Melbourne Now

The City of Melbourne has worked extensively for over a decade to position Melbourne as a leading Knowledge City. With a strong sense of its Capital City role, Melbourne has sought to be a catalyst and gateway for knowledge industry investment in the metropolitan area and the State as a whole, with some success. Melbourne has clearly achieved status as a “knowledge economy”. Statistics show that over a decade, there was a 61% increase in Knowledge Sector employment in the CBD.[1]

A comprehensive study of Melbourne’s knowledge economy was commissioned in 2002, produced as a framework for delivering against the “Innovative and Vital Business City” objective of the City Plan 2010. A suite of propositions, designed to accelerate development of a robust knowledge economy driven by high value added exports, created through research, technology and brainpower, were put forward.[1] Comprehensive plans for implementation of the strategy were developed, a proportion of which were implemented with significant success. In December 2006 the Knowledge City strategy was reviewed, key achievements noted, and a new three year plan developed. This plan focused on addressing areas where Melbourne’s performance was seen to be below par with other leading Knowledge Cities.