Over 150 people have moved into the Lot Fourteen neighbourhood and entrepreneur ecosystem, working in the focus sectors of artificial intelligence and machine learning, data analytics, cybersecurity, defence and space, and immersive creative technologies.
The Office of the Chief Entrepreneur and Adelaide-based artificial intelligence firm Daitum have joined the ecosystem along with established tenants that include Chamonix IT Solutions, exposé: Data Exposed, SecMatters, Cortex Interactive, and Myriota.
Last Saturday Daitum won the final of the StartCon Asia Pacific Pitch for $1 million from Right Click Capital, having competed against approximately 650 entrants.
Daitum’s Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer Ian Scriven said the win would have a huge impact on the business.
“It’s very exciting, it means we’ll be able to grow the business more rapidly and get our product in the hands of more users,” he said.
Daitum won the Adelaide regional final of the Pitch for $1 Million, which was held at Lot Fourteen in early November and sponsored by the Office of the Chief Entrepreneur.
South Australia’s Chief Entrepreneur Jim Whalley said his office would provide a new model for entrepreneurship in South Australia, offering people with imagination and initiative the opportunity to bring their ideas to market and build businesses that could go global.
“The Office of the Chief Entrepreneur will work collaboratively with existing accelerators and incubators, entrepreneurs, businesses, researchers, investors and service providers to facilitate connections, provide advice and help to position South Australia as a destination for entrepreneurship and innovation,” Mr Whalley said.
“A key focus is to establish the recently launched start-up hub, FIXE@LotFourteen, which will provide entrepreneurs with a CBD location to access mentors, investors and other support required to advance ideas into commercially successful businesses.”
Daitum specialises in decision analytics with a mission to democratise access to powerful optimisation algorithms to help businesses make better decisions.
Dr Scriven said Daitum’s decision analytics platform empowered enterprises to turn data into actionable decisions at the click of a button.
“We like to say we’re about big decisions, not big data. We tackle any problem where there are high value decisions being made, or a high volume of decisions being made. Planning and scheduling problems are our bread and butter,” Dr Scriven said.
“We’re certainly excited about our move to Lot Fourteen. The idea of an innovation hub, bringing together like-minded people and groups in a modern setting with great infrastructure, is very attractive.
“Being an early-stage member of the Lot Fourteen community will allow us to better connect and collaborate with other high-tech start-ups.”
Lot Fourteen is being developed on the site of the former Royal Adelaide Hospital by Renewal SA on behalf of the state government.
Renewal SA Acting Chief Executive Mark Devine said tenant numbers would grow in 2019 as refurbishment works were now being undertaken in many of the heritage and historic buildings.
“When completed, the six heritage buildings will create more than a thousand work spaces for global businesses, local start-ups and entrepreneurs working across a range of industry sectors including defence, space, artificial intelligence and machine learning, data analytics, cybersecurity and immersive creative technologies,” he said.
“Artificial intelligence and machine learning is one of the focus industry sectors at Lot Fourteen and Daitum will join anchor tenant the University of Adelaide’s Australian Institute of Machine Learning.
“We are creating a vibrant place to work, learn and innovate within walking distance of Adelaide’s best entertainment and cultural attractions in the East End, to help businesses attract and keep the most talented people from around the world,” Mr Devine said.
“When fully established, thousands of people will work and stay at Lot Fourteen, creating a centre of gravity for the Adelaide start-up community and a neighbourhood that fosters creativity, innovation and collaboration at all levels.”