University of the Sunshine Coast Innovation Centre project
The USC established its first subsidiary company - Innovation Centre Sunshine Coast Pty Ltd - to take a lead role in supporting the start-up and growth of knowledge based businesses with a focus on Sippy Downs - an area identified by the Queensland Government in the South East Queensland Regional Plan as the 'Knowledge Hub' for the Sunshine Coast region.
The University established the Innovation Centre as a company to:
- contribute to economic development in the region
- provide business incubation services
- attract incubator and accelerator clients that link with the University
- enable the University to strengthen industry links, and
- provide opportunities to commercialise University research
The three main activities of the Innovation Centre are:
Incubate - a business incubator for start-up high-tech businesses
Accelerate - a business accelerator proving office space and business development services for more established businesses and service providers
Educate - a Student Enterprise program and development programs for regional businesses
Significant momentum for the project has already been generated by the success of the Innovation Centre, which the Australian Government named 'Regional Incubator of the Year' in 2003 after less than two years of operation.
The Sunshine Coast Regional Council is taking a leading role in developing a Technology Park, which will enable graduating and high-growth companies from the Innovation Centre's Business Incubator and Accelerator to be retained in the region. The Park will also focus on attracting high-tech growth companies and service providers.