Information and Communications Technology
The Canberra ICT cluster is a competitive strength of the economy, providing ICT services and expertise, as well as enabling technology for the rest of Canberra’s knowledge-based economy. Canberra is home to more than 1,000 ICT businesses which together employ around 8,000 people. The businesses range in size from multinationals, to medium size international and Australian firms, right down to small and micro businesses.
At the core of the ICT industry strength is the Australian Government, which purchases an estimated A$2.3 billion of ICT related products and services per annum. The size of this market, the need to understand it intimately, and the tendency for governments to outsource ICT solutions has provided a strong impetus for business development in the Canberra private sector.
Canberra is also home to the largest of the three National ICT Australia Centre of Excellence (NICTA) nodes in Australia. NICTA is a national body focusing on use-inspired ICT Research and Development (R&D) and plays a major role in the commercialisation of the developed technology it advances.
Canberra’s tertiary institutions also have large ICT graduate and undergraduate ICT programs supporting a steady stream of talent to the local ICT sector.
