Department of Economic Development
Home -> Intelligent Island -> Objective, vision and achievements


Objective

The Intelligent Island program will contribute to the development of an internationally competitive information and communications technology (ICT) sector in Tasmania by supporting new projects and building on the existing ICT industry, Commonwealth and Tasmanian government initiatives and the research capacity of Tasmania’s education sector.

The program will promote employment growth and wealth creation throughout the Tasmanian economy by accelerating growth of the state’s ICT industries.


Vision

The program is designed to ensure Tasmania’s full participation in the information economy. By 2010, the Tasmanian ICT sector will be one of Tasmania’s leading sectors and be well placed on the national and global ICT map. It will:

  • have significantly grown in terms of employment and financial turnover
  • be externally focused and achieve most of its profit from sources outside Tasmania
  • underpin innovation and growth in other sectors, both in Tasmania and elsewhere
  • produce a wide-range of products and services including a number of world-class products exported internationally
  • include a large number of small, dynamic and rapidly growing firms able to work alone and in consortia, a fair proportion of robust and innovative medium firms and a number of national or international firms that have established significant bases in the state.


Achievements

The Intelligent Island Board implemented the Intelligent Island program, spending about half its resources focusing on short-to-medium-term projects designed to support immediate or near immediate activity and the remaining half on medium-to-longer-term projects, the outcomes of which will grow and become apparent in three to five years.

Intelligent Island program achievements include:

  • The Intelligent Island Incubator, In-tellinc, inducting 18 ICT companies and currently supporting 14 with physical incubation, management and financial assistance.
  • The development of three distinct cluster projects to assist the software industry, marine and aquaculture related ICT and e-Health industry.
  • The Tasmanian ICT directory, intelligentisland.com.au, providing information on the capabilities of Tasmanian ICT businesses to enable potential customers and commercial partners access to information on the companies' areas of expertise and contact details.
  • Tasmania’s first comprehensive ICT surveys, providing current and objective information on the Tasmanian ICT industry for the 2001-02 and 2002-03 period to enable the development of appropriate industry policies and strategies. The latest key indicators for the Tasmanian ICT industry show growth in employment, revenue and research and development expenditure.
  • Tasmania's first ICT Showcase, highlighting the capabilities of the Tasmanian ICT sector to the Tasmanian business community and general public, providing development and networking opportunities for the Tasmanian ICT sector and publicising the diverse range of ICT careers.
  • The Intelligent Island Industry Development Program, providing competitive funding assistance to help companies increase non-Tasmanian sales revenue; form clusters through which to access growth opportunities and develop more sophisticated product sets.
  • Support for a range of activities to increase the ICT skills base in Tasmania, ensuring that there are enough people with the right education, training and experience for the rapidly growing ICT industry.
  • Attracting firms to Tasmania under an investment attraction initiative. The current focus is in software development, e-Learning and the Centre of Excellence. In just five months to June 2004 one company in the e-Learning space, etech Group has employed four staff, signed partnership agreements with six Tasmanian companies and bought a high level French Government delegation to Tasmania.
  • A telecommunications report has provided the impetus for the Tasmanian Government to take action to ensure that it capitalised on the opportunities presented by the domestic reticulation of gas, such as laying the optical fibre cable in the same trench as the gas pipeline.
  • Marketing activities have resulted in the negotiation of distribution and sales contracts, the development of new business relationships and the identification of long-term business development opportunities. They also revealed that the very high level of innovation in the Tasmanian sector is comparable to international markets.
  • Launch of the Tasmanian ICT Centre in September 2006 as a key element of Phase 2 of the Intelligent Island Program. The underlying intent of the Centre is to connect Tasmania to national and international ICT research and development, and create new business opportunities and growth for the industry. The new research centre will develop ICT products and new technology for use in Australia and the wider global market. The areas of focus are to be determined in consultation with industry, but could include health, marine science, forestry and energy.