The city of Brisbane is aiming for no less than a "digital transformation" of businesses in the area. So what does that mean?
If you're one of the 120,000 registered companies in Brisbane, you might heard today's announcement that the City is pushing for a business "revolution" and wondered what that means.
First, the announcement: today Brisbane's Lord Mayor unveiled an action plan for local businesses. The aim? To help businesses on "the journey" to taking part in the digital economy.
Like many of these types of plans - this one's called the "The Digital Brisbane Strategy" - it involves impressive-sounding phrases like "power-up" and "digital transformation".
But what does all this actually mean?
In a nutshell, a survey of 500 companies completed last year found that 30% were selling goods and services online.
The plan announced today has a number of goals, including [information quoted from The Digital Brisbane Strategy document]:
- Doubling the number of Brisbane firms selling products and services online
- support for 50 promising local digital start-up companies.
- Grants for budding entrepreneurs with promising digital potential and proactive programs to link dozens of digital business ‘start-up’ operators with potential mentors and investors
Here is a summary of some of the other specific action points [information quoted from The Digital Brisbane Strategy]:
- Develop a “matchmaking” tool for SME’s and digital service providers designed to help SME’s to find suitable suppliers and enable them to rate their experiences.
- Access to tailored business solutions for digital novices - Tailored educational training sessions showing SME’s how they can grow their business and reduce costs.
- Engage internationally experienced angel investors to work closely with local investment groups to help them professionalise their activities and raise the profile of angel investing.
- Profile and celebrate entrepreneurship via media, public lectures by experienced entrepreneurs, and by supporting at least one major start-up focused event in Brisbane each year.
- Act as a conduit to help start-ups engage with appropriate providers of support and funding, and provide a base level of mentoring for start-ups that need advice on business strategy, investor pitching and investment readiness.
- 50 new active angel investors in Brisbane
- 50% increase in equity capital raised by high-growth startups from Brisbane
