Western Australia’s brightest entrepreneurs and pioneers of innovation will gather today at a special event to discuss how to retain and attract the State’s finest business talent.
Initiated by Innovation and ICT Minister Stephen Dawson and chaired by WA Chief Scientist Professor Peter Klinken AC, the Brain Gain Roundtable will be held in Perth on Wednesday May 4, 2022.
Among the business leaders attending the event are nine innovation-focused entrepreneurs and corporate executives representing a range of industries across the State.
Participants were chosen for their skills and experience of having lived and worked abroad, and then recently moving to WA.
Each will consider how to retain homegrown talent and attract both domestic and international returning residents and new business minds to set up, innovate and create new jobs.
Brain Gain Roundtable participants will be invited to share their decisions to seek international professional opportunities, their decision to return to WA or their reason for choosing WA as a relocation destination.
Participants will also discuss how world-leading innovation can thrive in WA and continue to boost the State’s innovation reputation across the world.
A 2021 Advance Survey of Global Australians report identified about 65 per cent of overseas Australians planning to return to Australia to live and work, with 40 per cent returning by 2024. More than half of those returning expats are in senior roles, with Australia set to receive a huge influx of talent into the job market.
WA is establishing a global reputation as an investment destination of choice across a number of industries, including science, health and technology.
The Brain Gain Roundtable is part of the McGowan Labor Government’s New Industries Fund (NIF) blueprint to diversify the State economy through investment that creates new industries and local jobs.
Announced as part of the McGowan Government’s $100 million Investment Attraction and New Industries Fund, the NIF is a $16.7 million commitment over four years, from 2021 to 2025, to support the acceleration of new and emerging businesses in WA.
To find out more, visit New Industries Fund.
As stated by Innovation and ICT Minister Stephen Dawson:
“The Brain Gain Roundtable is a think tank for WA’s business leaders and innovation pioneers to create a blueprint of how to retain and attract the State’s best talent.
“Understanding our strengths and areas where we can make WA more attractive to investors and professionals will enhance WA as an investment, career and lifestyle destination.
“The roundtable also supports the outcomes of the ‘Like No Other’ campaign, which aims to attract visitors, students, investors and workers to the State.
“This event supports the WA Government’s strategy to diversify the State economy, attract investment and create new industries and jobs for generations to come.”
As stated by Chief Scientist of WA Professor Peter Klinken AC:
“Western Australia stands at a crossroad in our State’s history, with the rare opportunity to attract investment and talent, and diversify our economy for the benefit of future generations.
“Our State offers the complete package across a wide range of growth industries, providing a fertile base upon which professionals can enhance their careers and organisations can establish global and regional operational hubs.
“I’m delighted to chair this Brain Gain Roundtable and harness the experience and knowledge of a panel who have lived the very strategy the WA Government has identified as a key component of the State’s economic future.”
