The business sector of Richmond, Victoria, is among key locations within the City of Yarra to be targeted for economic growth during the next five years.
Council recently adopted the Economic Development Strategy for 2015-20, which advocated the need to cultivate emerging creative industries and the knowledge economy in an endeavour to build a resilient and thriving local economy.
The strategy addressed a number of key objectives, which included creating thriving and vibrant precincts, a smart city, and a business community that was locally engaged.
The initiative provided the council with a positive new direction in its efforts to help support and bolster economic growth within the city, according to Mayor Phillip Vlahogiannis.
He said future jobs and prosperity would likely come from Yarra’s knowledge economy which, on recent figures, made up about 46 per cent of the local job market. It included the sectors of engineering, informational technology, finance, education and health.
About 21 per cent of Yarra businesses are based within the creative business community, which consists of economic clusters where hubs of similar commercial or industrial pursuits benefit from a common location.
Cr Vlahogiannis said both these communities and the area’s retail sectors were set to play an important role in Yarra’s future economy, citing employment opportunities and their capacity to draw new customers as vital components.
Taking into account Yarra’s diverse and vibrant business sector – which includes everything from the local bakery to printing companies and major corporations – the city makes up about three per cent of the Gross State Product of Victoria.
