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This newsletter provides current news and events on the programs and activities the Business and Industry Development Branch of the Chief Minister’s Department delivers to the ACT business community.

 

EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST SOUGHT FOR TRADE DELEGATION
TO THE UK AND UAE

The ACT Government, in partnership with Austrade, is seeking expressions of interest from Canberra-based businesses to participate in a trade delegation to the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, led by the ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope MLA. The purpose of the mission is to assist Canberra exporters to capitalise on both short and long term opportunities in these markets.

Approximate mission dates: 19–30 October 2009.

Target cities: London, Abu Dhabi and Dubai with scope for additional cities tailored to participants’ market interests.

The ACT Government is financially supporting participants by covering all Austrade fee for service charges that relate to the development and delivery of a tailored business-to-business matching program. It will also cover costs associated with mission functions and networking events. Smaller companies with a turnover under $5 million may qualify for ACT Government funding support to offset up to 50% of other approved mission specific costs.

The number of participating companies on the mission is limited. Companies will be selected based on their export readiness and the suitability of their service or product offering for the relevant markets.

For further information on the Trade Mission, including an Expression of Interest Application Form, please download the attached pdf file, by clicking: Here.

Expressions of interest due by: 27 July 2009.

To discuss your participation further, please contact:

Austrade Chris Horsburgh Austrade Canberra Phone: (02) 6201 7572 Email: chris.horsburgh@austrade.gov.au

ACT Government Merlin Kong Chief Minister’s Department Phone: (02) 6207 1641 Email: merlin.kong@act.gov.au

BUSINESS IN FOCUS MONTH (SEPTEMBER 2009)

Arrangements for the inaugural Business In Focus Month in September 2009 are proceeding well with around 60 events registered or in advanced planning phase. Support across the business community is also gathering momentum. Pre-publicity is underway through the Business and Industry Development Branch’s website, eNewsletter, emails, publications such as B2B magazine, and through the Canberra Business Council newsletters.

Arrangements are also progressing on the three events being hosted internally by the Business and Industry Development Branch during the month—the launch on 1 September 2009, the mid-month small business focused event and a ‘closure’ event on 30 September 2009 to mark the end of the first Business In Focus Month.

There are still opportunities for corporate or organisational sponsorship, so if your organisation is interested in this form of association please contact:

• Maryanne Honeyman
  Business and Industry Development Branch
  Phone: (02) 6205 8602
  Email: Maryanne.honeyman@act.gov.au 

GREEN IT MISSION TO MICROSOFT

ACT IT companies with an interest in ‘green IT solutions’ have an opportunity to join an Austrade Green IT Mission to Microsoft from 3 to 6 November this year. ‘Environment—Technology—Entrepreneurship’ is the focus of this third Austrade Australian Mission to Microsoft.

The missions are designed to drive entrepreneurship, introduce ICT providers to key contacts within Microsoft, and support the development, commercialisation and internationalisation of—in this case—'green IT solutions'.

Austrade anticipates mission participants will be Australian businesses with innovative software technology and solutions that improve energy efficiency, address climate change and disaster management or enable 'green IT'. Participants have the opportunity to: meet with Microsoft global leaders; understand how to work with them in developing Green IT solutions for the global market; meet with US industry experts and gain a direct understanding of the lucrative US market—opportunities and entry requirements; and understand how to position their companies in line with market demand and future trends, such as cloud computing, software and services.

Applications will be reviewed by a panel of industry representatives and business leaders.

Expressions of interest close on Friday 24 July 2009. Further details are available by clicking: Here.

There are opportunities for ACT Government support for mission participants through the TradeConnect program. For further information contact:

• Merlin Kong
  Business and Industry Development Branch
  Phone: (02) 6207 1641
  Email: merlin.kong@act.gov.au 

CANBERRA BUSINESSPOINT GALA/AWARDS

The annual Canberra BusinessPoint Gala and Awards night was held at the Australian Institute of Sport Arena on Friday 12 June 2009. More than 220 guests attended the event and five category winners were announced as well as the award for Enterprise of the Year. Ms Joy Burch MLA represented the Chief Minister and presented the Enterprise of the Year Award. Mr Rob de Castella was the keynote speaker and spent a considerable amount of time with each of the category winners discussing their businesses and plans for the future.

