Gold Coast Insider

Imagine if there was a dazzlingly futuristic surgical training facility that could use medical imaging equipment and 3D printing to build a precise model of a patient's aneurysm or stroke - and then enable clinicians to practice robotics-assisted surgical procedures on the models, under near identical conditions to real life. Actually, there is no need to imagine - the Gold Coast  already has...

After selling her successful beverage company to Coca-Cola many years ago, Maryann Thexton could have easily just put her feet up or travelled the world, but her innate curiosity and entrepreneurial spirit set her on a different path - and our Gold Coast biotech industry is stronger for it. She had switched careers to become a top-flight thoroughbred racehorse trainer (mentored by Gai Waterhouse),...

In this week's podcast we delve into the exciting realm of personalised healthcare, and no, we're not talking about your doctor's bedside manner! We chat with Monica Russell from global company Materialise, headquartered at Griffith University on the Gold Coast in Australia. Materialise is spearheading a healthcare revolution by leveraging software to devise personalised surgery plans,...

Dr Stephanie Chaousis - Chief Customer Officer of Datarwe, General Manager of intelliHQ and Director of the Qld AI Hub - has had quite a wild career trajectory in science. She started out as a marine biologist ('chasing turtles in a boat'), then moved up to molecular biology (studying the nature of jellyfish and tarantula venom), but eventually landed in the emerging field of data science...

In this special podcast episode, host Estella Rodighiero dives deep into the origins, drivers and incredible potential of our booming biomedical industry, interviewing Dr Chris Davis , General Manager of Griffith University’s Institute for Glycomics, and Dan Barr , Director of the Better Cities Group. Both have played a key role in the development of our new Gold Coast Emerging Biomedical Industry...

From working in war-torn Zimbabwe to lecturer at Bond University, corporate sustainability expert Dr Clare Burns has had a unique career trajectory. In our most in-depth conversation about sustainability to date, Dr Burns provides insights into topics such as greenwashing, supply chains, psycho-social hazards, the 2032 Olympics, modern slavery in Australia, eco-anxiety, how SMEs can get started wi...

Not many people in life get the opportunity to establish an institute from the ground up, let alone one which is now a world leader in the discovery and development of drugs and vaccines for globally significant diseases. After leading the team responsible for developing Relenza, the first ‘designer drug for flu’ (one of the most important antiviral advances of the last century), Professor Mark vo...

Marion Charlton is the Chief Operating Officer of Queensland Airports Limited. A described 'aviation nerd' who helped steer Sydney Airport through the 2000 Olympics Games, perhaps her greatest career achievement (and most daunting challenge) to date has been overseeing the redevelopment of the Gold Coast Airport. One our city's biggest ever infrastructure projects (the airport doubled...

Professor Stefanie Feih is a Cambridge-educated world expert in advanced manufacturing and materials performance. As the Director of the ADaPT Institute at Griffith University, she and her team are ushering in a new era of virtual design, rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing (also known as 3D printing) - and working hand in hand with Gold Coast companies to incorporate these new 'Indus...

Struggling with how to attract and retain staff? This episode actually has some solutions! We talk to Paul Kahlert, the CEO of All Purpose Transport, a Berrinba company that has been around for 48 years. And with a rapidly ageing workforce, that’s also the average age of their truck drivers. So how exactly do you attract enough 'new blood' to support business growth of 8% per year, in a de...

Karen Dickinson, the General Manager of TAFE Gold Coast, is passionate about sustainability and believes that education providers need to build holistic knowledge and skills that will equip students to manage in a new sustainability-focused world. And she not only talks the talk - she walks the walk. Karen developed the concept for the new TAFE campus at Robina, which has won several international...

There are 13.5 million unused spare rooms in Australia, across 10 million households. Always ahead of the curve, entrepreneur Ludwina Dautovic spotted an opportunity and six year ago established The Room Xchange, Australia's first ID-verified house-sharing platform. The cutting-edge technology at its core matches households and housemates based on values, personality and lifestyle, with option...

Well-known Gold Coast livewire, communications professional and women's leadership advocate Karen Phillips is like a human shot of adrenaline for any weary business woman (or man) out there. Founder of Women in Business Australia, the Women in Business Awards and the Gold Coast Women in Business Breakfast series (now in its 30th year), she's a master of motivation with a deep love of her h...

