AIE’s vision of a new innovation and job creation centre for Canberra

Today AIE submitted a detailed business case for the creation of a new innovation and job creation centre as a key part of the Watson Educational Precinct in partnership with the ACT Government. We are seeking to build our Canberra base into a large scale hub of learning and job creation. AIE’s vision is to continue to be the premier Games, Animation and Film VFX educator in Australia by supporting our graduates into meaningful employment opportunities and enterprise creation programs.

The AIE proposes to:

• Retrofit the existing Canberra Technology Park buildings (including the remediation of asbestos on an as needed basis).
• Solve student accommodation and parking issues through building affordable student accommodation under a staged plan.
• Take advantage of key synergies between local academic providers including ACU and Dickson College.
• Consolidate and grow the games, animation and film industries in Canberra.
• Support the work carried out by CBR IN, Entry 29 and Griffin Accelerator by creating co-working spaces for games and film start-ups within the Canberra
• Technology Park and working collaboratively where possible.

The exciting project has the potential to contribute substantially to the economic revitalisation of Canberra with:

• The expansion of its game development, animation and simulation training capabilities,
• Generous grants and incubator programs, combined with the planned creation of film production infrastructure and;
• The significant potential for enhanced collaboration with the neighbouring educational institutions, most notably the ACU and;
• Business incubation leading to real jobs being created will be growing feature of the development.

Access Economics, Australia's pre-eminent economics advisors, have projected that the impact on the ACT economy would be substantial, contributing $276M to the ACT economy between 2015 and 2035. This equates to an increase in total Gross State Product of 0.06% over this period.
Between now and 2035, AIE estimates that this development will generate approximately 1000 new jobs as well as the education of thousands of programmers, developers, animators and designers for the digital economy.

For more information about AIE’s proposal, please contact Casey Gregory on (02) 6162 5131 or via caseyg@aie.edu.au