Platform technologies such as robotics, AI and drones are inspiring new industries in Queensland, which has been voted the ‘Most Innovative state in Australia’ (2017). Not surprisingly, Bengaluru, which has one of the world’s most thriving innovation ecosystems, has found a pole position in Queensland’s plans.
Kate Jones
“Everyone I have met with, right from the Karnataka’s minister for innovations to various research institutions here, is talking about future collaborations by connecting some of the best minds globally”, says Kate Jones, Minister for Innovation and Tourism Industry Development, Minister for the Commonwealth Games, and Ministerial Champion for Education and Training Queensland Government, in an interview with Sandhya Mendonca.
Jones, the youngest minister in the Queensland Government, plans to bring innovators from Queensland to Bengaluru and take innovators from India to study, work, and live in Queensland. “As per our A$650 million ‘Advance Queensland’ initiative, my job is to go out there and find out who are the people we are going to work with. Bengaluru being such a dynamic city, there are so many bright, young, and hungry people, our focus will be on how we create opportunities through startups, incubators, and research institutions to have collaborations and exchanges,” she says.
Some of the startups incubated in Bengaluru’s innovation centres like the Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre and SID (Society for Innovation & Development) are working on ideas that could lead to prove to be collaborative for the Australian state in sustainable agricultural and farming practices. One such startup is Astrome which is working on satellite technology and is hopeful of contributing to find the right balance between the larger population of Queensland living in rural and remote communities and the ones living in the major cities.
Bengaluru is now one of the major ecosystems for startups and innovators globally. In our perspective as a government, we want to work with some of the brightest minds of the world, hence Bengaluru.– Kate Jones, Minister for Innovation and Tourism Industry Development, Minister for the Commonwealth Games and Ministerial Champion for Education and Training, Queensland Government
The international education and training sector is one of the state’s most valuable industries, and Queensland’s A$ 4 billion education sector, like the rest of Australia, wants more Indian students. India is already the state’s second-largest source market for students, and Jones launched the Study Queensland Global Achievers Program, when she led a trade mission to India. The initiative is aimed at showcasing stories and experiences of high-performing graduates who are currently students at the University of Queensland and the Griffith University.
The India-Queensland Innovators’ Experience is an effort to link the talent in India with the wealth of unique research, educational, and business opportunities found in Queensland, launched by the Trade & Investment Queensland (TIQ). TIQ has also launched the first official Queensland-India Trade and Investment Strategy, 2018-2023, to outline the importance of innovation in strengthening the ties of Queensland with India in the near future. India is the fourth-largest trade partner for Queensland and while Queensland represents 60 percent of the trade between the two countries, the size of India’s economy, robust macroeconomic fundamentals, ample resources and strong domestic demand, works to the advantage of the Australian state.
Gitesh Agarwal, Queensland Trade and Investment Commissioner – India
Says Gitesh Agarwal, Queensland Trade and Investment Commissioner – India, “Innovation is transforming Queensland’s industrial mix and emerging capabilities, and together with world-class universities, are creating spillover benefits for industries across agriculture, mining, defense, health, biotech and manufacturing.” In Queensland’s quest to become a global leader in the knowledge economy, Agarwal believes it can collaborate with India across sectors of mutual strengths and needs, both “to co-create and amplify.”