Chris Derksema, CEO of the Gold Coast Waterways Authority (GCWA) was previously the Sustainability Director at the City of Sydney, leading them to become the first carbon neutral certified government organisation in Australia. He brings all of his sustainability bona fides to his role with GCWA, a statutory body responsible for the sustainable management of the Gold Coast's rivers, canals, lak...

So how do you get a foot in the door of the Gold Coast film industry, and maybe end up the CEO of a world-renowned visual effects (VFX) studio with Disney, Warners Bros. and Netflix as clients? For Duncan Jones, who founded Gold Coast's Myriad Studios, you start off training dolphins at Sea World! Our newest podcast uncovers the story of his spectacular career ascent, bringing him to the prese...

Jan McCormick was a software engineer for mining equipment, when a chance encounter at a mining industry conference on the Gold Coast changed her career trajectory and her life. She met her future husband (the event planner) and moved to the Gold Coast six months later, where they teamed up to start their own event and concert production company. Now the CEO of Major Events Gold Coast, Jan and her...

Study Gold Coast CEO Jennine Tax - the 2021 Gold Coast Woman of the Year for the Education Sector - reckons she has struck gold with her job, "selling education in a city that I love and feel so passionate about". In this podcast, Jennine talks about the role of Study Gold Coast in promoting the City as a world-class education destination, supporting the students who come here, connectin...

Tech entrepreneur and educator Nathan Burns was an early adopter of cryptocurrencies, but it was the underlying technology - blockchain - that really lit a fire in him. Nathan immediately recognised the myriad of potential applications for solving problems and creating efficiencies across almost all industries, and dove in to become an early blockchain expert and advocate. He is now the Co-founder...

Ariana Margetts - innovation maven - is on a mission to diversify and power the Gold Coast economy by attracting and supporting startups and SMEs from emerging sectors like Medtech, Biotech, Sportstech and AI. As the Chief Operating Officer of CoSpaces at Southport, she works with landlords, governments and developers to activate co-working commercial communities, including the Cohort Innovation S...

If the challenges that Australia and the world face in addressing climate change and reaching net zero by 2050 fill you with despair, then this podcast will be a welcome tonic. New Gold Coaster Geoff Matthews is an expert in industrial decarbonisation and the Event Director of SIM-PAC - Sustainable Industrial Manufacturing Asia Pacific - an expo of low emission technologies debuting in Brisbane ne...

In this deep dive into the Gold Coast visitor economy, tourism supremo Karen Bolinger,  acting CEO of Destination Gold Coast (DGC), discusses where we sit post-pandemic, where we need to be headed, and the guiderails and strategies that DGC is laying out to help the Gold Coast define 'who we are and what we stand for'. Expectations have changed... with consumer demand for sustainability, a...

Many Gold Coast locals would be surprised to learn that Helensvale is home to the first privately-owned aerospace company in Australia, co-founded by pioneering Brisbane brothers Adam and James Gilmour a decade ago. Gilmour Space is a truly stunning Gold Coast success story; it's now the largest space tech employer in Australia, with over 190 full-time staff, and on the cusp of launching their...

How can we work with the growth of the Gold Coast and not against it? How do we retain the dynamic and fast moving character of our city, but embed sustainable business practices and environmental management as core pillars of our economic growth? Larissa Rose, Director of Gold Coast environmental consultancy GG Enviro, has the answers in this broad-ranging interview, which also explores the pathw...

This week's podcast guest, Southport Yacht Club General Manager Brett James, takes us through the truly eye-popping economic benefits that the 2022 opening of the Superyacht Berth has brought to the Gold Coast. With the Yacht Club now able to cater to vessels up to 135 metres, the Gold Coast has become Australia's number one superyacht destination. And whenever a superyacht docks - do they...

Did you know that the Gold Coast is home to a company developing the world's first rotary artificial human heart? How about an AI leader collecting crisis-care data from hospitals across the country, to build a real-time diagnostic platform for clinicians? Or thousands of other innovators, entrepreneurs and researchers in medtech, clinical trials, life sciences, cybersecurity, AI, blockchain a...