Tasmania: Getting to the core of innovation in the Apple Isle

Insights from spending 24 hours in Australia’s only island startup ecosystem.

Last week I had the pleasure of jetting to Hobart, the capital of Australia’s least populous state, Tasmania, on a research mission to understand the inner workings of its fledgling startup economy.

With just over 570,000 residents, Tasmania has a population roughly 1/10th the size of the country’s two biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne.

Hobart was founded in 1804 as a British penal colony and is Australia’s second oldest state capital, making up over half of Tasmania’s small but mighty population.

Despite its diminutive nature, I found a welcoming community who were honest about the challenges that impact their growth and deeply passionate in the face of adversity.

A familiar story on a micro level

When looking at the challenges that face Tasmania in growing its innovation economy, it’s hard not to see it as a miniature version of Australia.

Comparing its ecosystem to the mainland feels like an analogy for how the Australian startup ecosystem competes globally.

The same problems of:

• island isolationism makes it a struggle to keep both culturally and economically connected
• a tall poppy mentality limits the ambition to stay humble and local
• A two-way talent crisis with top talent looking to move overseas...