Strong R&D capability with collaboration between government, universities, research centres and industry.
Enabling major change
Queensland has long been a hotbed of innovation, ambition and talent.
Queensland’s collaborative ecosystem, leading institutions and world-class R&D capabilities foster the development of enabling technologies that has the potential to drive radical change across many industries.
With many local companies already succeeding internationally, Queensland is emerging as a global hot spot and testbed for industry-led platform technologies.
Quick glance at Queensland’s technology landscape
Supporting innovation
The Queensland Government is committed to driving ground-breaking innovation to support a strong and vibrant economy into the future.
The $755 million Advance Queensland initiative promotes the development of the state’s innovation capabilities through investing in research, attracting new investment, building global partnerships and encouraging companies to launch and scale.
Nurturing future talent
Queensland’s talent pool for tech professionals is one of the fastest growing in Australia.
The state has world-class educational programs and institutions, delivering a pipeline of talent across Information Technology, Engineering and Science that is leading the next wave of technological advancements.
A strong Research and Development capability is supported by 12 research-focused universities, including four in the world’s top 250.
To meet the needs of this emerging sector, the Queensland Government is helping supply an additional 10,000 digital professionals by 2024 through upskilling and attracting new talent.
Queensland capabilities
Digital technology and SaaS
Home to two of the nation’s six tech unicorns (Go1 and SafetyCulture), Queensland has established itself as a hub for some of the brightest digital tech start-ups, scale-ups, incubators, mentors and talent.
Its thriving digital tech landscape covers a broad range of solutions designed for edutech, agtech, health and safety management, cryptocurrency, biomedical and digital health (to name a few).
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Queensland is one of Australia’s largest markets for AI by percentage of companies and adopting industries, with strong capability in AI powered cyber-physical systems, health, mining and aviation technologies.
Queensland is progressing industry development nationally through the AI Hub – a $5 million hub that works together with researchers, developers, industry bodies, and government to increase awareness, deliver programs, and connect Queensland talent with the globe.
Robotics
Queensland is positioned as a key robotics technology hub in the Asia Pacific, home to world-leading research centres and industry clusters, including:
- Australia’s first robotics cluster Queensland Robotics is innovating and commercialising robotics technologies.
- ARM Hub is Australia’s first robotics and manufacturing hub, drawing together scientists, technical specialists, designers and engineers to develop commercial solutions.
- Australia’s largest integrated R&D precinct, Queensland Centre of Advanced Technologies specialises in field robotics developing autonomous vehicles and sensor network technology.
- The $25.6 million Australian Centre for Robotic Vision is dedicated to creating “robots that can see”, firmly positioning Queensland as a global leader in this field.
- CSIRO’s Data61 Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group is one of the world’s premier research groups, home to the biggest motion capture system in Australia.
- QUT’s Centre for Robotics is that largest and fastest research group in Australia, paving the way for a future of autonomous vehicles.
Drones
Queensland is the drone capital of Australia, with universities at the forefront of research. As the first state to launch a drone strategy, Queensland is home to more than 30 per cent of Australia’s drone industry and the highest number of remote pilot licence-holders.
With large expanses of open land and uncongested airspace, Queensland’s physical environment provides a natural advantage for drone facilities. Queensland is perfectly positioned to build on drone research, design and development, with application in sectors such as agriculture, mining, marine industries, tourism and defence.
Quantum technology
Queensland has a history of innovation and leadership in quantum technology and is an Australian leader in the fields of sensing, computation and precision navigation. Building on these capabilities, Queensland is well-positioned to provide solutions across aerospace, defence and mining, resources, and energy sectors.
Immersive technology
Queensland boasts a diverse range of capabilities in virtual reality, augmented reality, data visualisation platforms and other related immersive technologies.
With research centres at the forefront of developing and commercialising projects in the field of immersive technologies, Queensland is fostering a vibrant immersive tech community.
The Queensland Government’s XR Hub is helping develop local talent and supporting initiatives to increase investment in growing immersive tech companies.
Talk to an investment specialist
Let’s work together to create your Queensland success story. Connect with our team of global advisors and sector specialists today and discover what Queensland has to offer.