The award winners were:

• The WISE Academy Pty Ltd—Business Plan Award;
• mHITS Ltd—Innovation & Commercialisation;
• Viridis E3 Pty Ltd—Employee Growth;
• Lucy Media Pty Ltd—Sales Growth;
• Formulate Information Design—Emerging Entrepreneur; and
• Viridis E3 Pty Ltd—Enterprise of the Year.

LOCAL IT COMPANY WINS ANOTHER AWARD

Admin Bandit—a client of the ACT Government's InnovationConnect grant program was recognised at the 2009 Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) iAwards as the winner of the e-Inclusions and e-Community category. The iAwards recognise the entrepreneurial achievements of the Australian ICT industry and its influence across many industries and markets.

The ACT Government funding enabled Admin Bandit to further develop its accounting package that was designed after a need was identified to meet the specific needs of volunteer treasurers in Australia's non-profit and community sector.

Admin Bandit will now represent Australia in the Asia-Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA) in Melbourne later this year.

TRADECONNECT GRANTS PROGRAM

Commencing 1 July 2009, the ACT Government increased the value of its TradeConnect export grant program to $10,000 per individual grant. Successful applicants are eligible for support of up to $30,000 over a three year period.

For more information on the grant program, visit the Business and Industry Development Branch Website at: TradeConnect.

To speak to a client manager, please phone Laura Hartley on (02) 6205 3051 or Merlin Kong on (02) 6207 1641.

SKILLED MIGRANTS TARGETED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

The ACT Government recently participated in the ‘Australia Needs Skills Expo’ in the United Kingdom. The Commonwealth Department of Immigration and Citizenship initiative involves all states and territories.

Commenting on the Territory’s involvement, Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said the Expo is an important vehicle to target specific skills bottlenecks in the Territory's workforce.

Two officers from the Skilled and Business Migration Unit of the Chief Minister's Department attended the Skills Expo in London, a skills open day in Manchester and also met with a number of UK based migration agents.

The ACT continues to experience acute skills shortages including in health, engineering and some specific IT skill areas, and while employment dynamics in the ACT are changing as a result of the global economic downturn, these particular skill shortages will continue.

CHANNELVISION—PROMOTING BUSINESS AND SUPPORT PROGRAMS

Channelvision, a local (and now national) Canberra television channel (on TransACT) is expanding its promotion of the local business community with support from the ACT Government. A sponsorship arrangement with the ACT Government will see Channelvision profile three local businesses a month for the next twelve months and produce a range of television commercials to promote access to ACT Government business programs. The business profiles will also be featured on the Business and Industry Development Branch’s website.

For further information email: sharyn.smith@act.gov.au.

CHIEF MINISTER'S EXPORT AWARDS

Applications are open for the 2009 ACT Chief Minister’s Export Awards. Businesses exporting from Canberra and the region are encouraged to enter the Awards and achieve the local, national and international respect and recognition that goes with being an Export Awards winner. 

The benefits of entering these prestigious awards are many. Not only does it provide an opportunity for you to highlight your team’s achievements, it also allows you to strategically review your business operations and export strategies, a must for every exporting business in uncertain times.

Entries close on 31 July 2009 and winners will be announced at the Presentation Lunch on 22 September 2009. Winners progress to the 47th Australian Export Awards as national finalists and compete for an opportunity to win the coveted Prime Minister's Australian Exporter of the Year which will be held in Canberra in November.

For further information including how to apply, click: Here.

‘PITCH CLUB’—CAPACITY BUILDING INITIATIVE

The ACT Exporters’ Network has established a new capacity building program called ‘Pitch Club’, designed to boost entrepreneurship, innovation and growth within the local export community for businesses looking to grow their product or service into overseas markets. 

The concept is that emerging exporters will be allocated 15 minutes to pitch their export objective and strategy to a panel of experienced exporters and industry specialists. The panel will provide constructive comments and feedback on all aspects of the strategy. They will also provide the exporter with a call to action to identify the specific actions which need to be undertaken by the exporter and key stakeholders, including the timeframe for the action to be completed and the person who will be responsible for undertaking action. The make-up of the panel will vary depending on the industries involved, their export objectives and level of export experience.

