
rating
7.5m
by S&P and Moody’s
people make NSW the
largest of any state in
Australia
23 years 53%
of uninterrupted
economic growth
of the working-age
population has a tertiary
qualification
200+
languages spoken
in Sydney
1/3
of Sydneysiders speak a
language other than English
$6.4b
investment in research
and development by NSW
businesses
Why New South Wales
for ICT?
It is no wonder that Sydney and NSW are sometimes
referred to as the new “Silicon Valley”.
So why do so many companies choose NSW?
There are many reasons, including:
NSW is Australia’s ICT capital, accounting for 43% of
Australia’s total ICT businesses and 50% of the nation’s
telecommunication, computer and information services
exports. All up, nearly 200,000 people work in the NSW
ICT industry.
• our unique location, with Sydney’s time zone bridging
markets closing in the US, and opening in the United
Kingdom and Europe
Sydney – as Australia’s biggest population centre – is the
ICT investment destination of choice in Australia. Since
2011, the NSW Government has helped attract nearly 30
companies to the state from overseas markets – including
a number from the United States and India. This includes
the US company, AdRoll.
• being home to nine landings of international highcapacity optic cables linking Sydney with the US, Europe
and Asia
• being ideally situated to service fast growing Asian
markets
• having a large source of skilled labour, with over 13,000
students studying information technology courses at 11
NSW universities
• companies being able to take advantage of the National
Broadband Network (NBN), which has been rolling out
since April 2014.
DID YOU KNOW?
Australia’s
smartphone
penetration is
among the highest
in the world and is
due to reach 93%
by 2018
Google’s
Sydney office
developed
Google Maps
FRANKFURT
NEW YORK
PERTH
SYDNEY
Case study: AdRoll
Staff from AdRoll’s
Sydney office
“Since January 2014 we have experienced
250 per cent revenue growth in Australia.”
ABOUT THE COMPANY
LATEST NEWS
AdRoll is a San Francisco-based digital retargeting
advertising company that presents ads to internet users
based on their previous searches. It serves more than
20,000 marketers globally, with a unified platform that
reaches across desktop, mobile, Facebook, Twitter, apps
and the web.
AdRoll Sydney is the fastest growing international office
for the company.
The company entered the Sydney market in March 2014,
starting with a team of five that has since expanded to
almost 30 people.
“Since January 2014 we have experienced 250 per cent
revenue growth in Australia,” Mr Sharp said. “We’ve run
successful campaigns for well-known brands such as
Estée Lauder and Yatango, as well we worked closely with
a number of local media agencies, including Match Media.
“We intend to continue to grow the team throughout 2015
and, with the Australian digital market expanding, expect
to see more growth in the years to come.”
WHY NSW
“We chose Sydney for a number of reasons,” said AdRoll
Australia-New Zealand Managing Director Ben Sharp.
“There was a market opportunity here. Before launch we
already had over 400 customers either using the platform
independently or working with our team in San Francisco.
Putting a local team on the ground to service those clients
was really a logical next step for AdRoll.
“It’s an exciting time for digital advertising in Australia with
continued growth in eCommerce and mobile, indicating a
significant shift in consumer habits.”
HOW THE NSW GOVERNMENT
HELPED
The company worked with the NSW Government to
establish local business practices in NSW and navigate the
different rebates and company tax systems.
“We’ve also relied on them to help us with our networking.
They’ve been incredibly helpful introducing us to
customers and business contacts who have helped us
rapidly grow the business,” Mr Sharp said.
Case study: Equinix
ABOUT THE COMPANY
Equinix connects businesses with their customers and
partners inside networked data centres. The company
currently supports over 250 cloud and IT service providers
in Sydney.
WHY NSW
Sydney is the key internet hub of Australia. Equinix’s
facilities in Sydney can access most of the major sub-sea
cable systems that connect Australia to the global internet.
Additionally, Equinix Australia Managing Director Jeremy
Deutsch said enterprises in Australia were moving towards
hybrid cloud architectures, which was driving strong
growth for these types of services.
“Combined with the advanced IT capabilities and high
rates of adoption of cloud services present in Australia, this
makes Sydney a logical location for offering digital services
to end users,” Mr Deutsch said.
