TURBO Charged!

We are fortunate to live in a region where our people see a bright future; where opportunities exist if they dare to dream and just have a go. And if they can’t find a way to make it happen on their own, they collaborate. We have the health precinct continuing to expand; the new city CBD is quickly taking shape; and there are new retail, residential, industrial and commercial developments forging ahead, maturing the face of our region.

The Sunshine Coast Airport’s major transformation and growth saw April 2022 record the busiest month on record for passengers through the airport. The new runway enables future flights to international destinations, and while this will be great for tourism, the real gold will be found in the belly of the planes. Having direct access from our airport to national and international markets will be a game changer for many local food and drink businesses as they will be able to easily deliver their incredible products and produce overseas in ‘paddock-to-plane-to-plate’ style.

But there is another exciting and very important component to increasing our capabilities in this area. In order to help our many small, unique food and drink businesses to scale up and manage the logistics involved in accessing these markets, the Food and Agribusiness Network (FAN), together with key industry stakeholders, created a bold vision that soon turned into an ambitious project: to create Australia’s first purpose-built, food and beverage manufacturing and education hub.

Turbine Precinct was born to unlock growth, accelerate innovation and create a national blueprint for collaborative manufacturing.

Designed to drive innovation, reduce barriers to scale and increase productivity for food and beverage manufacturers it makes sense that the Turbine Precinct is to be located at Sunshine Coast Airport. The lofty goals of the project will be achieved through collaboration and common-use infrastructure and manufacturing.

In November 2021 they were awarded $8.78 million Federal Government grant through the Modern Manufacturing Initiative to kick start the project. The hard work of many was about to become a reality, with the total funding for the precinct increasing to $33.4 million.

This allows the project to reach its goals sooner and ensures the development of the food and beverage manufacturing precinct at Sunshine Coast Airport will have a catalytic and enduring impact on the food and beverage sector on a scale that has not previously existed in Australia.

A driving force behind the project was CEO of FAN, Emma Greenhatch who knows only too well the challenges its members face when trying to scale and access new markets.

“With such high barriers to growth in our industry, collaboration is key to ensure we have a resilient and competitive food and beverage manufacturing sector into the future,” she said. “Turbine Precinct will house end-to-end infrastructure and support, that will allow start-ups and SMEs to take an idea to commercialisation and export – all in the one location.

“Every grower and food and beverage manufacturer from across the Sunshine Coast region and beyond can benefit from this project, from the R&D and education and training facilities to the contract manufacturing, and advanced manufacturing knowledge hub.”

A key supporter and advocate of this project is Federal Member for Fairfax, Ted O’Brien who was instrumental in securing both funding rounds.

“This end-to-end collaborative food and beverage precinct is a world-first, and will provide lucrative opportunities for businesses at all stages and all sizes to build, scale and export, all under one roof,” he said. “This project will create lifelong careers for locals from food technologists to designers and engineers.”

The impact will be significant with 131 jobs created during construction; and once operational, 687 ongoing jobs with many of these being high-value manufacturing roles. Once operational, wages generated within the precinct are expected to be anywhere from 12% to 60% higher than industry average.

Turbine Precinct is expected to boost most industries with the highest uplift in manufacturing with an expectation of around $300 million in revenue to be generated by Turbine’s Project Partners. This will see the value of the Sunshine Coast’s food and agribusiness industry exceed one billion dollars.

With around half of all products produced within Turbine Precinct likely to be exported, the Precinct’s export accreditation and location at the Sunshine Coast Airport will provide seamless access to global markets.

Never before have we seen the type and scale of this project, dedicated to the food and agribusiness sector, in our region. With the right combination of skills, drive, ambition and investment we have once again proven that nothing is too challenging for the entrepreneurial talent who call the Sunshine Coast home.

The Turbine Precinct is due to commence operations in early 2024. Visit www.turbine.org.au or for the full story: www.innoosamagazine.com.au