The network will look to include, where appropriate, an experienced exporter from the industry along with capital investors and industry specialists.

For the first round of ‘Pitch Club’, and to coincide with the ACT Government’s proposed trade mission to the Middle East and the UK in October 2009, exporters will be asked to focus their export objective on the UK and Middle East markets. 

What: Round 1—Pitch Club—UK and Middle East markets.

When: Wednesday 12 August 2009.

Where: Acton Lounge, National Museum of Australia.

RSVP: No later than Friday 10 July 2009 via email to: brooke.anderson@canberrabusinesscouncil.com.au.

2009 AUSTRALASIAN LEADERSHIP IDEAS FESTIVAL

The 2009 Australasian Leadership Ideas Festival is being held on the 1st and 2nd of September 2009 between 5 pm and 8.30 pm each night. The event has been designed to be innovative, exciting and focused on unique perspectives of leadership. The Festival will appeal to public, private and community sector participants and will feature speakers including:

• Richard Hames—world renowned leadership guru and a great provocateur of alternative leadership views.
• Chris Bosse—a world leading architect and architect of the Olympic Swimming Complex (the Cube) for the Beijing Olympics and the Schumacher Tower in Dubai.
• Carrie Graff—Head Coach of the Canberra Capitals Basketball Team and incoming Head Coach of the Australian Opals Women’s Basketball Team.
• Chris Richardson—Executive Director of Access Economics, Australia’s foremost economic think-tank.
• Dr Peter Stanley—Director, Historical Research, National Museum of Australia.

Cost: $450 covering two exciting and stimulating evenings (or $250 per night). To register to attend, please download the Festival Registration Form, by clicking: Here.

For further information contact: Harry Telfer by phone on (02) 6273 0168 or by email at: harry.telfer@yellowedge.com.au.

SUPERMARKET COMPETITION POLICY REVIEW

Former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Commissioner, John Martin, has been appointed as an expert advisor to the current ACT Government review of supermarket policy.

He will advise the ACT Government on a range of issues surrounding the review, in particular the local implications of the ACCC’s 2008 findings and recommendations in relation to the sector. Mr Martin will also conduct direct meetings with key stakeholders in the sector.

The ACT Government welcomes written submissions to the review from interested organisations and individuals. Submissions close at 5 pm, Friday 24 July 2009.

For further information on the review, click: Here.

GREEN ECONOMY STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT

The ACT Government has engaged a University of Canberra-led team to undertake a scoping study to identify likely components and approaches for an ACT green economy strategy.

Meanwhile ACT ‘Clean Tech’ SMEs are shaping up as an emerging capability locally. The Austrade Clean Technology for the Future seminar series was delivered in Canberra in partnership with the ACT Government. The seminar series is an initiative aimed at providing small to medium enterprises with information on state, territory and federal government support programs available to help them boost their industry capability and compete globally. The seminar also featured a case study on the commercialisation of a UK based renewable energy company and presentations by Austrade’s ASEAN and Latin American Trade Commissioners. The event was well attended, with a broad cross-section of local clean technology companies taking part.

ANU CLIMATE CHANGE INSTITUTE

The official sod-turning ceremony of the ANU's Climate Change Institute was held last month by the Chief Minister Jon Stanhope and ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Chubb. The ACT Government is a key partner in this $8.1 million investment, contributing $2.5 million.

The Climate Change Institute will bring together research and teaching expertise from across the ANU's seven colleges. It will implement research programs that meet the future needs of both the public and private sectors. The Institute will also collaborate with the ACT Department of the Environment, Climate Change, Energy and Water in delivering the ACT Government's Climate Change Strategy, Weathering the Change.

TOWARDS NATIONAL BUSINESS ONLINE SERVICES

The Business and Industry Development Branch’s role in delivering a nationally coordinated online business service continued last month with participation at the ABN/BN Project Inter-jurisdictional Business Online Services (BOS) Working Group meeting.

