Tasmania is a state of entrepreneurial beginnings.
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The brains behind Launceston’s Enterprize hub believe that the state can once again be the country’s capital for start-ups and burgeoning entrepreneurs.
The hub is six months into its lifespan, and acts as a physical and social centre for encouraging and growing innovation in the state.
Startup Tasmania director James Riggall and Hobart Enterprize chief executive Gary McDarby said that while they recognise the Enterprize concept is very young, it’s off to a strong start.
Mr Riggall said the project took a lot of influence and inspiration from the city of Boulder, Colorado, in the US.
The city is not much bigger than Launceston, population-wise, but through a harmonious combination of several ingredients, is known as one of the most successful start-up centres in the US, and the world.
“One of their key principles is: these things take time,” Mr Riggall said.
“So while these first six months are important, we do recognise that it will take time.
“Even those successful businesses based in Launceston, that I think of, now they seem like overnight successes, but they are really five to 10 years’ work.”
Enterprize plays several roles in the start-up space.
“[We are] an explainer and an enabler,” Mr Riggall said.
“We facilitate more than we develop.”
It operates as a co-working space (a shared office space that can be utilised by independent workers) that hosts events and guest speakers, shares technology updates, and overall, encourages and supports innovation.
“Everyone knows that they can come here knowing that they will gain things but also that there is the expectation that they will contribute,” Mr Riggall said.
“It creates a community.”
It is Tasmania’s community that Mr Riggall and Mr McDarby believe plays a key role in the state’s future as a start-up leader.
“Down here, there is a powerful sense of entrepreneurship because there needs to be,” Mr McDarby said.
“The people who came here first really did have to do a lot of things to survive, to get things running
“When you look at some of the things that are happening - farming, aquaculture - there is so much movement and innovation, but it’s just not visible.
“What we’re hoping is that Enterprize will be a nexus to make some of this visible.
“[We want Tasmania to be] seen as a place where this is visible and achievable, and (through that) attract people to be here.”
Mr Riggall said one of the hub’s long-running jokes was that Melbourne was Tasmania’s first start-up.
The pair said that Tasmania, and Launceston, is further well-placed with its access to ground-breaking technology.
A low power network was switched on for the city last year, making Launceston the first city in the country to operate LoRa, a project that Mr McDarby was a key playing in establishing.
LoRa, Mr Riggall said, is a very long range and very low power network that allows internet communication on a radio network.
It is designed to transmit smaller packets of data over long distances, without a user-pays system.
The state government has invested in the network in Launceston, installing four gateways in the central business district.
Mr Riggall said the network, combined with the ability of the city’s Definium technologies business to build the infrastructure around it, put Launceston in a very unique situation.
“Our relationship with the government has been fantastic,” Mr Riggall said.
“That’s one of the benefits of a small population, being able to reach those decision makers.”
“A lot of people think that being small is a disadvantage but it is an advantage,” Mr McDarby added, in reference to Tasmania.
“We can do things quickly and agilely.”
The final piece of the puzzle is beyond technology – it is about Launceston and Tasmania as a destination.
Entrepreneur society, Mr Riggall said, looked the culture and community of a place.
“What is the cafe scene like? What are the bars like? Is there an arts culture?,” he said.
“Tasmania is set up because we have a hell of a lot of those ingredients already … There’s that sense of community.”
Through partnerships with government, the City of Launceston council, the University of Tasmania, pre-tertiary schools, and the corporate community, Enterprize is hoping to reignite that pioneering spirit that saw Tasmania established.
A big part of that is engaging the state’s young people.
“Youth are full of energy, of ideas and how they can change the world,” Mr McDarby said.
“Something that’s really important there, the young people in Tasmania are as smart as the young people anywhere else in the world,” Mr Riggall added.
“Unfortunately, the first thing that they do is jump on a plane to Sydney or Melbourne.
“There is no reason they couldn’t be building (this) in Tasmania.”