A recent global KPMG report listed Adelaide as the leading Australian city in which to relocate a business. The report listed lifestyle, access to skilled talent and great facilities as some of the key ranking factors. However, the same report also noted that Australia had comparatively high transport costs. Those costs are part of the challenge for SA businesses accessing national and global markets with tangible goods. But those costs don’t really impact on our growing services economy or companies working in the globalised digital space.

If you’ve seen The Great Gatsby, Harry Potter, X-Men or any number of other blockbusters at the movies in the last 21 years, you would have been exposed to Rising Sun Pictures’ (RSP) spectacular post production visual effects created right here in the Adelaide CBD.

RSP’s success is now generating around $20 million per annum with employment of about 110 staff, which expands to around 200 people when workload increases in peak production season. RSP competes with the very best in the world to win its work.

Unfortunately, outstanding talent, huge work ethic, a fantastic creative CV and a track record of innovation still isn’t enough to ensure the kind of growth trajectory that RSP should expect and that our economy really needs. Their national and global markets aren’t level playing fields. More generous support of the industry in the eastern states and incentives offered in places like Canada mean that RSP is just holding ground in spite of a stellar reputation with its major studio client base.

This isn’t just about RSP, but RSP is something of a ’canary in the coalmine’ of whether SA can really aspire to being a globally relevant, vibrant, lifestyle driven, and innovative digital services capital. RSP’s partnerships with UniSA and Flinders in developing the next generation of talent demonstrate the kind of collaboration that can drive a strong digital economic future in this State.

We now face the ashes of our old manufacturing sector. Digital services, and the global reputation of companies like RSP, create a real opportunity for South Australia to be a leader in this new era. If we’re serious, we have to at least provide the kind of operating environment that creates a more level playing field in these intensely competitive global markets. Even a modest investment in transforming this part of our economy will pay huge dividends in jobs, innovation, export revenue and industry collaboration. For a small city, we have a superb industry and university base already. But the thing about sophisticated digital services is that you can deliver them from anywhere. This is an opportunity that is clearly ours to lose.