LATEST NEWS
Equinix’s Sydney operation provides services to over 600
companies including more than 130 network providers.
“When a new company wants to enter the Sydney market,
we have created a logical first step to facilitate access to
all key local and international partners they need to make
their business successful,” said Mr Deutsch.
“NSW saw an opportunity to
work with Equinix to educate
and promote to US cloud
computer companies on why
having a presence in Sydney,
makes good business sense.”
HOW THE NSW
GOVERNMENT HELPED
“Working with the NSW Government was a perfect fit for
Equinix. NSW saw an opportunity to work with Equinix to
educate and promote to US cloud computer companies
on why having a presence in Sydney makes good business
sense,” Mr Deutsch said.
“We are now on a mission to enable local and international
companies to see opportunities available in the Sydney
market and then provide them with the ideal starting point
to either sell their IT services or support their local users.”
Equinix Australia Managing Director
Jeremy Deutsch, at a company facility in the
inner-Sydney suburb of Alexandria
Case study: Dropbox
ABOUT THE COMPANY
WHY NSW
Dropbox is the world’s biggest cloud-based storage and
file sharing provider, with more than 300 million users.
Dropbox is used in 97% of Fortune 500 companies and
95% of the ASX 100. The company is headquartered in
San Francisco, with offices in Austin, New York, Dublin,
London and Sydney.
“Dropbox undertook a thorough analysis when considering
an office in the Asia Pacific, looking at things like
population density and Dropbox user numbers,“ said
Charlie Wood, the Dropbox Country Manager.
The service enables users to collaborate, share and
remotely access files from anywhere, on any device.
Dropbox’s fast and intuitive sharing service has led to
its adoption within a wide variety of businesses - from
commercial real estate firms and non-profit agencies, to
technology companies and law firms.
“Australia has more than 8 million Dropbox users – almost
a third of the population. And Sydney has the highest
density of Dropbox customers in Australia.
“Other attractive things about Sydney include a favourable
time zone and the incredible talent pool available in the IT
arena, as well as people with enterprise sales of softwareas-a-service experience.”
LATEST NEWS
The company entered the Sydney market in April 2014,
initially employing six people. By the end of 2015, Dropbox
anticipates it will employ up to 50 people.
Dropbox Country Manager Charlie Wood
at the company’s Sydney office
“By 2017 we look to be double the size we are right now,”
Mr Wood said.
HOW THE NSW
GOVERNMENT HELPED
“The NSW Government was a great help when we first
landed in Sydney,” Mr Wood said.
“They were very generous with their time in answering our
basic questions, for example, whether we should open our
office in Surry Hills, or the CBD.
“They were most helpful in connecting us with peer
companies in the IT space who gave us good context
of the Australian IT environment. I still stay in touch with
those connections. “Throughout the year, they have also helped connect us
with key members of the NSW Government when we
sought opportunities to deploy Dropbox in government
organisations.”
NSW Trade & Investment’s San Francisco-based Business
Development Director, Julia Szatar said: “We were able
to provide a range of assistance in Dropbox’s efforts to
establish an office in Sydney.
“This included providing market intelligence such as an
overview of Australia’s privacy laws and statistics on
technology salaries in NSW.
“NSW Trade & Investment also provided service provider
details, including recruiters, legal advisers and even hotels.
We were able to assist with industry connections and
promotional material.”
Australia’s startup capital
NSW is where innovation starts.
Almost two thirds of Australian technology startups call
the state’s capital Sydney home. Many of these startups
are located at Ultimo, an inner-Sydney suburb that has
been transformed from a light industrial district in the
1980s to a thriving entrepreneurial community that
currently has the highest density of technology startups in
the country.
Australia also ranks third on the Global Entrepreneurship
and Development Index, which measures the quality and
scale of the entrepreneurial process across 130 countries.
One way that the NSW Government supports startups
is through its $6.7 million Innovate NSW program, which
was launched in April 2013.
The program connects technology developers and
businesses in key sectors of the NSW economy. Funds
are available to improve technology, build prototypes and
to form consortia and move to full-scale development.
To date, more than 150 companies have received funding
support from Innovate NSW.