A BOS Project Plan is being developed under the auspices of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) and work is now underway to identify priority business requirement components for Release 1 of BOS/BLIS Business Licence Information System which is due for deployment in September 2010.

The next BOS Working Group meeting will provide a demonstration of particular proposed functionality including the use of Smartforms, which will assist to inform decisions for the ACT operation of the national BLIS.

The Heads of Agreement (which sets out the broad principles of State/Territory/Commonwealth agreement recognising mutual interest in delivery of the BOS Project), and the Intergovernmental Agreement for Business Names Agreement (which endorses a national names registration scheme) was agreed at the COAG meeting held on 2 July 2009.

Further discussions on these important national regulatory matters and the National Seamless Economy will be held this month.

ACT AND FEDERAL INNOVATION POLICY

The ACT, through the Business and Industry Development Branch, has been involved in discussions on development of the new Commonwealth Commercialisation Institute (CCI).The CCI initiative was announced in the most recent Federal Budget.

The discussions with the Commonwealth, State and Territory Advisory Council on Innovation (CSTACI) advised of developments which the Federal Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (DIISR) will be undertaking in wider stakeholder consultation on the CCI concluding this month. Other matters discussed included: the release of the Commonwealth’s Innovation White Paper, Powering Ideas—currently subject of a comprehensive briefing paper under development by DIISR—and the potential implications for the Territory.

COOPERATIVE RESERVE CENTRES—APPLICATIONS CLOSING

Applications for the next round of Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) grants close on 14 August 2009.

An information session was held in Canberra last month by the Federal Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research for potential applicants. Attendees were given an update of ACT Government programs that support innovation and offered to assist any applicants with developing collaborative arrangements.

Successful applications will be announced in mid-December 2009.

ANU/CHINA EDUCATION TALKS

Representatives from the Business and Industry Development Branch and the ACT Commissioner for Public Administration attended a meeting between a Chinese academic delegation from the Central Party School in Beijing and senior ANU staff from the Crawford School of Economics and Government and the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.

The meeting discussed a range of options for developing an ongoing working relationship and commitment to the development of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two organisations.

STUDENTCONNECT STUDENT WORKSHOPS

Twenty-one final year international students recently completed student workshops as part of their StudentConnect program, an initiative of the Business and Industry Development Branch.

The workshops, held over two weekends, sought to increase the students’ self-awareness, job searching and application skills and their knowledge of performance requirements in the Australian workplace. The general aim is to enable them to maximise their opportunities to gain a position that matches their skills, qualifications and interests.

The 21 students—chosen from 55 applicants—included nine ANU students and six each from the University of Canberra and CIT.

GRADUATES—LEADERS 4 CAPITAL REGION PROGRAM

The latest students have graduated from the Leaders 4 Capital Region Program. The Program seeks to develop the leadership skills of the participants by delivering a developmental process for self learning and regional awareness. It also provides the participants with an opportunity to have a real impact and to make a difference in their communities.

Joy Burch MLA attended the graduation ceremony last month at the Function Centre, Manuka Oval.

The program covered areas such as: understanding self and others; learning to listen; advocating views; managing conflict; thinking in teams; presenting plans and ideas; writing skills development; representing organisations/businesses and mentoring others; networking and communication; using skills and experience to address local issues; what is leadership in the 21st century; considering local and global challenges; doing business differently; governance issues; running meetings; using consultative processes; identifying and making projects happen; management skills; using technology; and lobbying for resources and support, building alliances, marketing ideas/businesses and projects.

The Capital Region Development Board (CRDB) conceived and delivered the leadership program and has held three similar programs over the past decade. The current program is jointly funded by the ACT and NSW Governments with smaller contributions from the various local governments in the region.

Consultants ‘Make Stuff Happen’ developed and facilitated the course. The ACT had three participants in the program with the rest of the participants coming from the nearby region.

FURTHER INFORMATION

For further information on any of the above news items, please contact us by—

• Phone: 1800 244 650; or
• Email: business.mailbox@act.gov.au 

A full description of the Business and Industry Development Branch’s programs can be viewed at: www.business.act.gov.au 

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