“Quicklook” Assessment of Greater Adelaide's Assets & Challenges ...

• The incubators and accelerators do not have an integrated and coordinated
strategy to leverage talent, knowledge, and know-how. It is not known where the
good new business plans or deals are coming from.
• Success stories are not being effectively communicated and celebrated which
contributes to the defeatist attitudes that are widespread. Government lacks
credibility in this area; most Australians hear the same success stories over and
over again, so they refer to these stories as “hype.”
• Tall poppy syndrome is a huge momentum killer.
• The private angel network does not seem to be in touch with the opportunities that
are being created, and they do not seem to be willing to invest in start-up or early
stage opportunities.
• The majority of the Venture Capital community is not located physically in S.A.
making them a little less accessible.
• It is not clear how S.A. stacks up to other regions.
• Adelaide lacks a cohesive internal and external marketing mechanism.
• Education system does not promote entrepreneurial activities.
• Other Australian states have more Headquarters offices which naturally attracts
more people and investment.
Possible Solutions
Realignment of Incubators and Accelerators
• Take the incubators and accelerators and give each one specific industry focuses,
or foci, such as Ag Science, Bio Med, Software, Internet, Wireless, etc. Then
within each incubator, establish the linkages to the R&D areas at Universities and
Industry. This will reduce redundancy and will help to establish strong core
competency centers. This should help to attract more qualified investors.
• Incubators and accelerators need to establish specific screening criteria for their
industry set and use them.
• The incubators need to regularly interface together to ensure they are leveraging
each other’s resources, such as talent and know-how.
Education of Private Angels
• Local angels need to be made aware of the strengths of the local entrepreneurial
environment.
• A private enterprise champion or champions needs to be identified to assist in the
education and engagement of the angel network. Proactively seeking local angels
and inviting them to a forum that is NOT another government session would help
to get this process started. It is very important that this new effort does not come
off looking like just another government program. If you are going to energize your
potential angels, you need to get the successful private sector enterprise
executives involved.
• Get your Packards and your Murdochs to put together an SA Investment group.
This may be a way to get several angels to team together on opportunities.
Proactive PR/Marketing Campaign Developed in 2 stages
Stage 1- Internal with S.A.
• Utilize high visibility sports personalities who will identify and proactively celebrate
local business success stories.
• Focus on Adelaide’s history of being aggressive pioneers and remind them to be
selectively proud.
• Leverage the South Australian Innovation fund
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