Investment Opportunities
Investment opportunites in South Australia are expanding rapidly across a diverse range of industry sectors as the State's economy builds the foundations for a dynamic future.
The South Australian defence industry and the mining and energy sector are two stand-out arenas for investors, with both enjoying a spectacular growth surge. Other industry sectors offering exciting investment projects are aviation, services and information and communications technology.
With $44.8 billion worth of major projects either underway or in the pipeline, South Australia must be your preferred investment destination.
Resources
South Australia offers significant investment opportunities to support the mineral and energy sectors, including:
• exploration, mining and processing equipment, technology and services;
• project management;
• engineering, procurement and construction management;
• infrastructure and mining design and engineering;
• heavy engineering and fabrication; and
• environmental services.
South Australia has a number of resources developments (worth in excess of A$12 billion) in progress or in the pipeline, including:
• BHP Billiton’s potential Olympic Dam mine expansion, at the pre-feasibility stage;
• Oxiana’s Prominent Hill, at the mine development stage;
• Australian Zircon’s Mindarie Zircon mine, at the mine development stage;
• Terramin Australia’s Angas Zinc project, at the mine development stage;
• Uranium One’s Honeymoon uranium mine at the mine development stage;
• Exco Resources’ White Dam gold mine project, at the mine development stage.
South Australia also offers great exploration potential for the discovery of new mineral deposits, and petroleum (oil and gas) and geothermal energy sources. Expenditure on mineral exploration in South Australia is at record levels and totalled $233 million for the year ending 31 March 2007. South Australia has attracted more than 90% of Australian geothermal licences and as at March 2007 accounted for more than 50% of the Australian uranium exploration expenditure.
South Australia is committed to future research and development. Adelaide is home to:
• the headquarters of the Australian Minerals Science Research Institute, which undertakes innovative, collaborative and inter-disciplinary research to address major technical challenges facing the minerals industry and achieve major advances in minerals processing technologies;
• the South Australian Centre for Mineral Exploration Under Cover, at The University of Adelaide, which researches and develops new, specialised techniques to explore mineral deposits with industry focussed applications;
• the Ian Wark Institute, at University of SA, which has a reputation for solving complex industry problems through the application of science and technology;
• the University of Adelaide’s Australian School of Petroleum, the largest petroleum-focussed centre in the southern hemisphere.
Skills and workforce development initiatives include:
• RESA (Resources and Engineering Skills Alliance), an industry-led organisation that promotes, co-ordinates and facilitates services and solutions designed to meet skills shortages identified in the resources sector;
• Trade Schools for the Future, which will deliver high-end, practical trade skills to senior students, preparing the State’s young people for work while they complete their SA Certificate of Education.
To discuss investment opportunities email: investinginsa@state.sa.gov.au
To discover more about South Australia’s mineral and energy resource potential, visit the Department of Primary Industries and Resources SA (PIRSA) website.
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Defence
Significant investment opportunities exist to supply and support a wide range of naval, land and aerospace defence activities in South Australia, including:
• heavy engineering and fabrication;
• electronic military software system design, development and integration;
• electronic warfare, surveillance and communications, combat and mission systems development.
South Australia has major defence projects worth in excess of A$A13 billion, including the:
• Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) shipbuilding contract, by ASC Pty Ltd;
• AP-3C Orion maintenance contract, by Tenix Defence and Australian Aerospace;
• 25-year through-life support contract for Collins Class submarines, by ASC Pty Ltd;
• Customs coast watch surveillance contract, by Surveillance Australia and BAE Systems Australia;
• New hardened and networked army presence, involving 1,200 soldiers, to be established in 2011 by the Department of Defence.
South Australia is committed to the future growth of the defence industry.
Dedicated business infrastructure includes:
• Techport Australia – Osborne Maritime Precinct, the new defence industrial precinct developed to support the AWD construction project, located at Osborne in Adelaide’s outer west;
• Technology Park, housing high-technology focussed companies (with space available for additional investment) and located at Mawson Lakes in Adelaide’s outer north;
• Edinburgh Parks Defence Precinct, housing defence research and manufacturing organisations and defence companies involved in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, located at Edinburgh Parks in Adelaide’s outer north;
• Woomera Test and Evaluation Range, a 127,000 square kilometre range well placed to play a leading role in the global satellite-launch industry, equipment testing and evaluation, and military training activities, located about 500 kilometres north-west of Adelaide.
Research and Development initiatives include:
• Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) - the largest defence research facility in Australia, it houses the Systems Sciences and Information Sciences laboratories and is the centre of the Department of Defence’s innovation capability;
• Centre of Excellence in Defence and Industry Systems Capability (CEDISC) - aims to foster defence and industry capability in software and systems engineering, systems integration, process improvement and capability maturity;
• Centre for Sensor Signal and Information Processing (CSSIP) - researches distributed sensor and information processing, situation awareness, sensor signal processing, image analysis and area surveillance technology;
• Cooperative Research Centre for Enterprise Distributed Systems Technology - (DSTC) focusses on national information technology needs;
• Proof and Experiment Establishment (P&EE) at Port Wakefield - offers the full range of weapon system proof and trial methodologies;
• Aerospace Operational Support Group (AOSG) at RAAF Edinburgh - conducts electromagnetic compatibility testing, electronic warfare (EW) development, and systems engineering and development;
• Air Warfare Destroyer Systems Centre at Norwood - the location for the Air Warfare Destroyer Alliance and manages the design schedule, budgets and work breakdown structures of the project; includes representatives from the Alliance Partners – the Commonwealth, the shipbuilder ASC, the systems integrator Raytheon and the ship designer, the Spanish company Navantia;
• Centre of Expertise in Photonics at the University of Adelaide - a high-tech, world-leading research centre focussed on the design, fabrication, development and application of soft glass microstructured optical fibres for defence applications;
• Institute for Telecommunications Research (ITR) - one of Australia's foremost research organisations specialising in technology for digital wireless communications, including both fixed and mobile satellite and terrestrial radio services.
