Macquarie Park centre stage in the city at industry, government briefing
Leaders from across Sydney gathered in the city today for an industry and government briefing that shared insights from Macquarie Park as an evolving innovation district - and an enormous opportunity.
Hosted by urban think tank the Committee for Sydney, the private event highlighted Macquarie Park’s history as a place intentionally designed so commerce could cluster around a world-leading University.
Connect Macquarie Park Innovation District and partners provided valuable information on governance, partnership and job creation, and the scale and challenge of urban transformation ahead for Macquarie Park:
Professor Eric Knight, Executive Dean at Macquarie Business School, spoke about the role of Macquarie University as the academic centre of the Park, a place of partnerships, and a factory of young talent and new thinking.
Senior Vice President for Global Strategic Marketing at Cochlear, Dean Phizacklea, shared how the global hearing loss experts have benefited from building their home in the Park, as part of the Australian Hearing Hub.
Anthony Wang, Chief Technology Officer for Health at significant local employer Fujitsu, highlighted a recent research partnership within the Park that has created new jobs and led to an entirely new way of diagnosing brain aneurysms.
Turning to the future:
Mark Ames, General Manager at Connect Macquarie Park Innovation District discussed the Park’s unified governance structure, created from the ground up, plus challenges and opportunities highlighted in Connect MPID’s recently published Road Map for Macquarie Park.
Head of Workplace, Leasing and Asset Management at Stockland, Charlotte Stratton, provided a glimpse of the future, and how the significant new Stockland development “M_Park” will create more than just office space.
Liza Noonan, Executive Director at the Greater Cities Commission, reflected on the lessons and insights our area can offer other evolving districts, and questioned how to make the Park “sticky” for businesses.
Event attendees were treated to a “snapshot flyover” of the Park via video - from Metro expansions, to new Parks and workplaces - visually bringing Macquarie Park to the city:
The city briefing was held at the behest of Connect Macquarie Park Innovation District, to help highlight the scale and significance of the area and accelerate the conversation about challenges and opportunities ahead.
Connect Macquarie Park Innovation District is an independent Association funded by its Members, which includes leading local employes, Macquarie University, landowners, plus State and Local Government.