64%
of Australia’s tech startup
companies are based in NSW
DID YOU KNOW?
• The 2012 Global Startup Ecosystem Report rated
Sydney number one on its Trendsetter Index, out of
20 ICT destinations worldwide.
• Atlassian, an online business management software
company with 1,100 global employees and valued at
$3.3 billion in 2014, originated in NSW as a startup.
• In March 2015, US tech giant Cisco Systems
announced it had chosen Sydney for a new
‘Internet of Everything’ innovation centre.
Case study: Tapit
Tapit started life as a small Sydney startup in 2011 and
soon after received NSW Government funding support.
It now has staff spread across the US, UK, Canada, and
Israel, along with a joint venture partner in China.
Sydney than in San Francisco. There are so many startups
in Silicon Valley they get soaked up and they jump from
job to job, but in Sydney we have a wider selection of very
educated and talented people.”
Tapit originally offered near field communication (NFC)
technology to allow smartphone users to instantly
download digital content and information directly to their
phones by tapping on a device. The company developed
this into an ‘Internet of Things’ platform for marketing,
allowing people to interact with a range of objects with
their smartphone.
Mr Conyngham also pointed out that Australia offered a
“good bridge” into China.
Tapit’s Fortune 100 clients include: Nestlé, Samsung, Kia,
Proctor & Gamble, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Google
and Coca-Cola.
“More multinationals are choosing to base their Australian
head offices in Sydney than any other city, and it’s
important to have access when you’re doing deals with
major clients,” Tapit CEO Jamie Conyngham said.
“And it’s easier to attract and retain software developers in
Australia’s research
and collaboration capital
Research and collaboration are essential ingredients in a
strong ICT ecosystem. NSW offers extensive networks in
these areas for new or established ICT businesses.
For instance, Australia’s largest ICT research organisation,
National ICT Australia (NICTA), is headquartered in
Sydney with more than 600 researchers and PhD
students across the nation. One of the top ICT research
centres in the world, NICTA focuses on wealth creation
opportunities by partnering with industry.
Eleven universities producing ICT graduates are based
in NSW and the state leads all other Australian states
and territories in terms of ICT research capabilities. This
means businesses can access top talent and unique
collaboration opportunities.
The NSW Government actively supports collaboration
through its Knowledge Hubs initiative. Some $1.7 million
in government funding will support the projects of these
industry-led hubs.
DID YOU KNOW?
Industry contributions valued at more than
$2m
are supporting the
Stone & Chalk fintech hub
Stone & Chalk Chief
Executive Officer Alex
Scandurra shown in the
fintech hub space in
Sydney’s CBD, which will
open soon
Digital Creative Knowledge Hub – one of five Knowledge
Hubs – was launched in November 2014. Known as
Intersection and led by the University of Technology,
Sydney at Ultimo, this Knowledge Hub is a partnership
between Australia’s thriving ecosystem of creative
and digital/tech startups and major cultural, media,
commercial, government, technology and educational
organisations. Intersection is a platform to facilitate
collaboration, share knowledge and support innovation.
In addition, a key project of the Financial Services
Knowledge Hub – which is led by the Committee for
Sydney and was launched in March 2015 – is a financial
technology (fintech) hub known as Stone & Chalk.
Stone & Chalk has had more than 300 applications for
residency – it will provide a location for collaboration
to occur between startups, financial institutions,
technology companies, leading academics and
universities, government and regulators. It is set to open
in the coming months.
The Stone & Chalk fintech
hub will initially span
1,230m2
of floor space and may grow to
3,000m2
Launch of Digital
Creative Knowledge
Hub in November 2014
Our cities and regions
While Sydney is undoubtedly the capital of NSW’s ICT industry, companies are increasingly being attracted to the
benefits offered in regional NSW including quality infrastructure, high standard services and a more relaxing lifestyle.
Below is information about some of the regional ICT companies who helped promote their regions at CeBIT Australia
2015 – Australasia’s largest business technology exhibition.
Established in Coffs Harbour on the state’s
North Coast, Janison is an innovative leader in
the development and delivery of award-winning
online learning and assessment technologies,
with more than one million Australian and
international users across the health, education,
corporate and Government sectors.
