John H Howard*, 21 January 2015
As innovation assumes centre stage in national economic strategy, the governance of knowledge-intensive ecosystems has emerged as a critical policy challenge. This is particularly the case with Sydney's Tech Central––an ambitious experiment in orchestrating innovation at scale across 250 hectares of established urban landscape.
This complex ecosystem demands sophisticated coordination approaches that can harness the collective capabilities of universities, hospitals, government authorities and industry partners while fostering authentic collaboration.
In Sydney, history has demonstrated time and again that top down centrally directed metropolitan development authorities do not always work well, and other approaches should be considered, particularly as connectivity across the city goes through a public transport transformation with the new Metro system.
Innovation Ecosystems as Strategic Policy Imperatives
The emergence of innovation ecosystems as focal points for national economic strategy has intensified policy attention on governance, leadership, and institutional frameworks in what have become known as innovation districts, precincts and hubs. This heightened policy focus reflects growing recognition that innovation capacity increasingly derives from the complex interplay of land availability, physical infrastructure, institutional capabilities, and social capital.
This heightened policy focus reflects growing recognition that innovation capacity increasingly derives from the complex interplay of land availability, physical infrastructure, institutional capabilities, and social capital. These elements converge within serendipitous or deliberately cultivated geographic concentrations of knowledge-intensive activity, creating unique challenges for policy development and implementation.
Tech Central: A Complex Urban Innovation Experiment
Sydney's Tech Central district represents one of Australia's most ambitious urban innovation experiments. Encompassing a 250-hectare site, it exemplifies both the transformative potential and inherent complexities of modern innovation ecosystem development. Its strategic significance extends well beyond its Sydney footprint, positioning it as a bellwether for Australia's aspirations in the global knowledge economy.
At the core of Tech Central's development lies an intricate governance challenge: coordinating a multifaceted innovation landscape comprising diverse property owners and major institutional stakeholders. These include Central Station, two prominent universities, a 1,200-bed tertiary hospital with associated biomedical research centres, two local government authorities, and numerous private sector interests.
Multiple development control regulations and consent authorities exacerbate this challenge. These comprise:
The Minister for Planning as the consent authority for State Significant Development but operates within a framework that emphasises strategic planning alignment. The Department of Planning and Environment has a role in assessing State Significant Development applications.
Transport for NSW holds specific determination powers for transport-adjacent development, particularly crucial given Central Station's significance and the construction of new Metro stations.
The Sydney Local Health District maintains consent responsibilities within the Camperdown Health precinct boundary.
The City of Sydney Council is the primary development consent authority for standard Development Applications within Central, Ultimo and Surry Hills precincts. The Inner West Council similarly maintains authority over developments in the Camperdown precinct, with additional consultation requirements for health precinct proposals.
Heritage NSW has preservation oversight, and the EPA oversees environmental compliance. The NSW Government Architect has a role in ensuring design excellence, particularly through the Design and Place SEPP framework.
The Greater Cities Commission (formerly Greater Sydney Commission) oversees metropolitan-scale strategic planning.
The University of Sydney and UTS retain internal determination powers reflecting their institutional autonomy in academic infrastructure development. Specialised research facilities, particularly in health and biomedical precincts, attract additional oversight from bodies such as the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
This regulatory mosaic reflects Sydney's complex institutional landscape that demands leadership coordination and innovation that matches the technical innovation it seeks to foster - adaptive, responsive, and capable of balancing structure with flexibility in ways existing Australian institutional frameworks have rarely achieved.
Coordination Challenges
At 250 hectares, Tech Central is one of the largest designated innovation districts in the world: Boston's Kendall Square/MIT district encompasses approximately 170 hectares, while Barcelona's 22@ innovation district spans roughly 200 hectares. However, Seoul's Gangnam Innovation District covers approximately 530 hectares, and Shanghai's Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park extends over 1,200 hectares.
However, Tech Central operates without an integrated metropolitan coordination framework, unlike its international counterparts in North America and Europe. Instead, as noted above, it functions through an intricate maze of state agencies, local councils, and statutory authorities. This institutional fragmentation poses particular challenges for coordinating innovation district development.
The property market intensifies these challenges, as evidenced by the transformation of the Australian Technology Park at Eveleigh. The Park was established in 1995 as an innovation hub through a collaboration between The University of Sydney, UNSW, UTS and ANU. Its sale to Mirvac, a property developer, in 2015 led to the displacement of many smaller innovative firms, revealing tensions between commercial property development imperatives and innovation ecosystem needs.
Above its diverse property ownership and regulatory platform, Tech Central’s loosely connected web of commercial, research, and creative organisations presents both an extraordinary opportunity and a profound challenge. The successful orchestration of these varied elements could establish Tech Central as a cornerstone of Australia's innovation capability, generating substantial economic value while positioning Sydney as a leading innovation hub in the Indo-Pacific's innovation landscape.
A Network of Distinctive Innovation Precincts
Tech Central's significance lies in its distinctive characteristics: its integration within an established urban core, its institutional density, and its embedded precinct structure. The district comprises six interconnected precincts, each with its own innovation narrative and strategic capability.
The Central Interchange Precinct (25 hectares) reflects the convergence of corporate innovation and metropolitan connectivity. Anchored by Atlassian's landmark global headquarters, this gateway precinct leverages its position in Sydney's primary transport hub to create a dynamic interface between technology enterprises and urban infrastructure.
