The City of Melbourne has announced it has thrown its full support behind the key findings of a comprehensive knowledge industries report, which concluded that the city's 'knowledge economy' has reached $28 billion in worth.

The Future Melbourne Committee's (FMC) Chair, Cr Jackie Watts, said that the Council is dedicated to expanding and protecting the city's knowledge economy, and would move to protect  industries such as research, ICT, advanced manufacturing, digital game and special effects design, biotechnology, financial services and tertiary education.

“Council will hold a stakeholder workshop to work with the knowledge sector to strengthen industry collaboration, will consider creating an online knowledge assets and events directory, look to hosting world-renowned knowledge experts and further enhance the profile of Melbourne Knowledge Week as the signature event for the city’s sector,” Cr Watts said.

“The report author ACIL Tasman estimates that in 2010, organisations in the knowledge sector contributed $28 billion, or more than half, to Melbourne’s estimated Gross Regional Product of $53.29 billion.
“The report also found that of the 428,000-plus people working in organisations located in the City of Melbourne, approximately 67 per cent of them are employed in knowledge-related industries.

The full ACIL Tasman City of Melbourne knowledge sector study is available on the City of Melbourne’s website here.