{"id":41315,"date":"2023-10-20T15:13:08","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/sydney-councillor-christine-forster-launches-campaign-for-lord-mayor-with-a-series-of-startup-policies-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:13:08","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:13:08","slug":"sydney-councillor-christine-forster-launches-campaign-for-lord-mayor-with-a-series-of-startup-policies-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/sydney-councillor-christine-forster-launches-campaign-for-lord-mayor-with-a-series-of-startup-policies-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney councillor Christine Forster launches campaign for Lord Mayor with a series of startup policies – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Christine<\/div>\n

Sydney councillor Christine Forster, who is taking on incumbent Lord Mayor Clover Moore in the upcoming election, has announced a series of startup-focused policies aiming to tackle Sydney’s “brain drain”.<\/p>\n

Moore has served as Lord Mayor for more than a decade, but Forster is hoping to take over the role with a state goal of transforming Sydney into a world-class innovation hub.<\/p>\n

\u201cStartups cut across all industry sectors,\u201d Forster tells StartupSmart.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen a real need for tactical and tangible support for entrepreneurs and startups in this city.\u201d<\/p>\n

If appointed, Forster has announced that she will implement three strategic policies to support, grow and leverage Sydney\u2019s startup community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really in response to the feedback that I\u2019ve been getting from the community over the last four years on how difficult it is to do business in Sydney,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

To avoid Sydney falling behind as the \u201cpoor relation\u201d on the international innovation stage, Forster will launch an emerging entrepreneurs program, a dedicated startup incubator and international startup satellite offices.<\/p>\n

Emerging entrepreneurs program<\/h3>\n

Forster says this program will find and support the best emerging startups with small grants and practical support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would offer these companies the opportunities to come to us to say, \u2018We\u2019ve got a great idea\u2019,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Similar to what the City of Brisbane does, Forster says selected startups will be injected with about $5000 to help get their ideas of the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be a competitive process, it would be an open and transparent process,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d apply certain benchmarks and KPIs.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says these will be determined later on.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d want to have the intention of supporting a wide range of entrepreneurs, you\u2019d want to be tapping into as broad a cross section of industries and people as you possible could, not closing the door to anyone,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had female entrepreneurs tell me how difficult it is to do business in Sydney compared to Melbourne for instance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d be really aiming to make this program as accessible, diverse and inclusive as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dedicated startup incubator<\/h3>\n

By adding another incubator into Sydney\u2019s startup ecosystem, Forster hopes to alleviate the hassle for hundreds of entrepreneurs looking for a home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know some of these type of facilities and startups themselves struggle to find affordable office space,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cCouncil is in a very strong and well resourced position to provide office space for these types of businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an unending demand for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

International startup satellite offices<\/h3>\n

Forster wants to make the city the go-to place for US companies looking to break into the Asia Pacific region.<\/p>\n

Starting with a satellite office in San Francisco, Forster says she hopes to promote their knowledge economy and talent to encourage overseas tech companies to set up offices in Sydney.<\/p>\n

She will also be looking to set up offices in Guangzhou and Singapore.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more of these entrepreneurial, innovative businesses you can concentrate into one place the more they feed off each other and come up with new great ideas and business models,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

In terms of collaboration across states and territories, Forster says she wants to focus on getting Sydney\u2019s startup sector right first.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we get Sydney going and firing on all cylinders then I\u2019d be very happy to speak with other cities like Brisbane who are punching above their their weight,” she says.<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter and <\/em>LinkedIn. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sydney councillor Christine Forster, who is taking on incumbent Lord Mayor Clover Moore in the upcoming election, has announced a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41315"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}