From spacecraft to artificial hearts, why the Gold Coast is Australia's new hub of innovation

When you think of the Gold Coast, you typically think of sun, surf, and theme parks. But something interesting is happening in the place surfers deem paradise. Last year saw the Gold Coast become the most popular destination for "metro-movers" fleeing capital cities. In a post-pandemic landscape, where big business and startups are no longer tethered to the big city hubs of the likes of Melbourne and Sydney, businesses and workers alike are seeking sunnier shores, quite literally.

The Gold Coast is fast becoming a mecca for businesses as diverse as sustainable manufacturing, blockchain technology, space technology, high-tech bus building and luxury yacht manufacturing, to name a few. The Gold Coast is welcoming this new wave of tech with open arms, offering generous incentives including "up to $2.5 million in cash rebates for capital investments, up to 10 percent reimbursement of operating expenditure, and up to $10,000 per eligible employee or job created, plus a range of non-financial assistance packages".

Sunshine and rebates, while nice, aren't the only factors driving big businesses and start-ups to Australia's sixth-largest city. Today, one in five workers on the Gold Coast works for themselves, creating a working culture of entrepreneurship and youthful ambition. Combine this with the fact that the city has one of the largest education sectors per capita in the country, and you get a city-sized Petri dish of innovation and talent.

Gilmour Space Technologies is one such company drawn to the city. From a big warehouse on the Gold Coast, the rocket manufacturer acts as a "bus to the stars", transporting satellites from the earth's surface to orbit. It's now dominating Australia's small but growing space sector.

The founder of Gilmour Space technologies, Adam Gilmour, is part of a new, exciting wave of private company-led space exploration, headlined by the likes of Elon Musk's SpaceX, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.

A little closer to planet earth, Gold Coast firm Ryan Aerospace is making international waves, having recently secured "a series of contracts to supply nearly 300 jet fighter and helicopter training simulators to the US Air Force as part of the new program known as 'Pilot Training Transformation' (PTT)," according to Australian Defence Magazine.

The firm, based in the Gold Coast suburb of Nerang, is seen as "a pioneer in the development of a new generation of flight training devices that leverage virtual and mixed reality technologies". So now you can add "helicopter simulation hub" to the list of keywords that pop up when you think of the Gold Coast (along with "sunshine" and "surf", of course).

Perhaps one of the most prominent examples of the Gold Coast's tantalising allure to big business has been the recent move of Texas medtech giant BiVACOR, who now calls the Gold Coast home, along with recent movers Dutch blockchain company Tymlez, and surgical laser company Precise Light Surgical from the San Francisco Bay area (Silicon Valley).

BiVACOR is behind the world's first rotary artificial heart, and was drawn to the city by "investment attraction incentives endorsed by City of Gold Coast, together with strong research collaboration opportunities at Griffith University." These have helped to "attract the companies into the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct (GCHKP), where they join a growing cluster of medical, health and digital technology businesses".

BiVACOR is just one of many local businesses producing high tech products, with the manufacturing industry contributing $2,518 million to the Gold Coast's overall economy, making it the third-largest sector on the Gold Coast.

With the days of big tech and innovative start-ups being slaves to the geographic location of 'big cities' over, it seems Gold Coast is well on course to become Australia's answer to Silicon Valley – in fact, it arguably already is. Not bad for a town that wasn't even declared a city in 1958.

This post was created by Pedestrian Group with City of Gold Coast.