The Surry Hills Innovation Quarter (40 hectares) represents a sophisticated synthesis of creative and technical innovation capabilities. With Canva's headquarters as a cornerstone, the precinct has evolved into a rich ecosystem where design studios and digital ventures thrive within heritage streetscapes. The precinct demonstrates how a historical urban fabric can nurture contemporary innovation through a distinctive blend of cultural and technological advancement.
The Haymarket-Ultimo Knowledge Precinct (30 hectares) builds on the UTS robust intellectual foundation. The iconic Dr Chau Chak Wing Building and Tech Lab serve as vital bridges between education and emerging technology ventures. Through the UTS Startups program and Industry Hub, the precinct facilitates crucial knowledge transfer between academic expertise and commercial innovation.
The Chippendale Creative Precinct (30 hectares) showcases the transformative potential of adaptive reuse in urban innovation. Centred around the Central Park development and UTS Faculty of Arts, the precinct demonstrates how former industrial sites can evolve into vibrant creative quarters. The precinct's transformation from the historic Carlton brewery site into a dynamic innovation environment exemplifies successful urban regeneration.
The Camperdown Innovation and Health Precinct (55 hectares) represents Australia's premier biomedical research and innovation ecosystem. The University of Sydney's comprehensive research infrastructure forms the precinct's foundation, integrating with Royal Prince Alfred Hospital's clinical excellence. The University's commercialisation initiatives and industry partnerships drive breakthrough innovations in healthcare, biotechnology, and medical devices.
The South Eveleigh Innovation Precinct (35 hectares) reflects a balance between heritage preservation and technological advancement. Home to Cicada Innovations, the Commonwealth Bank's Technology Centre, and CSIRO's Data 61, the precinct maintains strong connections to its railway workshop heritage while fostering cutting-edge technological development.
Leadership Solutions
The realisation of Tech Central's potential depends fundamentally on cultivating a shared vision that resonates across its constituent neighbourhoods. Success requires moving beyond compliance-focused “governance” approaches toward inclusive models of stewardship that recognise and celebrate each precinct's distinct character while strengthening connections between them.
A collaborative framework will serve a deeper purpose beyond mere coordination––it will illuminate the district’s higher purpose as a catalyst for Australian innovation and shared prosperity. The resulting social capital, manifested through trust, shared understanding, and collaborative capabilities, becomes crucial for sustainable innovation.
Given Tech Central's dynamic network of six distinct precincts and diverse stakeholder landscape, a Tech Central Association, perhaps modelled on a body like the Kendall Square Association, should be established as an incorporated not-for-profit entity to enhance collaboration and innovation outcomes.
The Association would serve as a vital communication bridge, fostering meaningful connections between universities, hospitals, government authorities, private enterprises (large, medium, small, scale-ups and start-ups), NGOs and the broader community in a way that maximises the district’s innovation potential.
Innovation champions also become critical for articulating compelling narratives that connect Tech Central's development to broader community aspirations. These leaders' effectiveness stems not from formal authority but from their capacity to inspire, connect, and mobilise diverse stakeholders around shared objectives.
Their role extends to enabling organic partnership development between established institutions and community initiatives, creating pathways for local talent development. This approach ensures that the benefits of innovation are broadly shared across the community while maintaining the precinct's competitive edge in the global innovation landscape.
In manifold ways, Tech Central's success as a world-class innovation network hinges on developing high-level collaboration and leadership capabilities that can nurture its complex ecosystem.
Sydney’s Metro: Transforming Innovation Connectivity across the City
Sydney's new Metro system promises to transform connectivity across Sydney’s innovation landscape. When fully operational The Northwest Metro will provide rapid links between Macquarie University, UTS, Walsh Bay Creative Precinct, and The University of Sydney.
It will demonstrate how strategic transport infrastructure can catalyse organic development of innovation activities across a 25 km extended urban space. This connection has often been referred to as Sydney’s Innovation Corridor.
The West Metro will form a strategic corridor of innovation, connecting the established knowledge economies of the CBD and Pyrmont with emerging precincts at the Bays and Olympic Park, Parramatta's growing commercial hub, and Westmead's world-class medical precinct.
This transport spine will catalyse collaboration across Sydney's innovation ecosystem, enabling the cross-pollination of ideas and talent that drives modern knowledge economies. Projections are that it will take 20 minutes to travel the 25 km between Westmead and the CBD.
Innovation Ecosystems in Urban Contexts: Lessons from Tech Central
Tech Central exemplifies how modern innovation ecosystems can flourish within established urban landscapes. The district demonstrates that successful innovation communities require sophisticated governance and coordination frameworks that balance institutional autonomy with collaborative imperatives while remaining responsive to local context and stakeholder needs.
Tech Central's integration with Sydney's new transport infrastructure further highlights how strategic connectivity can amplify innovation outcomes across metropolitan regions.
* Dr John Howard is an acknowledged expert in science, research and innovation policy and works with government, universities and businesses to lift R&D and innovation performance. He is Executive Director of the Acton Institute for Policy Research and Innovation and a Visiting Professor at the University of Technology Sydney.
John can be contacted at john@actoninstitute.au
This Innovation Insight first appeared in InnovationAus on 19 January 2024
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