Skills and Workforce Development
The State Government invests more than $400 million a year on skills and employment development programs to meet the State’s workforce needs. It is committed to helping meet the skills challenge by:
• funding at least an additional 2,000 apprenticeship training positions in areas of skill shortage ($16 million over four years);
• establishing a Maritime Skills Centre;
• establishing a mineral resources skills centre to assist training and job creation and to encourage people to study science, mathematics, geology and engineering;
• creating 10 Trade Schools of the Future over five years;
• establishing Industry Skills Boards, to provide industry advice, partnership networks and provide among other things workforce information and planning advice;
• establishing the Flinders Centre for Science Education to encourage more people to consider teaching careers in science and mathematics;
• establishing a Defence Skills Institute focussed on identifying the education and training requirements necessary for industry to deliver and maintain defence capabilities;
• promoting careers in the mineral resources and defence industries;
• providing initiatives to attract and support skilled migrants to live and work in South Australia.
Government and industry are focussing on identifying workforce, education and training requirements for the delivery and maintenance of industry capabilities that will serve us into the future. South Australia offers:
• five universities with more than 67,000 students;
• eight Government institutes of technical and further education (TAFE) with 96,900 students in courses designed to meet the workforce needs of industry and business;
• Australia’s first overseas university, Carnegie Mellon University of the US;
• Cranfield University from the UK, which began delivering courses in 2007;
• education and accommodation for more than 20,000 international students.
To discover how South Australia can help you establish or expand your operation, email us at investinginsa@state.sa.gov.au
To discover more about South Australia’s defence potential, visit the Defence SA website.
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ICT
South Australia’s ICT industry offers a range of investment opportunities across the following key areas:
• defence software and systems integration
• film and digital content
• software development
• telecommunications
• electronics
• IT services
South Australia’s ICT industry continues to grow in both size and capability, particularly as a result of South Australian-based companies winning large defence software and systems integration projects.
South Australia is home to several leading ICT research and development organisations, including:
• Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO)
• Centre of Expertise in Photonics
• Institute for Telecommunications Research
• South Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing
• Centre of Excellence in Defence and Industry Systems Capability (CEDISC).
South Australia’s existing ICT-related tertiary education sector has been boosted by leading US university Carnegie Mellon establishing campuses of its Heinz School and Entertainment Technology Centre in South Australia.
For a statistical overview of the South Australian ICT industry please see the ICT & Electronics Industry Industry Profile.
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Services
With $44.8 billion in new major projects in the pipeline, including those related to the unprecedented growth of the State’s defence and resources industries, South Australia offers significant investment opportunities for companies involved in services industries.
Opportunities exist for companies involved in areas such as:
• engineering
• environmental services
• procurement and construction management
• design
Services are one of South Australia’s fastest-growing sectors. Companies with a presence in Adelaide are increasingly servicing the Australian and Asia-Pacific markets.
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Aviation
Most of South Australia’s aerospace and aviation activities are based around Adelaide and Parafield Airports and RAAF Edinburgh.
South Australia hosts the Australian Defence Force’s aerospace and maritime surveillance operations at Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Edinburgh, and the world’s largest test facility for long-range missiles and rockets, the 127,000 square kilometre Woomera defence and commercial test, evaluation and training range.
It is also the base for National Air Support, which provides civilian maritime surveillance for the Coastwatch border protection program. Adelaide is also Australia’s preferred location for pilot training, servicing Qantas, JAL Express, China Airlines, Emirates, Cathay Pacific and Vietnam Airlines.
Adelaide is the world’s third-most cost-competitive city for aerospace product manufacturing.
From this competitive platform, South Australia supports many complementary aviation businesses, including large-value defence projects such as the A$1 billion Tenix AP-3C Orion upgrade contract.
Our aerospace and aviation industry offers aircraft maintenance and leasing and pilot flight training, and specialises in developing and installing aviation systems.
Opportunities include:
• additional domestic and international flight services, utilising the new Adelaide Airport terminal;
• expanded pilot training facilities;
• aircraft maintenance, modification and component overhauls;
• the development of projects with leading aerospace companies including BAE Systems, Raytheon, National Jet Systems, RLM, Saab Systems and Tenix Aviation.
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Assistance
The Department of Trade and Economic Development (DTED) provides a full range of assistance and services to companies planning to locate or expand an operation in South Australia.
DTED offers:
• tailor-made information and investment packages, and practical advice in relation to an investment project;
• assistance in arranging visiting programs for new investors to explore suitable locations and investment partners;
• introductions to relevant government authorities, utility providers, and professional service providers including property, recruitment, relocation and training companies;
• support in identifying and introducing suitable local companies such as suppliers, service providers and technology partners;
• a coordinated approach for the delivery of major investment projects, including government development assessment and other regulatory requirements; and facilitating specific project needs such as infrastructure, access to utilities, business partners, migration and training;
• dedicated account managers for investing companies.
To discover how South Australia can help you establish or expand your operation, email us at investinginsa@state.sa.gov.au
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