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Back to News 7 January 2022

Tonsley 10 Years On – The Australian Newspaper

It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years but there is no stopping Tonsley Innovation District's new direction - the momentum will only keep building from here!

Thank you to The Australian newspaper for its feature on Tonsley Innovation District on December 22 2021. It is a well rounded piece with great writing by David Penberthy and features success stories from Micro-X, BAE Systems, TAFE and Flinders University.

In terms of Tonsley success stories they were spoilt for choice. Tonsley is now a melting pot of over 1,700 innovators from more than 35 businesses and 290 co-working members at last count. But a district such as this doesn’t just appear, it evolves with each new member of the community bringing new opportunities to collaborate and grow.

Below are a selection of quotes from the article.

Click on image for the full story. (paywall)

"Ten years on, the district is becoming a private sector-driven success story, where state and federal assistance is rapidly being dwarfed by investment from major and emerging firms in tech, defence, health and manufacturing that are flocking to the old car plant to set up shop."

David Penberthy, The Australian Newspaper

"The principles are the same but this is obviously a lot more specialised. At one stage we were doing 330 cars a day, here it’s a lot more sophisticated. I love working here. It feels like we are part of the future. "

Christopher Aistrope, Micro-X for 5 years and before that at Holden

"BAE Systems strategy director Sharon Wilson said the defence giant was attracted to the Tonsley site because it allowed for the creation of bespoke education programs such as the TAFE diploma in digital technologies to retrain workers for new hi-tech roles. "

Australian Newspaper Article

"We are looking at a manufacturing renaissance in Australia. Manufacturing had plateaued but it is now starting to increase, and that is very exciting "

John Spoehr, Flinders University Pro Vice Chancellor

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