The NSW Innovation Blueprint is just the beginning. Now comes the hard part.
By Chris Kirk, CEO Stone & Chalk
The NSW government has released its Innovation Blueprint – a comprehensive document outlining a 10-year vision for making NSW the best place to innovate.
After years of uncertainty in our innovation ecosystem, including the closure of the Sydney Startup Hub, this Blueprint represents a welcome commitment to supporting entrepreneurs and innovation-intensive businesses.
It's encouraging to see the Government embracing innovation as an economic priority with concrete goals around job creation, business growth, and increasing diversity.
However, Blueprints alone don't build startups or create thriving ecosystems. As entrepreneurs know all too well, ideas are easy. Execution is everything. And so the question is, what does the work of turning ambition into impact and making NSW the best place in Australia to innovate concretely look like?
The Blueprint makes many references to Australia's tech success stories – Atlassian, Canva, Immutable, Employment Hero, and more. Of course, we all hope to produce more of these success stories. But their success was never a given. To recreate this success, we need to be curious about the foundations on which their success was built.
As CEO of Stone and Chalk, I've worked with thousands of technology companies over the last decade. I understand that building an ‘overnight success’ is almost always a long and at times lonely journey, full of setbacks and sleepless nights.
From experience, I know that innovation cannot be driven from top-down government policy alone. Innovation happens when passionate people take risks. It often starts in unlikely places and rises up when ambitious founders put in the hard yards to solve real problems day-after-day, relentlessly focused on their pursuit of a bold vision.
The Blueprint rightly acknowledges that "entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of innovation districts." This recognition is critical – without entrepreneurs, districts risk becoming hollow real-estate projects rather than true catalysts for growth and economic prosperity.
But acknowledging this truth arguably means we should take immediate action to support entrepreneurs across NSW to go further, faster, today, whilst we “consider” and “explore” strategic initiatives.
Innovation will thrive when we focus on removing practical obstacles that founders face daily. This means creating stronger pathways to access customers, reducing the friction in accessing grants and investment, providing affordable spaces to work, unlocking access to mentoring, and providing coordinated and accessible access to expertise and talent. The messy, day-to-day work of supporting entrepreneurs it's where real transformation happens.
Helping founders to navigate the government's policy incentives is also crucial. Valuable programs like R&D Tax Incentives and Accelerating Commercialisation grants are less impactful if founders lack awareness or information to access them effectively. The best policy instruments fail when the intended beneficiaries can't find the door, let alone unlock it.
It is pleasing to see the NSW Government re-affirm its commitment to Tech Central as a cornerstone of the Innovation Blueprint. With the announced relocation of the Sydney Startup Hub to Tech Central, this stands out as one of the few immediate action opportunities amid the Blueprint's broader aspirations. Located strategically beside Sydney's Central Station, Tech Central has all the ingredients to become a truly world-class innovation district – but only if we move with urgency and purpose.
At Stone and Chalk at Tech Central, we're already witnessing homegrown success stories. These companies aren't thriving because of policy documents – they're succeeding because they've accessed practical support when they needed it most.
We've proven that effective innovation infrastructure isn't about buildings or bureaucracy, but about creating an ecosystem where founders from all backgrounds can easily access their essential needs. Experienced mentors who've faced similar challenges, peers at various stages of the journey who share insights freely, affordable workspaces in connected locations, direct pathways to funding partners, and introductions to enterprises who become customers and champions.
With the right implementation focused on building out practical support as the foundation of a thriving ecosystem, Stone & Chalk at Tech Central will be a critical centre of gravity where NSW innovators can access support they need to go further faster.
The stakes are high – billions in economic uplift and hundreds of thousands of new jobs. Importantly, the jobs our children will pursue – cutting-edge jobs essential for Australia's long-term economic diversity and security – will likely emerge from our innovation precincts.
The Innovation Blueprint offers NSW an architectural vision of what could be – a necessary starting point for any significant undertaking.
But architecture requires engineering. The critical task now is to move beyond design and continue the painstaking work of building: creating connections, removing barriers, establishing pathways, and ensuring resources reach the entrepreneurs who will ultimately determine whether this blueprint becomes economic reality or merely decorates a shelf.
NSW stands at a crossroads. We have a plan, now it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get to work.
For more information, visit Stone & Chalk Tech Central.
