STARTUP ECOSYSTEM REPORT

MEETUPS & EVENTS
Meetups
Events
25
20
15
10
5
0
Cairns Townsville Mackay Rockhampton Bundaberg Ipswich
Toowoomba
MEETUP GROUPS
16+
Estimated number of regular
startup related Meetup Groups.
STARTUP WEEKENDS
6Number of Startup Weekends
across Regional Queensland.
EVENTS
55+
Estimated number of startup
related events per annum.
Meetup Groups & Community Events
Our research identifed approximately 16
meetup or community groups across Regional
Queensland related to startups, technology and
entrepreneurship. These are informal groups that
generally meet on a monthly basis. By way of
comparison we identified a total of 110 startup
related meetup groups in South East Queensland
in the 2009 to 2014 period.
A common theme emanating from participants
in the project was that a lack of networking and
collaboration opportunities was a major inhibitor
to the growth of a local ecosystem, with many
silos developing as a result.
Any regional entrepreneurial community
must be active and involved in supporting the
growth of new startups in the region. Part of
this activity must include events geared towards
entrepreneurial education to help build local
entrepreneurial expertise.
Local events like ilab’s Mentor Blaze and Startup
Weekend help train and motivate entrepreneurs.
Other important community events, including
networking sessions, informal meetups, and
events like Hackathons and RoboCups help
entrepreneurs connect with each other and
develop new collaborations.
Startup Weekend
Toowoomba, Cairns, Tablelands, Townsville
Startup Weekends are 54-hour events where
tech talent come together to share ideas, form
teams, build products and launch startups. Startup
Weekends have been held in Toowoomba,
Townsville, Cairns (x2), Atherton Tablelands
(Cairns) and Mackay.
Startup Weekends were perceived by participants
involved in this project as critical events to help
establish and build tech ecosystems.
“The amount of interest that’s been generated
as a result of just doing that one weekend is
astounding. There’s a lot more people who
are now interested in tapping into it, not just
from a startup perspective, but also from the
business development and the mentoring and the
investment side of the ecosystem.”
John Williams, DSITI, Townsville
Rowes Bay Sensory Sprint Day
Townsville
The Rowes Bay Sensor Network Sprint sees four
teams tackle separate physical environments at
the Rowes Bay Sustainability Education Centre.
The JCU Robo Club teamed up with JCU
eResearch and the Townsville City Council to
form this challenge.
Four teams are assigned a separate environment,
with each expected to develop an Internet
of Things (IoT) solution to monitor that
environment. Teams must develop a solution that
gathers data, pushes it to the web, processes it,
and aesthetically displays the results to a web
page, all within one day.
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