Serious Business Beyond Tourism: Attracting and Retaining High Value Low Impact Industries to Regional Economies

This paper identifies and discusses six challenges of a global knowledge-based economy for regional areas based on the experience of Noosa Shire in southern Queensland, Australia. The challenges pertain to: 1) realistic perspectives within the wider Australian and regional economies, 2) redirection away from traditional approaches regarding co-location and product orientation, 3) creation of crossindustry/sectoral innovations and networks, 4) building on current strengths and moving them upstream or downstream from the traditional value chain, 5) the advantages of highvalue/low-volume/low-impact/low-effort new business opportunities, and 6) building the evidence base that is required for high-value/low-volume/high-yield/low-impact economic growth. Networks of cooperation within and between regions are essential for provincial areas that are highly dependent on small business enterprises