The city of Ipswich today has gained a new tech hub, with Ipswich City Enterprises announcing the opening of a re-purposed Fire House as a digital innovation and startup hub.
The facility will provide a number of services to foster technological development in the area, with the aim to position the region as a leader of the digital economy. Fire Station 101 will provide opportunities for business mentoring, development, co-working and potential investment.
Tech firm Accenture worked with Ipswich City Enterprises to develop the space, with Accenture Australia Digital Lead David Maunsell saying that Ipswich was ‘leading the way in connecting city services to new digital realities and forming innovation clusters to create jobs and a vibrant economy’.
Fire Station 101 is centrally located in Ipswich, with access to public transport, cafes and food outles, and is well fitted out with 55 desks occupying the 516sqm of floor space which can cater for up to 100 people doing events or training.
As well as offering Mentoring, training, professional development and coaching, Fire STation 101 offers an excellent fitout to match its digital focus. The re-purposed fire house is outfitted with fibre based internet, with high capacity Wi-Fi to enable development. The Fire House even has an Internet of Things demonstrator, designed to help teams focus on one fast growing facet of the tech industry.
The Fire House has some occupants using the space already, including Vann Phadilok and Scott Modra from Game Sage Productions. Vann and Scott created a successful online Android game called Mage which with between 10-50,000 downloads, is a fairly successful production.
Vann and Scott have plans to expand the game, adding in-app purchases to help fund both a prequel and sequel to the game which will be developed at least partially at The Fire House.
Fire Station 101 is open for business now, to learn more about the facility or maybe use their facilities, check out their website.
