Bris Industry - Using Cluster Development to Assist Business to Grow and Contribute to the Community and Economic Development of Brisbane City

Hewson L¹*

1. Economic Department, Brisbane City Council, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Clusters have been used successfully by both national and provincial governments internationally and to a lesser extent, historically, in Australia as a vehicle for implementing effective industry development policies and strategies.

Cluster development works on the principal that working together creates more growth and opportunity than competing alone. A cluster is a group of firms collaborating to promote their business and access new markets.

BrisIndustry is a Brisbane City Council driven program that currently supports 11 industry clusters with over 400 members across Tourism, ICT (multimedia, games, elearning), Design (Industrial, Jewellery), Speculative Fiction, Film and Television, Marine, Food and Aviation.

The BrisIndustry program has spawned ‘Super’ clusters, the next generation of cluster development that fosters several smaller clusters, furthering successful collaborative activities. With the initial support of Brisbane City Council these clusters have leveraged support also from the Queensland State and Federal Governments. BrisIndustry is a successful story of cross collaboration between private industry and three levels of Government in Australia.

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