The Sunshine Coast’s economy continues to evolve into a modern, ‘smart’ economy based on sound growth across numerous high valued and knowledge-based sectors including professional business services, innovative manufacturing and numerous high-tech start-ups.

The strength of the regional economy is based in its diversity and strength across a number of key sectors including healthcare, education, finance and professional business services.

The Sunshine Coast encompasses beach resorts, surf spots and rural hinterland in southern Queensland, Australia. It stretches from the coastal city of Caloundra, near Brisbane, north to the Cooloola section of the Great Sandy National Park, home to multicoloured sand dunes, mangrove forests, and shallow lakes. Upscale Noosa Heads has boutique shops, waterways, and walking trails through Noosa National Park.

The Sunshine Coast’s economy continues to evolve into a modern, ‘smart’ economy based on sound growth across numerous high valued and knowledge-based sectors including professional business services, innovative manufacturing and numerous high-tech start-ups.

The strength of the regional economy is based in its diversity and strength across a number of key sectors including healthcare, education, finance and professional business services.

The Sunshine Coast is home to industry disruptors like Youi, Huddle, Gourmet Garden, Country Chef, Ambrose Building, Auto & General, Get Wines Direct and Office HQ.
Businesses tap into an inspired workforce of more than 83,000 students across University of Sunshine Coast, two TAFE campuses and more than 150 registered training organisations.

The Sunshine Coast encompasses beach resorts, surf spots and rural hinterland in southern Queensland, Australia. It stretches from the coastal city of Caloundra, near Brisbane, north to the Cooloola section of the Great Sandy National Park, home to multicoloured sand dunes, mangrove forests, and shallow lakes. Upscale Noosa Heads has boutique shops, waterways, and walking trails through Noosa National Park.

The Sunshine Coast’s economy continues to evolve into a modern, ‘smart’ economy based on sound growth across numerous high valued and knowledge-based sectors including professional business services, innovative manufacturing and numerous high-tech start-ups.

The strength of the regional economy is based in its diversity and strength across a number of key sectors including healthcare, education, finance and professional business services.

The Sunshine Coast is home to industry disruptors like Youi, Huddle, Gourmet Garden, Country Chef, Ambrose Building, Auto & General, Get Wines Direct and Office HQ.

Businesses tap into an inspired workforce of more than 83,000 students across University of Sunshine Coast, two TAFE campuses and more than 150 registered training organisations.

Council recognises climate change as a global issue and that we are in a state of climate emergency requiring urgent and sustained effort. We also recognise that responding to climate change is a shared responsibility. We need to work together to focus our efforts and change our behaviours to increase the resilience of our region.

We need to prepare for the likely impacts of a changing climate, whilst also reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. Governments have an important role in showing leadership and supporting community action.

The Sunshine Coast Council’s corporate vision for a region that is healthy, smart and creative, acknowledges that creativity broadens our perspective, helps us to explore ideas to find solutions and to build resilience.

The aspirational vision defines creative regions as those regions while not exclusively driven by the arts, are those that acknowledge the arts as integral to creative achievement - alongside science, research, education, design and invention.

In fact, a vibrant and diverse arts and cultural ecology is an important contribution to the liveliness and vitality of the places we call home. Arts and culture contribute directly to the “sense of place” which attracts both residents and investors. These attributes determine the attractiveness of a city or region as a place in which to work, live, invest and raise a family.

The Refinery is a creative incubator designed to transform ideas into sustainable businesses. A testing ground and training platform, The Refinery connects the dots between creativity and business, with access to mentors and a network of inspiring industry leaders sharing real time knowledge.

Participants get mentoring from leading industry professionals, provide support to each other via a digital platform and gain access to online learning modules which cover the fundamentals of turning an idea into impact.

The Sunshine Coast’s economy continues to evolve into a modern, ‘smart’ economy based on sound growth across numerous high valued and knowledge-based sectors including professional business services, innovative manufacturing and numerous high-tech start-ups.

The strength of the regional economy is based in its diversity and strength across a number of key sectors including healthcare, education, finance and professional business services.

The Sunshine Coast is home to industry disruptors like Youi, Huddle, Gourmet Garden, Country Chef, Ambrose Building, Auto & General, Get Wines Direct and Office HQ.
Businesses tap into an inspired workforce of more than 83,000 students across University of Sunshine Coast, two TAFE campuses and more than 150 registered training organisations

Businesses tap into an inspired workforce of more than 83,000 students across University of Sunshine Coast, two TAFE campuses and more than 150 registered training organisations.

