Hamilton Digital Hub

The residents of the Great South Coast region experience disadvantage in terms of attainment of digital skills and access to broadband internet, compared with other parts of Victoria. This lack of access and skill shortage can negatively impact on digital inclusion, create labour force barriers that hinder economic development and result in social disadvantage and feelings of isolation. Evidence of this can be seen in the region’s low education attainment rates.

Challenges also exist locally in finding pathways for post-year 12 students to continue with their education.These issues, combined with the lack of modern digitally-enabled spaces in Hamilton, pose a range of problems in the region.

Creation of a purpose-built digital hub that comprises a mix of rooms to hire, training rooms for education providers including Universities and South West TAFE, collaboration spaces for local businesses and mentoring spaces for Council staff to assist community groups and run programs.

A needs analysis has been completed and a location for the facility has been identified in-principle within the Hamilton CBD.
Council has been actively engaging with Department Jobs Precincts and Regions, South West TAFE, Deakin University and UniSA and will consolidate this feedback with additional information from Hamilton Regional Business Association and likely local business interests. Feedback suggests a significant number of businesses believe a Digital Hub will help them be more innovative, grow and reduce costs.

$2.23m to fund construction of Digital Hub building.