AUSTRALIA’s fourth ‘landing pad’ for start-up companies seeking international business is to be established in Berlin, Germany’s capital.

Berlin is regarded as a leading source of global innovation and disruptive technology and joins landing pads established in San Francisco, Tel Aviv and Shanghai. 

Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister, Steven Ciobo, made the announcement in Berlin, outlining how the landing pads were designed to provide market-ready start-ups with a short-term operational base in innovation hotspots, “helping them develop new markets and sustainable growth on a world scale”. 

“Berlin is a low-cost business centre and the start-up hub of Germany,” Mr Ciobo said. “With its vibrant, creative culture and extensive ecosystem of incubators and accelerators, the city is ideally positioned as a landing pad site for emerging Australian companies.”

As an emerging major technology hub, Berlin has a significant presence of major corporations and world-leading innovation research institutions like the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and the Hasso-Plattner Institute School of Design. With US$2.2 billion invested into start-ups in 2014 and some of the world’s highest public and private sector investment in research and development, the city has overtaken London as Europe’s leading venture capital hub.

Germany is also one of Australia’s key science collaboration partners, with 516 active bilateral agreements between Australian and German institutions.

It is the fourth landing pad to be announced as part of the Coalition’s National Science and Innovation Agenda (NISA).

former Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Christopher Pyne (now Minister for Defence Industry) said the landing pad would help market-ready startups with access to local partners with expertise, infrastructure and innovation and marketing networks. 

“Berlin is an emerging major tech hub with an increasingly international startup community. Placing landing pads in innovation hot-spots will help entrepreneurial Australian companies access complementary entrepreneurial talent, mentoring, investors and a wider connected network of innovation hubs,” said Mr Pyne.

Mr Ciobo said the Berlin landing pad would help Australian startups think globally, tapping into entrepreneur, industry and capital networks.

“It will also contribute to stronger ties with Europe’s largest economy as Australia seeks to begin negotiations for a free trade agreement with the European Union,” he said.

 “Both our countries see the importance of innovation, science and technology as drivers of economic prosperity,” said Mr Pyne.

www.industry.gov.au

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THE Australian Government’s first Landing Pad is now operational at Rocketspace, a technology campus in San Francisco.

Trade and Investment Minister, Steven Ciobo said the Landing Pad was designed to help Australian entrepreneurs bring their ideas to market and build high-growth and high-return enterprises. 

“It will provide Australian tech start-ups with a collaborative workspace, allowing them to pursue international opportunities,” Mr Ciobo said. “The next Atlassian, 99 Designs or Hydrus could be launched from here.” 

Australia’s Special Envoy for Trade, Andrew Robb said San Francisco was a global innovation hotspot.

“Positioning the Landing Pad within RocketSpace will accelerate access to international business networks, entrepreneurial talent, business development and investors,” Mr Robb said.

Mr Robb said RocketSpace had been working with tech start-ups and corporate innovation professionals since 2011. The company offers a complete suite of services, including office-as-a-service, accelerator-like programming, consulting, and events. Together these create a unique ecosystem for innovation to thrive. 

Assistant Minister for Innovation, Wyatt Roy said integral to the appeal of the Landing Pad will be the locally engaged Landing Pad Coordinator responsible for the provision of value-added services.

“The locally engaged coordinator will be a significant resource and will bring unique knowledge and experience to help Australian start-ups achieve their internationalisation efforts,” Mr Roy said.

Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Christopher Pyne said the Landing Pads were a key element of the Australian Government’s $1.1 billion National Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA) and will support Australia’s ongoing economic diplomacy and science diplomacy efforts globally.

“Innovation in our economy is key to our nation’s future jobs and growth which is why the Government is vigorously implementing its National Innovation and Science Agenda,” Mr Pyne said.

“Landing pads form part of our global innovation strategy, a key component of the agenda, which will give Australian entrepreneurs an opportunity to compete globally.

“Our global innovation strategy will advance Australia’s international collaboration performance and encourage Australians to leverage entrepreneurial expertise found in key locations overseas, like San Francisco, Tel Aviv and others,” he said.

Austrade received $11.2 million in Budget funding to establish five Landing Pads and also develop a new annual in-bound innovation forum, fostering collaboration and attracting international market experts, entrepreneurial talent and investors to Australia.

In addition to San Francisco and Israel, a further three Landing Pad locations will be identified in the near future.

The launch of the San Francisco Landing Pad was part of the recent inaugural Australia United States Business Week (AUSBW) – a 240-strong business mission focused on technology and innovation.

www.industry.gov.au

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FROSTY Boy Australia, determined to become the world’s preferred dessert and beverage base manufacturer, is attending two of the region’s major food and beverage exhibitions to catapult its Asia-Pacific business.

