Founders and executives meet to discuss the launch of TechSydney
Some of Australia’s start-ups and tech titans have collaborated to launch a new not-for-profit venture that aims to turning Sydney into the country’s Silicon Valley.
The new group, TechSydney, will work to address the Sydney innovation ecosystem's greatest challenge: collaboration.
TechSydney CEO, Dean McEvoy, attributed a recent Global Start-up Ecosystem Ranking done last year, which showed that Sydney’s global start-up ecosystem ranking slipped last year from the 12th spot to 16th.
This was despite increasing efforts from major tech companies, start-ups and all levels of government to improve both Sydney's, and in turn, Australia's start-up and technology ecosystems.
According to McEvoy, it became apparent that while all of these groups were working towards a common goal, they tackled it in isolation, limiting their impact and ability to change the sector for the better and there was no organisation focused on Sydney.
Recognising this challenge, serial entrepreneurs Dean McEvoy (Spreets), Mick Liubinskas (muru-D), Kim Heras (25fifteen), Riley Batchelor (tidyme) and Gen George (OneShift) devised a new group that will act as a central point for the sector.
Since then, the not-for-profit has gained the support of tech firms including: Atlassian, Tyro, Canva, Airbnb, Prospa, LinkedIn, Airtree Ventures, Reinventure, Blackbird Ventures, and more than 30 other funded start-ups.
“Recent moves from all levels of government to support our startup and technology sector have been heartening, but we can’t rely on them to carry it forward. By working together, we will drive the initiatives that will turn Sydney into a world class, top 10 hub for technology companies,” he said.
TechSydney aims to do the following: create a hub for Australia’s start-ups and high growth technology companies; attract world-class technology talent to Australia; and promote start-ups and high growth technology companies as a viable career path, and in turn, bring more women into the sector.
In order to achieve these goals, TechSydney will serve as an organising body and a central point of contact for all initiatives relating to Sydney's high growth technology sector; bring together the best in the industry to learn from each other and address the common issues via advocacy to government and implementation of initiatives; and promote both Sydney and Australia’s start-ups and high growth technology companies locally and abroad.
StartUpAus CEO, Alex McCauley, said TechSydney is a really important initiative as it brings key voices in the Sydney technology ecosystem into the national conversation.
OneShift founder, Gen George, said Sydney has a lot of potential to be a serious competitor as a global start-up ecosystem ranker. However, if it wants to have a fighting chance of being in the top 10 globally, it needs to connect all the stakeholders from universities, incubators, investors, start-ups, small businesses, and corporates to drive this from the ground up.
“TechSydney is a really important initiative bringing key voices in the Sydney technology ecosystem into the national conversation. Efforts like this around the country are essential to building a globally competitive national framework in Australia.
“The threat to our economy, if we don’t act significantly and in unison to build a strong tech industry, is real. For the first time, there is a common understanding of that threat with every part of the Sydney tech industry committed to doing something about it,” 25Fifteen founding partner, Kim Heras, said.
