Turning Sydney into Aussie Silicon Valley

Australia’s largest tech firms have joined forces with start-ups and high-growth technology companies to back a non-profit venture aimed at turning Sydney into Australia’s Silicon Valley.

The new group, TechSydney, will work to improve collaboration across the Sydney innovation chain to help increase Sydney’s standing in the global start-up ecosystem.

It will aim to create a hub for Australia’s start-ups and high-growth technology companies to attract top technology talent to Australia, as well as to promote start-ups as a viable career path, in turn bringing more women into the sector.

Despite efforts from government and enterprise to improve Sydney’s start-up and technology ecosystem, the nation’s standing on the Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking fell four places last year to 16.

Entrepreneurs Dean McEvoy, Mick Liubinskas, Kim Heras, Riley Batchelor and Gen George felt that the decline was due to a lack of coordination between stakeholders and founded TechSydney to address this issue.

The group has gained the support of Australia’s largest technology companies, including Atlassian, Tyro, Canva, Airbnb, Prospa, LinkedIn, Airtree Ventures, Reinventure and Blackbird Ventures. More than 30 funded start-ups and high-growth technology companies have also backed the initiative.

“Recent moves from all levels of government to support our start-up and technology sector have been heartening, but we can’t rely on them to carry it forward,” TechSydney CEO Dean McEvoy said.

“By working together, we will drive the initiatives that will turn Sydney into a world-class, top 10 hub for technology companies.”

Image courtesy of Lina Hughes under CC