Sunshine Coast builds momentum as national hub for geospatial innovation
The Sunshine Coast has become known as a place for innovation and growth and recent initiatives, including Sunshine Coast Council’s landmark Geospatial Ideation to Action workshop, have helped coalesce a shared vision to grow this high potential sector.
Collaboration across industry, education and government on the Sunshine Coast is delivering tangible outcomes in the new and fast-growing sector of geospatial intelligence.
The vision is to build on the capabilities of Sunshine Coast businesses, some of which are already at the forefront of designing data, mapping and spatial technologies to inform everything from disaster response to sustainable city planning.
Applications already extend across environmental management, infrastructure planning, food production, disaster resilience and defence innovation.
Sunshine Coast Council’s vision is to nurture a thriving geospatial ecosystem that supports businesses, fosters skills and creates new employment opportunities.
Collaboration driving progress
To turn this vision into action, Sunshine Coast Council has hosted a series of industry events and ideation workshops to map opportunities and priorities for growth. The Ideation to Action workshop in July 2025 brought together industry leaders, academics and technology experts to shape a shared roadmap for the sector. The discussions identified three key priorities.
- Ecosystem mapping – conducting a comprehensive survey to identify the top minds working in geospatial intelligence on the Sunshine Coast.
- Skills development – aligning education and training pathways across schools, TAFE, universities and industry to grow a workforce with geospatial intelligence smarts.
- Use cases – developing practical applications such as flood mapping, environmental modelling and defence technology needs like maritime surveillance.
These focus areas are now guiding the next stage of planning and engagement, as Council explores funding and partnership opportunities to turn ideas into outcomes.
Digital infrastructure built for innovation
The Sunshine Coast offers one of the most advanced digital foundations in Australia, giving data-driven industries a powerful advantage.
The region’s 18 terabit per second (Tbps) international submarine data cable delivers the fastest east coast connection to Asia, supporting global data exchange and research collaboration.
Better still, a second high-capacity submarine cable known as the Tabua trans-Pacific cable is planned for the Sunshine Coast. Backed by Google, the project will further strengthen international connectivity and expand capacity. It’s part of a growing collaboration between Council, NEXTDC and industry partners to attract and support global digital infrastructure investment.
This collaboration includes NEXTDC’s Sunshine Coast Data Centre SC1 which is soon to be augmented by a second data centre, or AI Factory as CEO Craig Scroggie calls it. At $200 million, SC2 is the largest private infrastructure investment in the Coast’s history.
Together, these data centres provide secure, high-speed processing – a critical foundation for modern geospatial intelligence and real-time decision-making.
These combined investments in digital infrastructure underpin a robust platform for innovation on the Sunshine Coast, enabling local businesses, research and startup ecosystems to develop world-class capabilities in geospatial technology and data analytics.
Building partnerships and capability
Through Invest Sunshine Coast, Sunshine Coast Council continues to build connections between startups, established companies and researchers who see potential in geospatial innovation.
Regular workshops, updates and LinkedIn activity are keeping the conversation active and making opportunities visible. The aim is not just to attract companies, but to build a connected ecosystem, supported by infrastructure, skills and collaboration so that innovation happens naturally.
By building these partnerships, the Sunshine Coast is positioning itself as a place where geospatial solutions and innovation thrive, supported by digital infrastructure, in real-world settings.
A connected, data-smart future
Geospatial intelligence is transforming how communities plan, grow and respond to change.
Sunshine Coast Council’s clear strategic vision for talent development pathways and a coordinated approach to bring together technology, education and investment together is setting the stage for lasting economic and social impact.
With collaboration at the core and digital infrastructure as its foundation – the Sunshine Coast is mapping a smarter and more connected future for Australia. Now is the time to invest in the Sunshine Coast’s booming tech and data industry.
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