Co-working in Australia

By Leo Gaggl

After reading an excellent article by Brad Reed on Network World (this seems to be the online version: Co-working: the ultimate in teleworking flexibility),�I finally got motivated enough to do some more research about this�phenomenum in the two places of interest to me (Austria and Australia)�as well as write a quick entry about this.

The whole co-working concept has been interesting me ever since it started, but the organisational issues associated with starting such a�venture (and as with everything else – a lack of time) have always�prevented any serious attempt to actually move in this direction. But�after reading some of the examples in the above mentioned article and�doing some further research I am starting to warm to the idea again.

Some interesting case studies

Activity in Australia

After some quick online research there appears to be some activity�also in Australia although things seem to be still very much in their�infancy. Most of the activity seems to be happening in Canberra, Perth,�Syndey and Melbourne (in order of ‘online’ activity). �Andy Howard in�Sydney has an interesting post on his site and� fellow software developers describes the situation in Perth and Canberra. It seems (not surprisingly) that most people interested in co-working are in ICT related industries.

Unfortunately so far I have not seen any activity in South Australia. I�would have a few locations in mind in the Adelaide CBD (as I have�rented there before in a previous life), however I don’t have the�capacity to take on the administrative effort at this stage. If anybody�in the vicinity of Adelaide (South Australia) is interested in pooling
some resources to get a similar project off the ground please just us�the contact section of this site or leave a comment.

The rather unfortunate thing (compared to Europe) is that co-working�does not even seem to be on the radar for any Government (or�semi-Goverment) Agency involved in the provision of support to emerging�businesses. I have recently visited a coworking space in Austria�sponsored by the local Chamber of Commerce (Wirtschaftskammer) and I�found it a rather good investment of funds seeing the activit and buzz�around the place.