Is Australia on the Cusp of a Silicon Valley type tech boom?

Tech editor for the AFR , Paul Smith’s takeout from the AFR summit is  that Australia can become the new tech hub. 

Anthony Eisen of  Afterpay and Steve Vamos of  Xero - agree that Australia is on the cusp of a tremendous post-pandemic growth opportunity through the creation of a Silicon Valley-style global technology centre and widespread digitisation in small businesses.

Anthony  Eisen suggested that  Australia could use its COVID-19 success story,  outstanding educational system,  infrastructure  and lifestyle to attract significant investment from global tech giants and emerging start-ups - being a tech hub exceeding competing head to head with Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv .

The recipe of a Global Tech Hub 

Australia has the recipe of being  a global leader in tech and has  the key ingredients  - it now needs the magic formula - to mix and bake these awesome ingredients!

Talent, experience, mindset and the desire to collaborate and connect entrepreneurs , government, universities, corporates, and money - and we’re cooking - says Ivan Kaye - founder of BSI 

Afterpay, Atlassian, Redbubble, Canva, Zip, NextTech, Referron and myreruitmentplus   (and who knows - even Bitcoin?) have shown that we can build global technology platforms.

The Power of the SME

Steve Vamos said that Xero’s extraordinary growth was a result of the willingness of Australians to be early adopters of  tech and cloud-based software, with 50 per cent of small businesses in Australia now having some connection to a cloud-based accounting platform. 

Small business represents over 90pc of the workforce - and is a significant factor in the success of technologies.

“Small business owners are very busy and they aren’t excited by a new change. Like when we see new iPhone software, they don’t think, ‘What can this do for me?’ They think. ‘Oh God, what is this going to do to me.’ ”

That’s the challenge! 

What was the tipping point to make small business in Australia make the change to Xero? Or adopt the iPhone? Or use Microsoft, LinkedIn, Google, Insta, Amazon or Facebook?