Our vision is for Canberra to recognised globally as a clever, connected and creative city fuelled by excellence in research, innovation and entrepreneurship, delivering diversified economy, social impact and economic growth for all.
We contribute to this vision by empowering entrepreneurs (startup founders, researchers, innovators, intrapreneurs, business owners and operators) from Canberra and the region to make an impact and change the world.
The core principles that underpin our work are those of an innovation-driven entrepreneurial ecosystem, the Rainforest culture and collective impact. This is manifested by the broad collaboration of our foundation members including the ANU, UC, UNSW Canberra, CIT, and CSIRO and with the support of the ACT Government. Along with our partners, private sector organisations including King Wood Mallesons, Optus, PwC and Canberra Airport, we are sharing the responsibility for connecting and growing the services and support available for ambitious innovators and entrepreneurs in the ACT and its broader region.
Download our 2024 Impact Report
The level of innovation in the ACT is significant, according to a recent report on the economic impact of the Canberra Innovation Network. The advantages of a highly educated population, concentration of education and research institutions and the foundational support of the ACT Government helped create an innovation ecosystem that is one of the densest in Australia.
According to the report, CBRIN delivered almost $900M to the ACT Gross State Product over its lifetime between September 2014 and September 2024. Just in 2022-24, the impact on ACT Gross State Product is estimated at $320M.
“Canberra is a great environment for innovation. The ACT Government’s support and investment in CBRIN through its first decade of growth has delivered significant economic outcomes for Canberra. CBRIN has supported the creation of more than 1,600 jobs, and economic growth worth almost $200 million to our gross state product in 2024 alone. As the centre of Canberra’s innovation ecosystem, CBRIN is well positioned to continue driving growth across Canberra’s strong and diverse economy.” – ACT Chief Minister, Andrew Barr MLA.
Impacts of the Canberra Innovation Network on the ACT and the Region’s Innovation Ecosystem – 2018 Impact Report
In 2018 the Canberra Innovation Network worked with Strategic Economic Solutions to assess the impact we have had on entrepreneurs, innovators and the innovation community across our programs that were designed to implement our 3 key strategic directions: innovation capacity building, entrepreneurial capacity building, and growing a central hub for innovation and collaboration.
According to the report, between 2014 and 2018 Canberra Innovation Network delivered:
- a more vibrant and connected ecosystem (with increased fluidity, density, connectivity and diversity)
- culture change by becoming a focal point of innovation that galvanises the community and helps the community’s key institutions transform; and
- better collaboration by being a catalytic enabler helping partners develop solutions to problems based on collaborative innovation, by enabling alliances among the foundation members and partners and within the region.