Dear FAN Members and Supporters,

It is with great excitement that we share news that a collaborative submission for funding under the Australian Government’s Modern Manufacturing Initiative Translation stream has been successful.

$8.78 million has been committed towards the development of the Turbine Precinct – Australia’s first purpose built, end-to-end food and beverage manufacturing and education precinct – unlocking growth, accelerating innovation and creating a national blueprint for collaborative manufacturing.

Read the full release here

About Turbine
The Turbine Precinct, to be located at the Sunshine Coast Airport, will be designed to reduce barriers to scale and drive innovation for our region’s food and agribusiness industry. This will be achieved through collaboration around common-use infrastructure and manufacturing services, a research and development facility, warehousing and logistics, an expertise hub, and an industry-embedded training centre. The Turbine Precinct will position the Sunshine Coast as an epicentre for supporting food and beverage businesses to scale. 
 
The MMI Translation stream funding directly supports the development of the Turbine Precinct’s common-use infrastructure, collaborative manufacturing services and research capabilities.
 
With strong support from industry partners and stakeholders, FAN and the Queensland Drinks Accelerator have led the collaborative funding submission.

The vision of the Turbine Precinct is to create a blueprint for the future of Australian food and beverage manufacturing, where industry, research, government and education and training providers collectively unlock growth and drive innovation.
 
Over the past six years FAN has created a unique, collaborative ecosystem to support the growth of the food and agribusiness industry in the Greater Sunshine Coast region. Turbine will take this to the next level, providing world-class services, advanced manufacturing capability, and education and training to turbocharge industry growth.

Timing
Planning is underway for the Turbine Precinct, which is due to commence operations later in 2023. Stage 1 will have a focus on beverage manufacturing, with an anticipated stage 2 focus on advanced food manufacturing.

What this means for FAN Members
The development of the Turbine Precinct on the Sunshine Coast will showcase to the world the depth, diversity and capability of our producers and food and beverage manufacturers. It also tells the story of how we are doing business differently – through finding ways to work together to solve problems and create new opportunities.   
 
Once built, Turbine will be FAN’s Headquarters and FAN members will have access to the precinct’s many shared facilities and services including contract beverage manufacturing, R&D, education and training, expertise hub, meeting and event spaces, multimedia studio and logistics.

With thanks to our Project Partners and Supporters
This submission – and project – would not have been possible without the support of so many, including the Queensland Drinks Accelerator, University of the Sunshine Coast, TAFE Queensland, Sunshine Coast Council, Regional Development Australia Sunshine Coast, Sunshine Coast Business Council, Doehler Australia, Queensland Government, Food Innovation Australia Ltd, Mandalay Venture Partners, Innovation Architects, Australian Design Council, Queensland Robotics, Peregian Digital Hub, ACE Hub, Planet Ark Power, ARM Hub, Buderim Ginger, Innovative Manufacturing CRC, Ai Group and Parker Food. 

We would also like to acknowledge the support of Ted O’Brien Federal MP for Fairfax, the Sunshine Coast Airport, the FAN Board of Directors and the Turbine Board of Directors.

Learn more
We look forward to sharing more details and answering any questions at a special online session
Tuesday 16 November 9.00am – REGISTER HERE
and our upcoming
FAN AGM and Celebrations – REGISTER HERE

Yours in collaboration,

Emma Greenhatch