Silicon CQ

“Central Queensland, Australia’s Silicon Valley, you’ve got to be kidding, this place is bloody backwards”, not quite the quote that I received to last week’s column, just a couple of words short of it. Writing an opinion piece does result in some praise and criticism. I’m just content someone has read it and comments, though the negative comments reinforces my belief we as residents of Central Queensland hold ourselves back. “That won’t happen here” or “it won’t work here” maybe considered by the person to be a realistic assessment to the aspiration but if we don’t set high goals what do we strive for – mediocrity! It appears we need continual reminding of what has been achieved in CQ. The LNG plants in Gladstone, home to Australia’s largest regional university and one of the best art collections in regional Australia. These don’t just happen; imagine how many people when the plans were first mooted thought ‘it won’t happen here’. Why can’t CQ be Australia’s Silicon Valley? Plenty of valid reasons actually, but when I suggested this in last week’s column I was doing it to ‘think big’ and create a mental picture of a cluster of high tech start up businesses. A Youth Entrepreneurship Economic Zone was the aspiration for CQ. A phrase I thought I made up, but it does exist on Google. A Game Changer for CQ, an economic zone that with persistence, adequate resourcing, incentivisation and passionate leadership could lead to a culture change in CQ. CQ is arguably conservative in its approach to new things. We’re not backward, perhaps cautious and undersell ourselves and our achievements. It’s part of the CQ culture. We don’t typically give a complex project to a youthful novice and say make it happen, leaving them (and the resources invested) to sink or swim. That’s what I’m proposing though, an economic zone that encourages risk and innovation. Creating an exciting environment that attracts young people and their ideas that over time results in innovative and potentially lucrative outcomes. The industry diversity and challenges that CQ has makes it an ideal place for such an economic zone and our youth are our most underutilised asset. Will the prevailing CQ culture though prevent the conception of such an economic zone?