South Australia home to nation-leading Cluster Observatory

Wednesday, 17 December 2014

South Australia is now home to a nation-leading hub for business information sharing.

Based on best-practice research from Europe and North America, the Australian Cluster Observatory aims to educate businesses about the practical benefits of clusters.

Manufacturing and Innovation Minister Susan Close said the Observatory will also plug South Australia into an international network of cluster professionals.

"South Australia has already achieved success by embracing clustering programs," she said.

"The Australian Cluster Observatory will encourage businesses to share ideas and information, and build on their collective strengths to develop systems, products or services."

Clusters are collaborative networks of SMEs, large business, academic and non-academic research, finance, government and support industries that are usually located within close proximity to each other.

By forming clusters, researchers and businesses can connect with potential new partners and generate opportunities for international collaboration, commercialisation and exports.

The University of Adelaide's Entrepreneurship, Commercialisation and Innovation Centre (ECIC), with the support of the State Government, partnered with the Stockholm School of Economics to establish the Australian Cluster Observatory in Adelaide.

Dr Allan O'Connor, Project Leader, Australian Cluster Observatory, said the University of Adelaide is well-placed to lead this innovative initiative.

"The University of Adelaide's ECIC is the ideal place for developing an Australian Cluster Observatory as it is full of bright and creative minds," Dr O'Connor said.

"We are also working closely with Dr Göran Lindqvist, Director of Research at the Stockholm School of Economics, who has extensively researched European clusters.

"An Observatory is an open source tool that assists policy-makers and business leaders to interpret the business landscape, leading to better investment and co-location decisions and sourcing of expertise.

"The Australian Cluster Observatory will help fill a gap in our knowledge about what regions are emerging so we can look to exploit specialisations in particular industry sectors."

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