On Wednesday the 22 July, the Gold Coast Region was visited by Dr. Sarah Pearson, Advance Queensland’s Deputy Director-General of Innovation for the Queensland region.
Dr Pearson’s visit to the Gold Coast Region consisted of multiple location visits and a lunch with local businesses and entrepreneurs.
Sarah started off at the Sobah Beverages Company located in Burleigh Heads. Sobah Beverages is a local Gold Coast company and an Indigenous founded social enterprise. This Burleigh based company aims to break down the stigma of socialising sober and they are achieving this through their production of unique tasting non-alcoholic adult drinks.
Visiting an AWESOME company in Gold Coast – @SobahBeverages – Indigenous non-alcoholic brewery that pours profit into social change – so inspirational – growing inspite of COVID – go Clinton, Lozen and the fabulous team @AdvanceQld pic.twitter.com/M3HFSS8siz
— Sarah Pearson (@InnovationSarah) July 22, 2020
Pearson’s day continued on at Hillcrest College, Reedy Creek, where she met with Key STEM teachers and was given a tour of the new collaborative middle school innovation space. Pearson was also given the opportunity to meet and greet with students from Hillcrest College.
A lunch and a workshop facilitated by Dr Sarah Pearson was then held at midday at the CBD Hotel in Varsity Lakes. During this workshop, the Gold Coast Innovation Ecosystem was addressed, with identification towards the gaps, strengths and opportunities currently associated within the innovation ecosystem. The lunch was organised by Sharon Hunneybell, CEO of the Gold Coast Innovation Hub.
Thanks @shazzybell78 for organising a great session bringing together some key stakeholders from the Gold Coast innovation ecosystem – collaboration is key to the Gold Coast getting to the next level of success, aligning everyone to a big common goal and going for it together.
— Sarah Pearson (@InnovationSarah) July 22, 2020
Anonyome Labs was the next spot on the visiting route for the Deputy Director-General of Innovation. Located in Surfers Paradise, Anonyome Labs is a platform that enables a next generation approach to security and privacy. A leading edge of innovation of this platform includes limited disclosure digital identities that they call ‘Sudos’.
Great Gold Coast scaleups like Anonyome Labs building products here, attracted by world class skills pipeline. Nicole, an example of a wonderful female engineer starting out her tech career in a company with global reach. The 2 Pauls example of entrepreneurs jumping out of an MNC pic.twitter.com/ZQjTMmh8rK
— Sarah Pearson (@InnovationSarah) July 22, 2020
The final stop on the regional visit was with AutoGuru, also located in Surfers Paradise. AutoGuru is Australia’s largest online marketplace for booking mechanics. They connect customers and mechanics like never before. AutoGuru prides themselves in the ability to provide instant quotes, tonnes of reviews, transparent pricing and the ability to book online.
Dr Sarah Pearson was quite impressed with her visit to the local AutoGuru company and tweeted an awesome response to the innovation found at AutoGuru.
Brilliant opportunity to connect successful Gold Coast scaleups to raise their profile, attract more to QLD, and engage them in the growing innovation scene in ways that are valuable to everybody. Thanks Autoguru for the great idea! pic.twitter.com/gctnlSSbRj
— Sarah Pearson (@InnovationSarah) July 22, 2020
The Gold Coast is one of Australia’s biggest hotspots for innovation and entrepreneurship and continues to grow daily.
Thank you to Dr. Sarah Pearson for visiting our Gold Coast businesses and personally taking the time to see and appreciate how far these businesses have advanced from a small scaleup to a successful functioning business, providing benefits to the surrounding communities.
