News Archive

A new publication and web story from the Energy and Minerals Institute The University of Western Australia and Knowledge Society .

Western Australia has a new story to tell.  It is the story of the technology and ingenuity that have underpinned the massive economic and cultural transformation enjoyed by the state over the last decade.

It's the story of an influx of bright skilled, international professionals, world-class design and engineering talent, business investment and high-ranking tertiary institutions.

Launching the State of Mind project at the In the Zone 2015 event at Google's Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore today, Western Australian Premier, the Hon Colin Barnett MLA, said the report was a compelling call-to-action for the state to leverage the human capital that has underwritten its minerals and energy expansion, and create the clever, prosperous Western Australia of tomorrow.

"This report shows Western Australia's connections into global supply chains, capital raising networks and how Perth is emerging as the soft-power capital of the Indo-Pacific," Mr Barnett said.

"It puts Western Australia's achievement as the world's number one diversified minerals and energy province in a global context.  It tells the story of our success being underwritten by technological leadership including in eight of the McKinsey Global Institute breakthrough technology areas of the 21st century."

The University of Western Australia's Energy and Minerals Institute commissioned State of Mind to tell Western Australia's story with a powerful new medium.  The narrative and digital undertaking, produced by Knowledge Society, presents a highly visual, three-dimensional view of Western Australia's minerals and energy story.  Using data journalism, it revises the narrative of Western Australia - no longer a state of mining, but a state of mind.

"We stand on the shoulders of a technical achievement that we have not properly understood or appreciated.  Yet it is this capacity that - along with a new state of mind - offers Western Australia far-reaching opportunities," Knowledge Society CEO Elena Douglas said.

State of Mind facts:

• Western Australia is the world's number one diversified minerals and energy province.
• Six of the top seven international energy companies base their regional head offices in Perth.
• Western Australia-listed ASX companies active overseas: 150 in Africa, 46 in Europe, 118 in Asia, 82 in South America and 66 in North America.
• 66 per cent of global mining software is produced in Perth.
• A recent Google- commissioned report by Deloitte Access Economics estimated that the Australian digital economy is worth $79 billion (5.1% of GDP) and could be worth $139 billion as soon as 2020 (7.3% of GDP).
• McKinsey Global Institute has identified the twelve technologies that will matter between now and 2025. Western Australia is engaged in groundbreaking research and innovation at the forefront of eight of these disruptive technologies: Automation of knowledge work; Advanced robotics; Autonomous and near autonomous vehicles; Internet of things; Energy storage; Advanced oil and gas exploration and recovery; Advanced materials; Renewable energy.
• Perth is unique in Australia for the density of its engineering talent. Cities must compete to attract these imagineers and the prosperity they bring with them. Perth has the fourth largest number of engineers (22.3 engineers per 1000 employed people in cities over 1 million people) behind Silicon Valley (45.0), Calgary (36.9), Houston (22.4). Ranking well ahead of its Eastern States counterparts: Brisbane (17.9), Melbourne (14.1), Adelaide (12.7), Sydney (12.5).
• The Economist Intelligence Unit named Perth the world's ninth most liveable city in 2014: it received a rating of 88.7 for culture and environment and perfect ratings of 100 for education, infrastructure and healthcare.
• 37 per cent of people living in Perth were born overseas and 61.5 per cent of people have at least one parent born abroad.

State of Mind will be launched locally at the In the Zone Perth Leadership Forum to be held at The University of Western Australia on 1 May where His Excellency Professor Doctor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Former President of the Republic of Indonesia will also be a keynote speaker.

In the Zone is presented by The University of Western Australia in partnership with Rio Tinto, the Perth USAsia Centre and the Government of Western Australia.

For more information about In the Zone '15 or to register: www.zone.uwa.edu.au

Editor's Note:

In the Zone is The University of Western Australia's premier forum on regional affairs.  Our ambitious conference series aims to engage stakeholders in Australia and in key Asian cities directly, to encourage networking and collaboration between decision makers across the zone and to share our vision of Perth and Western Australia's place in this dynamic region.

THE ZONE / ~ noun the time zone shared by Perth, 60 per cent of the world's population, and the nations that promise the greatest economic growth of the twenty-first century.

Media references

Sonia Nolan (Media Manager, In the Zone ‘15)  (+61 4) 01 034 103
David Stacey (UWA Media and Public Relations Manager)  (+61 8) 6488 3229 / (+61 4) 32 637 716