Austin, Texas x Adelaide, Australia – Sister City Meetup – EOI Follow Up

Innovation, International / By

Over 200 people registered for the Austin, Texas x Adelaide, Australia - Sister City Meetup at Australia House for SXSW on Wednesday, 15 Mar 2023 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM local time, presented by Andrew Letton from the South Australian Department for Trade and Investment, Wendy Perry MD of Workforce BluePrint, and Entrepreneurship Facilitators for Adelaide via Switch Start Scale, alongside Scott Perry.

South Australian band Germein performed a couple of songs to get the crowd going, and then a fantastic set at the end of the event which the audience loved – thank you Georgia, Ella and Clara, you’ll smash it at SXSW!

Speakers discussed the importance of sister and friendly cities, linkages between the City of Adelaide and City of Austin, Texas and South Australia, and ways to leverage sister city relationships including:

Plus, Joseph Cassar from a South Australia startup that uses machine learning to develop real-time emotional feedback to support wellbeing for individuals and teams will be launching their Slack integration tool at SXSW; Frank.

Frank gives previously unattainable insight into your team’s emotional wellbeing using AI driven emotional analysis No surveys or polls, Frank analyses unconscious indicators to give clarity into how you as an individual, and your team are really going. It’s beyond sentiment analysis. It’s the first emotional analysis tool of its kind.  It’s Frank.

Sponsors from both Austin and Adelaide were very generous supporting this event led from the South Australian Department for Trade and Investment and Workforce BluePrint, Austin Sister Cities International, Affinity Engineering, FiA, Frank, RAA, Switch Start Scale, Swarmer and Tech Ranch.

And the event couldn’t have happened with the outstanding support from LAURA LEVENTHAL, Director | Partnerships, Programs & Brand, americanaustralian.org, the sound and bar crew.  You can express you interest to be involved in next steps here.

Martin Haese (Former Lord Mayor of Adelaide 2014-2018) sent this message:

“As a former Lord Mayor of Adelaide and a musician, I am a strong advocate for our valued Sister City relationship with Austin Texas. I am in awe of the creativity, innovation and camaraderie the radiates out of South by Southwest. Having visited Austin on a couple of occasions and met with former Mayor Steve Adler, I commend recently elected Mayor Kirk Watson on leading such a fine city and enthusiastically encourage South Australians to attend South by Southwest in the future.”

South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual music, film, and interactive media festival held in Austin, Texas, and there is nothing else like it on the planet.  It has been taking place since 1987 and has become a significant event for showcasing new talent and ideas in various industries.  Adelaide is a city in South Australia known for its festivals, food, and wine culture.  It is also home to several universities and research institutions, startups and scaleups, making it a hub for innovation and technology.

The sister city relationship between Adelaide, South Australia, and Austin, Texas, is 40 years old this year, having been established in 1983.  Over the past four decades, the sister city relationship has provided many opportunities for collaboration and exchange between the two cities.  The partnership has been focused on promoting economic, cultural, educational, and social ties between Adelaide and Austin.

One of the earliest initiatives of the sister city relationship was the establishment of the Austin-Adelaide Youth Council in 1984, which provided a platform for young people from both cities to exchange ideas and cultural experiences. This program has continued to this day, with many young people from Adelaide and Austin taking part in cultural exchange programs and internships in each other's cities.

The sister city relationship has also facilitated collaborations in areas such as education, research, entrepreneurship and innovation. For example, numerous delegations initially led by the New Venture Institute at Flinders University, and then a group of South Australian colleagues, have been to SXSW over the years with a focus on innovation and creativity, pitch competitions, smart cities and startups.

The sister city relationship between Austin and Adelaide continues to provide opportunities for collaboration and growth in various fields.  From technology to the arts, these two cities share a vision for innovation and creativity that makes them valuable partners in the global community.

In recent years, the sister city relationship has also focused on promoting Adelaide and Austin as hubs for innovation and entrepreneurship. This has led to the creation of initiatives such as the, which brings together entrepreneurs and startups from both cities to share ideas and explore opportunities for collaboration.

A valuable partnership that has helped to strengthen ties between the two cities and promote mutual understanding and cooperation including the Adelaide Austin Entrepreneurial Exchange and 3 Day Startup, with many more areas to collaborate on.

If you would like to express your interest from Austin, Adelaide or another part of the world, please add your details and areas you like to work together on via this form.

Check out posts from Wendy Perry about the event here:

Many people ask why do you go to SXSW?

And there are many reasons but a priority is who you meet randomly and with serendipity at #networking events like at a Universities event this evening local time.

So when I chatted to Susan Savkov who has lived in #Australia we found lots of common ground, and she then introduced me to colleagues Beth Caplan and Niyanta Spelman, where we uncovered that there are so many opportunities to collaborate City of Adelaide City of Austin #sistercities #SouthAustralia #Texas.

Now we are all going to see each other again and many other #Austinites and international friends at the Austin, Texas x Adelaide, Australia - Sister City Meetup SXSW.

This is at #AustraliaHouse with G'Day USA on Wednesday afternoon at 2.00 pm, where #Germein are playing and there are still some VIP tickets available, which will also mean that you won’t have to wait in line so register for your free tickets and please share with your networks and colleagues (no SXSW badge required but must register on Eventbrite) #pleaseshare across #socials #email #dm #messaging

Scott Perry Benjamin Flink Roseanne Healy Joseph Cassar Andrew Letton Laura L. Kevin Koym Courtney Tune with intros on the list to Elaine Bensted Alison Kershaw Adelaide Botanic Garden Moira Were AM Nat Cook Katrine Hildyard Susan Close Peter Malinauskas Andrea Michaels Zoe Bettison MP Kyam Maher

#environment #women #socialhousing #innovation #entrepreneurship #entrepreneurshipfacilitators #connections #firstnations #tourism #smallbusiness #startups #scaleups #climatechange

Please share the event with people you know in Austin and those who are here for #SXSW #sxsw2023 Tech Ranch Austin Sister Cities International AUSTIN ADELAIDE SISTER CITY COMMITTEE

And from Beth Caplan on LinkedIn who said:

Connect and amplify! That’s what we’re doing at this amazing event at Australia House at 

SXSW today!

The “Austin to Adelaide” Sister City connection is being celebrated right now, as it reaches 40 years!

I am delighted to be here representing Rainforest Partnership to unlock opportunities for new partners and for rainforests.  Great panel conversation right now with Kevin Koym Benjamin Flink. Anne Derfler and Roseanne Healy.  I’m loving the insights and great energy around the power of partnerships and collaborations!

Thank you Wendy Perry for the warm welcome! Delighted to be part of growing the Australia to Texas/Adelaide to Austin connection to unlock abundance! Niyanta Spelman Susan Savkov

Feedback on the event has been fantastic and now it is time to take that relationship to the next level where you could lead an area of collaboration so please express your interest here and/or email wendy@workforceblueprint.com.au, thanks y’all!

Check out Wendy’s pics here with the official ones to be published soon.

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