Hé there #004

Out exploring....

Hé there,

The m has been bit by the travel bug lately, I’m out over here in Melbourne for a couple of weeks and I have been thinking a lot about the key component of our mixed co-working space – Collaboration.

What spurned this thinking was my need of coffee (as per usual) where I bumped into this wonderful example of small scale businesses working together to provide high quality goods and services in a way that benefitted each business. Market Lane provides the wonderful coffee – Baker D. Chirico lends a hand with the baked goods. Singularly these businesses are great, but together they’re a match made in heaven.

Baker D. Chirico on the left, Market Lane Coffee's serving window on the right (with great on street seating!)

Currently based in Carlton - I noticed that there is a scale, density and population not unlike that based in Adelaide’s CBD. There are several well established and beautiful co-working options available within Carlton; surprisingly they all focus heavily upon technology and developer based services, with little provided for cross pollination  -but these are not what got me excited.

The startup market is further influenced by the involvement of the nearby University of Melbourne which provides a connection initiative - linking networks, students and organisations through a series of events, workshops and seminars through the Carlton Connect Initiative at Lab 14.

A range of anchor programs are directly tied into the Carlton Connect Initiative and include the following:

Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative:
Providing highly advanced computational infrastructure for a variety of research institutes aimed at fostering collaboration between research initiatives.
Creative Spaces:
 A program base on the City of Melbourne Arts Melbourne branch providing affordable spaces for creative industries.
The EU Centre on Shared Complex Challenges:
Engaging development between Australian and European universities and institutions, focusing on climate, energy businesses and future industry.
Melbourne Accelerator Program (MAP):
Encouraging student start-ups through seed funding, office space and mentoring.
Australian-German Climate and Energy College:
Providing opportunities for studying climate change, energy development, and energy transitions across the EU and Australia.
CO2CRC:
A research institute focusing on carbon dioxide capture and abatement schemes.
IBM Bluemix Garage: 
Providing App integration and development services along with cloud based infrastructure.

Providing a university based testing ground for start-ups and business initiatives is a hugely beneficial and innovative opportunity for entrepreneurs to develop their ideas sooner and start testing them in the local market.

The benefits are two fold – the University develops and expands their existing networks of contacts and links with industries in local and international sectors, while further encouraging local entrepreneurs to develop new industries and jobs.

I feel that the inclusion of a university and the resources it could provide set the tone for a new way of developing alternatives for young developers, businesses and the future format of what we consider a ‘university’ to be. The Carlton Connect Initiative is the strongest example of a mixed collaborative environment I have found and it’s the ideas that come about through mixed developments like these which get me excited and proud to be involved in mâché.

That’s it for me, thanks for tuning in to the mâché crew - we will catch you next week!

Cheers,

Peter (Jac)