The report identifies 96 digital technology industry clusters across the country, which cover many highly specialised clusters of digital industry in Australian capital cities and regions.

Industry clusters

The report explains that industry clusters are geographically concentrated agglomerations of companies, workers and public-sector organisations that interact with each other to produce products and services. Firms inside clusters tend to grow faster, innovate more, compete and build wealth at the national scale, making clusters a critical component of the effective industry growth and development strategy.

The report describes the three types of digital technology industry clusters:

• Super-clusters
• Greater capital city clusters calculated using ASX sector classifications and guidance from the Technology Council of Australia, which are large and diversified digital industry clusters
• Regional niche clusters, which occur outside of Australia’s eight greater capital cities and contain one or two well-defined niche specialisations in digital technology.

Recommendations for growing and developing clusters have arisen from an interplay of government, industry and community dynamics. Some of the critical inter-linked policy and strategy mechanisms to support cluster growth and development at various stages of the cluster lifecycle include:

• Place-led approaches that co-locate firms and research organisations to enhance local knowledge spillovers and improve regional branding.
• Skills-led approaches to attract creative and innovative people by providing the right lifestyle and culture, and training skilled people.
• Mission-led approaches to solve large societal problems through defining goals for innovative and technological effort.
• Technology-led approaches to modernise government services through the application of new and emerging technologies.

ESG issues

One of the most common issues that the report looks at is housing affordability. Researchers from the University of California, Santa Cruz mapped the ratio of low-wage jobs to affordable rental units. They found that, for nearly all southern San Francisco Bay areas, every four workers in a low-paid job were competing for one affordable rental unit on average. This has created a worker shortage and harmed the quality-of-life for all residents, which is an issue that needs to be addressed.

Conclusion

Overall, the report’s data helps industry, government and community plan for the development of Australia’s digital industry clusters. Better data can help decision makers identify what to do, and where, to achieve economic, social and environmental outcomes. This could guide investment decision making in real estate, infrastructure, and training in the technology sector.

The Geography of Australia’s Digital Industries shares the research on the geography of Australia’s digital industries, which aims to help industry, government, and community make better decisions about the inclusive growth and development of this industry. Using the identified clusters, Australian government, industry, and community leaders could employ a cluster development approach to catalyse the growth and development of Australia’s digital industries.