AEEMA to establish Victorian industry cluster

Stan Beer
Monday, 27 February 2006 20:30

IT Policy - Regulation

At a seminar meeting of the Australian Telematics Cluster meeting today, the Australian Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association's (AEEMA) chief executive, Angus M Robinson, announced that the AEEMA Board had approved in principle the establishment of an industry cluster based in Melbourne.

Mr Robinson said, "Over the past three years, AEEMA has established a vibrant growing industry cluster in Queensland to service and grow its membership. During this same period, AEEMA has held a considerable number of 'cluster' meetings in Melbourne. Now, with the rapid emergence of a national telematics grouping achieved through the work of the Electronics Industry Action Agenda, AEEMA had now decided to formally build a Victorian based node to underpin this initiative." He also said, " The Victorian Government has a strong focus on developing an export focused manufacturing sector, and with its new five year ICT industry plans now in place, the timing was right for AEEMA to commit resources to work with the key government agencies to grow the medium and hi-tech industry sectors in which AEEMA has strong membership representation."

Mr Robinson made reference to the extensive work undertaken over the past two years with the Victorian Office of Manufacturing; the funding of an extensive cluster mapping study of the electronics industry in Victoria as well as a major industry capability mission to the Greater China Region represented two key highlights. As a result of these projects and with an existing strong membership base in Victoria, Mr Robinson believes that the new cluster will serve to maximise engagement with Victorian based SMEs. He said that the industry support manager, to be based in a new Melbourne office, will be in an excellent position to organise ongoing forum meetings for AEEMA members. He also advised that the AEEMA Board has agreed that the activities of the cluster be oversighted by a Steering Committee comprising Melbourne based directors and members.

Mr Robinson added, "With the staging of the AEEMA Excellence Awards (18 October; the Technology Futures Conference (in association with the Electronics Industry Association and Reed Business, Crown Casino, 5-6 July); and AEEMA's support for the Manufacturing Technology InFocus Exhibition (Melbourne Exhibition Centre, 17-19 October), Victoria is certainly the 'place to be' in 2006."