Coffs Harbour
Armidale
Orange
Newcastle
Sydney
Wagga Wagga
Based in Wagga Wagga in the MurrayRiverina region of South Western NSW,
365cups has developed a white-label
online ordering app which enables
businesses like retailers and food service
providers to easily transact with their
customers online.
Based in Orange in Central Western NSW, Phocas develops
powerful analytical tools that crunch a range of high-end data
to develop business intelligence. The company is listed as one
of the 50 fastest growing tech businesses by Deloitte. It also
has offices in the UK and US.
Wollongong
Based in Newcastle in the Hunter
Region, north of Sydney, Pegasus has
grown from a small business providing
technical services to the Hunter
Valley mining industry, to working
with companies of all sizes and
across all industries. Pegasus creates
services and solutions for contractor
engagement and workforce
management.
Regional case study:
Regional case study:
With a large pool of highly skilled talent, world-class
research teams and an award-winning technology
precinct, Wollongong, located south of Sydney has a welldeveloped ecosystem that makes it a superior location for
ICT startups and businesses.
Located in the New England region of NSW mid-way
between Sydney and Brisbane, Armidale is a city of
innovation, education and natural beauty.
Advantage
Wollongong
The University of Wollongong’s $500 million Innovation
Campus technology precinct provides a collaborative
environment for ICT companies to work with the
university’s world-class research teams.
The precinct is expected to employ around 5,000 people
when fully developed and is already attracting well known
industry players such as NEC, which is opening a $25 million
tech support facility that will initially employ 110 people.
The university’s technology incubator iAccelerate is
located in the precinct and offers startups the unique
opportunity to partner with a university comprising over
30,000 students, 2,000 staff and a significant portfolio of
faculties and business units.
The university has one of the largest ICT research and
teaching programs in Australia, generating some 1,000
graduates annually.
Additionally, Wollongong is home to one of two new NSW
Government Tier 3 data centres, with the other centre
located at Silverwater in Western Sydney. Over time, some
130 existing government data centres will be consolidated
into these two facilities.
Armidale
Offering an enviable and relaxed lifestyle in regional NSW,
Armidale is the only fully-fibred mainland regional city
with full fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) NBN.
The city is well-connected by air routes and highways,
with almost 100 direct flights each week between
Armidale and Sydney.
Armidale has an expanding service industry in education,
research, ICT and hospitality, and is home to first-class
educational, leisure and sporting facilities. The University
of New England is a world leader in livestock genetics
and complementary industries. There is also an emerging
renewable energy sector.
Spectacular waterfalls, gorges, world-heritage national
parks, cool-climate vineyards and a diverse cultural
heritage are other attributes that make Armidale an
attractive regional city not only to live in, but very
importantly, a great city in which to conduct business.
NSW Government
digital transformation
The NSW Government launched its ICT Strategy in May 2012.
Since then the government has established the policy infrastructure to support the most significant program of ICT
reform in this country.
Government is building on this work to:
• deliver more transactions through digital channels
• accelerate the move to cloud based services
• drive better value from its ICT investments
• be more open and encourage collaboration on policy development
• release more datasets for people to turn into smart, digital products.
This approach re-conceives government services and relationships with the community – as customers, industry and
agency partners – so that NSW can become a leading digital government.
How we can help you
We can assist by connecting you to:
• local partners, industry specialists, networks and funding bodies, information on: site selection, tailored research,
assistance programs, how to do business in NSW, data on the NSW economy, and potential customer bases to inform
your business decision
• key government agencies
• NSW Government regional offices, as well as international offices in our priority markets – Japan, US, China, UK, India,
Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia
• Sydney-based ICT industry experts
and providing referrals and introductions to enable a more effective and efficient pathway to the NSW ICT/ Digital sector.
Find out more at www.trade.nsw.gov.au
NSW Trade & Investment
A department of the New South Wales Government
Level 47, MLC Centre, 19 Martin Place
GPO Box 5477, Sydney NSW 2001 Australia
Tel: +61 2 9338 6600
Email: [email protected]
The NSW Government has trade offices around the world.
For details go to:
www.trade.nsw.gov.au
May 2015