Q: What are the unique advantages features of Victoria? How do you attract foreign investments?

A: Victoria is a small State in Australia and represents only about 3% of Australia’s land mass, but accounts for 25% of the population. It has a very diversified economy, which doesn’t rely too much on natural resources. The mining sector contributes less than 2% of the state GDP.

The key sectors of the economy are food processing, IT, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing, including automotive. The defense industry is also very strong, as well as ship building, food processing, biotechnology and financial services, energy, and education. Overall, the structure of the economy of Victoria is quite similar to the structure of a European country.

The diversification of the economy has resulted in consistent growth over the last 15 years. We’re definitely not growing at the rate of China, but we managed to grow even during the Asian and the dot-com crises. Over the past five years our growth rate has been around 3% per annum. While we expect the global financial crisis will have a significant impact on this, our sense is that Victoria will be more insulated from the downturn than most developed economies.

Overall, we rely more on intellectual capital than on natural resources. We have nine universities, a huge number of international students, and education is our largest export industry.

Q: What type of students do you attract? Do they come mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, and India?

A: Yes, but we also have many students from Europe, mainly in postgraduate studies. Master programs and doctorates are undertaken by students from Germany, Ireland, France, and the UK. The University of Melbourne ranks in the top 50 universities in the world and the Melbourne Business School has a very good reputation.

Q: What are the main differences and similarities between Melbourne and Sydney?

A: In many ways, Melbourne and Sydney are twin cities that are very complementary. Sydney is only an hour away by plane, which is almost a commuter distance.

It is important to note, however, that in Australia we have very strong ethics about promoting the country as the right destination. The competition between the cities is only secondary. We collaborate very well together in international markets, regardless whether it concerns Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, or Sydney.

In Melbourne, there is more concentration in design for the fashion and automotive industries. Rip Curl in surf wear designs is a good example. Another focus is the biotechnology research. Probably 40% of all the biotech IPOs in the southern hemisphere come out of Melbourne.

Despite Melbourne being a city of 3.5 million people, we don’t experience infrastructure issues to the extent of other comparable cities. An important differentiator is the world-class infrastructure around the port and the airport. Melbourne is a planned city with the largest container port in Australia and in the southern hemisphere. A significant part of the import and export occurs through that port, ranging from fresh food to automobiles. It is incredible that the small state of Victoria actually exports about 13% of the globally traded dairy products.

One of our key selling points to advanced manufacturing companies is that their manufacturing will be set very close to this major shipping hub. Modern manufacturing heavily relies on imported components and on just-in-time delivery. As a result, Melbourne has become a very big manufacturing location. About 300,000 people are directly or indirectly involved in this sector. We are competitive on a global scale, but we have reduced our tariffs and provided the required infrastructure to support it.

I believe that one of the main advantages of Melbourne is the investor and business friendly environment.

Q: Do you have an active program for educating and promoting the creative professions in entertainment, fashion, automotive or aircraft industries?

A: Melbourne is a city that prides itself on its creativity, and nurtures it wherever possible. According to Richard Florida, Heinz Professor of Economic Development at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, and author of The Rise of the Creative Class, a city’s tolerance and acceptance of diversity is key to its success in attracting and retaining talented people. The cities most likely to succeed in the twenty-first century, he says, offer the three Ts: tolerance, talent and technology. In 2004 Professor Florida assessed Melbourne with his Creativity Index, ranking it fourth amongst 268 regions globally.

In terms of design, the Design Victoria program is unique in Australia and support the growth of Victoria’s design capability as well as international recognition of the excellent design emerging from Victoria, and Melbourne in particular. The State of Design festival is a yearly event held in July, that includes trade fairs, public events, a business and design symposium, as well as the Premier’s Design Awards, to communicate the benefit of design to the local community and recognise the innovative and state-of-the-art designs coming out of Victoria. The Design Victoria program also includes a series of seminars and workshops to increase business capability of Victorian designers, across the entertainment, fashion and product design spectrum.

An estimated 4,200 design consultancies operate in Victoria, with an increase of 35% over the last five years, with the greatest design cohorts in visual communications, industrial design and multimedia. Victorian business also use design at rates comparable with other OCED countries such as Denmark and Ireland, with Victorian design firms winning about a quarter of their work internationally or nationally (7% overseas).

In the field of fashion, Melbourne is nurturing emerging designers by providing premium fashion design students and recent graduates with a platform to present their collections within the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival, as well as hosting a forum for designers to assist them in their entrée onto the international arena.

We’re also very proud to have established a new state-of-the-art Automotive Centre of Excellence here in Melbourne, which is the focal point of the Victorian automotive industry, bringing together automotive training, and research and development, in one fantastic location. This is the first automotive training facility awarded the highest accolade under the Institute for Trade Skills Excellence’s Star Rating System.