Opinion
Issue No. 29 - June/July 2006
Must regional development be public?
Northern Adelaide Innovation Network is a private company specialising in workforce development in Adelaide’s northern suburbs. NAIN boss Max Davids makes a surprising argument for privately sponsored development as being more flexible and therefore more rapid, than it would be under government guidance.
“A private model is effectively a series of organic networks based around the need and opportunity for change,” Max says. “Underpinning the model is an investment action that provides a commercial return.
“Experience to date suggests that there are opportunities across most industry sectors, perhaps involving a tier of government acting apart from its key role as a regulator.
“The private sector’s ability to act on researched information enables more efficient decision making, enabling investors to achieve more with less resources.”
Max says it’s the mobility of resources that sets a private regional development model apart from a public model.
“Business is showing that it is most comfortable with this model, having voted with its money in terms of our transition from public to private in Northern Adelaide,” he says, referring to the Northern Adelaide Development Board closure in 2004.
Two NADB members and a private businessman decided to set up a private company, now NAIN, to continue the work of the defunct public body on a "for profit" basis.
“Ability to choose one’s partners is also a fea...
