Queensland startups receive $17.8m jolt

Queensland startups are due to receive an AU$24m ($17.8m) boost as part of the state-backed Advance Queensland initiative, worth AU$180m.

The initiative will seek to invest its total sum over a number of programmes, which include a partnership with Queensland University of Technology and pharmaceutical firm Johnson & Johnson which is designed to boost collaboration between universities, government, and industry in order to create new companies and create jobs in the region.

The startup pot, which was announced prior to the state’s 2015-16 budget, is seen as a key component in Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s Advance Queensland project. The cash injection into Queensland’s startup scene is designed to transform the state’s startup culture. Presently, only 7% of Australia’s tech startups are founded in Queensland.

Palaszczuk said: “As a Government, we know that the real driver of economic change are entrepreneurs and ambitious businesses. Every big corporate starts as an emerging business that took a chance. Startups can reshape entire industries through technology and business model innovation. They are vital to job creation and prosperity — in fact studies have found that each technology job created leads to five additional jobs in other sectors.”