Sydney’s tech super-cluster propels Australia’s AI industry forward

Australia has experienced a remarkable surge in AI enterprise during the past decade. Significant AI research and commercialisation concentrated in Sydney drives the sector’s development nationwide and influences AI trends globally. The city’s cutting-edge AI sector sees academia, business and government converge to foster groundbreaking advancements, positioning Australia as a key player on the international stage.

Sydney has been pinpointed as one of four urban super-clusters in Australia, featuring the highest number of tech firms and the most substantial research underway.

The Geography of Australia’s Digital Industries report, commissioned by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Tech Council of Australia, found Sydney is home to 119,636 digital professionals and 81 digital technology companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) with a combined worth of A$52 billion.

AI is infusing all areas of this tech landscape.

According to CSIRO, more than 200 active AI companies operate across Greater Sydney, representing almost half of the country’s 544 AI companies. Three-quarters of these companies have been operating for less than 10 years, highlighting the sharp growth trajectory over the past decade.

With this extensive AI commercialisation and collaboration in progress across Sydney, AI startups are flourishing.

“Sydney is the capital of AI startups for Australia and this part of Australasia,” according to Professor Toby Walsh, Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney).
“It’s amazing how entrepreneurial the students are when they come to the university, and there are also a lot of fantastic incubators here now. Something else that’s changed in the past 10 years is access to venture funding, which has improved dramatically.

“There are some areas of AI that Australia has particular strengths in, and those can be found in Sydney.”

He cites robotics, AI in medicine and fintech as three areas where Sydney leads the world in AI innovation.
“As a whole, Australia punches well above its weight in the AI sector,” Professor Walsh says. “We’re easily in the top 10, and by some metrics, we’re in the top five in the world. For a country of just 25 million people, that is quite remarkable.”

With the Australian headquarters for global tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Amazon and LinkedIn based in Sydney, it is without a doubt the primary hub of the country’s burgeoning tech sector.

According to CSIRO, Australia’s research and development sector has higher rates of AI adoption than global averages, with Sydney presenting the highest AI publishing intensity among Australian universities and research institutes.

Professor Aaron Quigley, Science Director and Deputy Director of CSIRO’s Data61 and an adjunct Professor in the School of Computer Science in UNSW Sydney Engineering, says Sydney’s educational pipeline supplies a useful talent pool.

“Sydney’s AI sector is backed up by the fact that you have such a large educational environment with universities like UTS, the University of Sydney and UNSW Sydney,” he says. “They rank in the top five of AI locations in Australia.”

UNSW Sydney is a heavy hitter, with more than 300 researchers applying AI across various critical fields such as hydrogen fuel catalysis, coastal monitoring, safe mining, medical diagnostics, epidemiology and stress management.

UNSW Sydney’s AI Institute also has the largest concentration of academics working in AI in the country, adds Professor Walsh.

“One of the main reasons the AI Institute exists at UNSW Sydney is to be a front door to industry and government, to help translate the technology out of the laboratory and into practice,” he says.

Likewise, the Sydney Artificial Intelligence Centre at the University of Sydney, the Australian Artificial Intelligence Institute at UTS and Macquarie University’s Centre for Applied Artificial Intelligence are producing world-leading research in collaboration with industry.
Alongside the universities, the Australian Government’s National AI Centre in Sydney aims to support and accelerate Australia’s AI industry.

Sydney’s vortex of tech talent has meant exciting connections and collaborations are happening at lightning speed, allowing simultaneous growth of several high-value industries, from quantum computing and science to cybersecurity and gaming.

The intersection between quantum computing and AI will come into focus with the April 2024 announcement of a new Australian Centre for Quantum Growth at the University of Sydney. This centre will aim to build strategic and lasting relationships that drive innovation to increase the nation’s competitiveness within the field. Funded under the Australian Government’s National Quantum Strategy, it aims to promote the industry and enhance Australia’s global standing.

“There’s a huge amount of experience in the quantum space in Sydney,” says Professor Quigley. “Then you have a large number of companies and researchers working in cybersecurity, so you have the cybersecurity-AI nexus as well. Then you’ve got a large number of media companies and gaming companies in Sydney, so you’ve got the interconnection between gaming and creative technologies and AI.

“At CSIRO’s Data 61, we have a program that looks at AI for science. We’re looking at how AI supports the ideation stage when you’re thinking about a new research program through to the actual scientific discovery process itself.

“So it’s a confluence of different industry spaces, and if you come here, you can tap into these different specialisms. There’s nowhere else in the world that you’re going to get a quantum company, a games company, and a cybersecurity company in such close proximity across this super-cluster arc located in Sydney.”

In addition to its research and industry achievements in the AI sector, Sydney is also a leading destination for AI conferences and events. The annual Women in AI Asia Pacific Conference is held in Sydney each year, adding much-needed diversity to the mix.

Additionally, the prestigious International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence was held in Sydney in 1991 and IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR) was held in 2023.

Sydney’s thriving AI sector, marked by robust research, significant industry engagement and government support, positions it as a powerhouse in the global AI landscape.

Hero image: Scientia Professor of AI at UNSW Sydney, Toby Walsh. Image: UNSW Sydney