In late March and April, the Frosty Boy is attending HOTELEX in Shanghai and Food&HotelAsia2016 in Singapore, viewing these events as prime opportunities to build on existing partnerships, while seeking new business prospects. 

Frosty Boy Australia, which this year celebrates 40 years of manufacturing, began exporting in 2001, and now supplies its powdered dessert and beverage bases to 48 countries, with the majority in Asia.

Frosty Boy CEO Dirk Pretorius said the company, with its production facility at the Gold Coast, manufactures the equivalent to two million serves of soft serve ice cream daily, with export making up 75 percent of business.

“We have already had great success in the Asia-Pacific region, with a great deal of our product being exported there, but there is still so much room for growth,” Mr Pretorius said. 

He said partnerships with Asian companies had been bolstered in recent times due to Australia’s improved trade agreements, positioning Frosty Boy and other Australian companies in high esteem to the rest of the world.

“Brand Australia in particular has contributed towards the company’s growth and is strongly recognised in international markets, particularly in China. Good quality Australian products, such as our beverage, frozen yoghurt and soft serve bases are in constant high demand,” Mr Pretorius said.

“We are already starting to see a substantial increase in the number of enquiries coming from China and believe that the China Australia Free Trade Agreement that came into force at the end of last year has instigated many of these.”

Frosty Boy general manager sales and marketing, Felipe Demartini said attending HOTELEX and Food&HotelAsia2016 would give Frosty Boy the opportunity to check in with existing partners, while meeting potential customers. 

Existing partners include Win Sin, a Singapore-based pastry, bakery and food service company.

“Partnerships like this are mutually beneficial. We help companies like Win Sin increase their profits with our products, while Frosty Boy continues to expand to maintain its year upon year growth of 15 percent,” Mr Demartini said.

Mr Demartini said he viewed the expos as great opportunities to showcase Frosty Boy’s products, while gaining further insights into the market to guide future research and development.

www.frostyboy.com.au.

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THE Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) – which aims to see the elimination of 98 percent of tariffs among 12 countries – was formally signed on February 4 in New Zealand by Australia's Minister for Trade and Investment, Andrew Robb.

Mr Robb hailed the TPP as "the world’s most significant trade and investment agreement" and said he was elated that is was finalised after more than two decades of negotiations among member countries that, together, account for about 40 percent of global GDP. 

Australia’s exports of goods and services to these countries were worth $109 billion last year – a third of Australia’s total exports. In 2014, Australian investment in TPP countries was 45 percent of all outward investment.

Mr Robb said tariffs would be eliminated on US$9 billion of Australia’s dutiable exports to TPP countries, including $4.3 billion worth of agricultural goods with new levels of access for beef, dairy, sugar, rice, grains and wine.

A further $2.1 billion of Australia’s dutiable exports will receive significant preferential access through new quotas and tariff reductions.

Mr Robb said the TPP brought "enormous promise across both traditional areas of trade and investment and so-called 21st century areas like e-commerce and increasingly important global value chains".

“The tariff cuts will deliver material gains for our exporters across the board and place downward pressure on the cost of imported goods for households and businesses, but the benefits that will flow from the creation of a more seamless trading environment are not well understood,” Mr Robb said.

“The embrace of paperless trading, streamlined customs procedures and trading rules, assistance for SMEs, more seamless data flows and greater flexibility with data storage, are all features of the TPP. The agreement also contains provisions to help stimulate new investment and as experience shows, when you deepen trading relations increased investment inevitably follows.”

The TPP sets in place common rules for labour, the environment and, for the first time in a trade treaty, he said, rules "to combat bribery and corruption".

It will also ensure private companies and businesses are able to effectively compete against State Owned Enterprises (SOEs).

Significantly, Mr Robb said, the agreement would promote the expansion and diversification of Australia’s world-class services sector by liberalising key barriers, providing more transparent and predictable operating conditions, and it will capture future services sector reforms.

Some of the services areas that will benefit include Mining Equipment Services and Technologies (METS), professional services such as legal, architectural, engineering and surveying services; financial services, education, telecommunications, IT, transport, health, hospitality and tourism. Australian companies will also have new opportunities to deliver government procurement services.

Mr Robb said the TPP – which was open to other countries to join in the future – offered a pathway to a free trade area across the entire Asia Pacific region.

“Given its reach and potential this is an agreement we simply cannot afford not to be part of,” he said.

Each TPP country would now follow its own domestic treaty making process before the agreement can enter into force. In Australia this will include a Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT) inquiry and the consideration by the parliament of any implementing legislation or amendments.

TPP members include Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Chile, Peru, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam.

www.trademinister.gov.au

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