In 2019 we commissioned ACIL Allen Consulting to evaluate the impact of the Industry Growth Centres Initiative.
ACIL Allen delivered its final report to the previous government in December 2020.
The evaluation used data up to the end of the 2018–19 financial year. It found that Industry Growth Centres:
- helped Australian industries become more competitive, resilient and sustainable
- attracted additional funding from government and the private sector
- helped build networks and expertise
- improved outcomes for businesses.
However, the evaluation also found several areas for improvement:
- The impact of Industry Growth Centres is constrained by a lack of resources and structures.
- Governance arrangements can be confusing.
- Measuring the centres’ performance is challenging, and there is a lack of data on outcomes and impacts.
BLADE analysis
We used BLADE (Business Longitudinal Analysis Data Environment) to perform some complementary analysis for this report.
Our analysis found that Industry Growth Centres had positive impacts on turnover, wages and employment growth for small-to-medium businesses. They had a mixed impact on export sales growth.