The University of the Sunshine Coast is a public university based on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. After opening with 524 students in 1996 as the Sunshine Coast University College, it was later renamed the University of the Sunshine Coast in 1999.

The Sunshine Coast is home to industry disruptors like Youi, Huddle, Gourmet Garden, Country Chef, Ambrose Building, Auto & General, Get Wines Direct and Office HQ.

Agribusiness – focusing on niche food and beverage product and value-adding production – which has a strong foundation in the region and is a key part of the economic future of the hinterland communities. This sector will expand in response to burgeoning national and global demand a clean and safe food supply.

The Sunshine Coast University Hospital will provide leading-edge research facilities and professional services and provide an attractant for allied professional services to co-locate in the region. The facilities and services offered via SCUH and the broader Oceanside Kawana Health Precinct will enable the region to respond to both domestic and global demand for health and well-being services, particularly in the area of chronic disease prevention.

The specialist research capabilities of SCUH will further assist the region in establishing an international reputation and alliances and deliver careers and services not presently available.

Is Australia’s housing crisis self-inflicted? If so, then we need a series of reforms to reverse it
The best long-term solution to the structural problems of the rental crisis is to build more public and/or affordable housing.

Make renting more Sustainable. Increase rent assistance or look at rental caps, similar to countries in Europe and some US states, long term tenancy agreements with incentives for all parties to the agreement.

Build to Rent
The Build to Rent property sector is growing in Australia – this new class of housing is focused on providing high quality purpose designed and built rental stock, creating an additional housing choice for Australian renters with greater security and service.

Build to Rent developments are typically owned by institutional investors for the long term and the owner could be the developer/ongoing building manager. The format provides tenants with the flexibility of renting with the security of home ownership.

Build-to-Rent developments are usually large-scale residential properties specifically designed, built and managed for long-term ownership and rental.

Social Housing
In the 40 years between 1981 and 2021 the percentage of all Australian households living in social housing (i.e. state owned and managed public housing or community managed housing) has ranged from 4.9 per cent in 1981 to 3.8 per cent in 2021. Such a drop in the proportion of social housing raises the question of has Australia achieved the balance right, and also just what is the right level of social housing for Australia?

In 2018 Statistics Canada said 628,700 Canadian households, more than one in ten renter households nationally (13.5% of 4,652,500), were living in social and affordable housing.
In New Zealand, as of 30 June 2021, there were 74,337 public housing households. This equates to 4.0% of households living in social housing.

In England (in 2018) 17% of households (3.9 million) lived in social housing, while the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development publishes that 1.2 million households live in public housing, which is 0.98 per cent of all housing.

Located on the Sunshine Coast, the Innovation Centre assists innovative and ambitious businesses at every stage across all industries. Typically, Innovation Centre members are looking to either launch a new venture or scale an existing venture in the mid to short term. Members join the Innovation Centre to access programs, training, mentoring and tailored advice aligned with their strategic needs.

The Sunshine Coast has all of the key ingredients required to support an innovative and thriving tech industry. These include game-changing infrastructure, a supportive business and investor community, local government committed to innovation, talent and education pathways. This, coupled with the region’s enviable lifestyle, is seeing the Sunshine Coast emerge as a future tech hub and offers myriad opportunities for the tech industry as well as tech-enabled business.

The newly formed Sunshine Coast Tech Industry Alliance (SCTechIA) will focus on priorities that build industry capacity; drive local tech jobs; encourage member collaboration to compete nationally and internationally, and provide a united voice for the tech industry in the region.

The Sunshine Coast is officially the ‘Most Loved Destination in the World’ according to the Tourism Index Sentiment, with travellers from across the globe following their hearts to our slice of Queensland paradise.

Our landscape is pretty special too and is as diverse as the experiences and people who call it home. Here you can be barefoot on the beach one minute and hiking the ancient peaks of the Glass House Mountains the next, sampling farm-fresh local produce and immersing yourself in verdant rainforest along the way.

We are nestled in nature and green at heart, with a commitment to living sustainably with nature.

Clean technologies – in which the region is gaining a national reputation and which will expand in response to forecast national and global demand for technologies and solutions that avoid, reduce or remediate environmental impacts.