The Slow Death of Innovation and Start-ups in Australia

Australia has been trending as a place not to be for start-ups. Living in Australia and being involved in the innovative start-up space, it is saddening to see such a trend occurring in our own backyards.

According to latest statistics from Startup Genome, Sydney is ranked 23rd whilst Melbourne is nowhere to be seen in the top 30 Global Startup Ecosystems. In the top 30 list, Sydney has had one of the steepest drops since 2017 (down 6 places) with only Vancouver having a steeper drop (down 9 places) which is ranked one place behind Sydney at 24th.

As the Startup Genome report puts perfectly:

There will be no “Next Silicon Valley”, there will be 30.

In Australia, we come up with some of the most innovative technology and ideas even though our population is only a small sub-set of the much more densely populated rest of the world. The unfortunate thing is, the majority of the innovative ideas and technologies are not staying in Australia due to the absence of ecosystem to support their growth.

The lack of policy direction for innovation and technology is slowly forcing out our innovative start-up businesses; with most of the successful ones migrating abroad for better ecosystems and investment opportunities. Both the Australian government and private partners will need to work hand-in-hand to improve the national strategy for tech and innovation in order to keep global disrupting ideas from moving off-shore.

The pace of technological advancement is increasing and we should be forward-thinking and not constantly playing catch-up. Different countries around the world are embracing technologies in record speed with the support of their respective governments; the FinTech push in the UAE and A.I. advancements in China are just a couple of excellent examples. Why are we not doing the same? 

As we complete the “Great Transition” from the Industrial to the Information economy, Australia needs to start being more forward-thinking and take calculated risks in order to yield better returns for the economy and move innovation forward. Only then can we stay abreast of other fast-growing cities around the world and cement our spots to be the next Silicon Valleys of the world.