EDITORS MESSAGE OCTOBER

OCT 2010

THE gutted tourism industry is about to have life breathed into it when around 250,000 motorsport fans converge on Surfers Paradise for the V8 Supercar spectacular this month.
The Armour All 600 will pump an estimated $60 million into the local economy and reach a vast international audience at a time when an overheated Aussie dollar is hindering this city’s key export.
State Governement commisioned V8 Supercar governing body AVESCO to manage the event following the ramshackle that ensued last year when egregious management almost derailed it.
AVESCO has appointed a gun chief executive Martin Whitaker, who joins the organisation at a crucial time. From F1, world rally and now Australia’s own dynamic powerhouse brand the V8 Supercars, Whitaker believes he has what it takes to motor the brand and the race to the winner’s podium.
We talk to the well-connected Englishman about the sport and its future in Australia and overseas as the country’s premier motor racing category gets a rev with a significant increase in investment and new markets.
The economic spin-offs trickle into a number of businesses around the Coast, including the winner of the Business Excellence Awards innovation prize.
When Aston Martin engineers were looking to cool the V12 motor of one of the world’s most expensive luxury supercars, they didn’t go to the UK, Italy or even Germany for the components. They went to PWR at Ormeau.

PWR products can be found on V8 Supercars, the Porsche Cup vehicles, US NASCAR and Le Mans series race cars and even in the engine bays of two Formula 1 teams.

Also hitting the accelerator are investors eager to tap into hot property prospects. New research suggests investors should pay more attention to the Sunshine State.

The white paper Queensland Investment Case: Why Queensland? Why Now? argues the Queensland economy is on the verge of strong and sustained recovery, led by major engineering, construction and infrastructure projects. Property researchers and commentators agree that it’s perhaps time to look at Queensland in a new light.

And while governments and economists thrive on stats that emanate from the mining sector, Federal Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research Kim Carr, has sent a warning. Australians need to put the relevance of the industry into perspective and diversify for the future.

Carr highlights that the mining industry contributes 8 per cent of GDP and only 1.4 per cent of employment. He says the industry as an ‘insatiable beast’ is uni-dimensional and one of the reasons why Australia has weathered the crisis so well is its economic diversity - but we cannot afford an unbalanced economy.

His comments are reflected in the emergence of the e-commerce industry and in this issue we profile two innovators who have developed online business models to cater to fresh demand in their respective industries.