Greater Whitsunday Regional Innovation Benchmark Research Report released
Greater Whitsunday Alliance (GW3) has released the Greater Whitsunday Regional Innovation Benchmark Research Report 2020- 2021 which showcases how the Greater Whitsunday region is embracing new ways of doing business, adopting new technologies to make our workplaces safer, more productive and globally competitive.
GW3 Chief Executive Officer Ms Kylie Porter said the purpose of this report was to measure business innovation activity across the MIW region.
Ms Porter said the report details how innovation ecosystem resilience is assessed on economic, social and institutional dimensions to determine how community resources are used to enable business and organisations to thrive in dynamic environments throughout times of unpredictability.
“The Greater Whitsunday region has a rich history of embracing change and out-of-the-box thinking. Through a strong ‘can do’ attitude and rethinking how we do business; our region is starting to become more future focused and our communities more connected.
“The economy of the Greater Whitsunday region offers diverse investment opportunities with a proven track record for growth and prosperity.
“Mackay is the centre of one of Australia’s most developed Mining, Equipment, Technology and Service (METS) sectors and has enormous bioproducts potential. The Whitsundays is not only a world class tourism destination, attracting more than a million visitors annually (as at 2019), but is also a highly developed food producing region with sugar cane, horticulture and aquaculture.”
Ms Porter said the report showcases how entrepreneurial mindsets support business to innovate.
“Moving towards the future, our regions innovative businesses and change makers will lead the way through pioneering activity which will transform and diversify the Greater Whitsunday economy.”
Some of the key findings from the business innovation benchmark found that 80 % of MIW innovators had businesses between 3 to 10 years old compared to the Queensland average of 9.1%
The research also found that 70% of Greater Whitsunday innovators collaborate, and therefore experience benefits such as outsourcing, providing specialist products or services and developing staff and management capabilities. Additionally, 26.7% of MIW innovators embraced fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies for cyber-physical systems, using automated business intelligence systems, data integration and smart technologies.
The report highlighted five case studies of companies who were embracing innovation regionally.
One such case study is the Prochem Group of Companies, a family-owned business that provides a range of services to the industrial and resource sector from their Paget workshop.
Beginning with lubrication systems and haulage, through entrepreneurial thinking, Prochem has now expanded to include environmental services such as water treatment, recycling, waste disposal and bioremediation.
To further their commitment to innovation and environmental sustainability Prochem Director, John Colvin has applied for Innovation Connections grants from the Department of Industry, in collaboration with Professor Peter Junk and his team from James Cook University (JCU).
Ms Porter said the data contained in the report will help GW3 and stakeholders to work more effectively to fill the gaps to support our region to continue to evolve and transform.
The Greater Whitsunday Regional Innovation Benchmark Research Report 2020- 2021 was co-funded by the Queensland Government through Advance Queensland’s Advancing Regional Innovation Program (ARIP).
To find out more about regional innovation in the Greater Whitsunday Region Regional Innovation Benchmark Research Report 2020- 2021, you can access it digitally here.
Greater Whitsunday Alliance is the region’s peak, independent economic development body committed to making the Mackay, Isaac, Whitsunday region strong for generations.
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