Core is a co-working and collaboration space on St Georges Terrace, especially for the resource sector.
The WA minister for state development, transport and innovation Bill Marmion was a walking example of crossing barriers when he spoke to the crowd. As well as the politician standard suit, he had his steel-capped work boots on, as he was fresh was visiting construction sites.
Core CEO Tamryn Barker said Core's vision is to build a collaboration hub to drive Australian resource technology.
Two federally funded growth centres are amongst Core's supporters: METS Ignited for mining equipment, technology and services and National Energy Resources Australia supporting the oil, gas, coal and uranium industries.
NERA CEO Miranda Taylor said the challenges facing the energy resources sector are no different to any other sector.
"We need to transform. Without transformation, businesses are left incrementing today's operating models, and this is a recipe for long-term decline," she said.
"If we are not prepared to adapt and reset our thinking we will all fail to achieve the potential from the world-class talent and resources that have been assembled and homegrown in Australia over the last ten years".
From incumbent to disruptor
WesTrac executive general manager Jamie Sanders made it clear at the launch that his company was one successful incumbent ready to adapt.
"We've got things coming at us like online sales and global sourcing," he said.
"3D printing which is threatening our after-market existence. That's going to come along in leaps and bounds and really change our model as we go to market.
"We've got Uber for mining and construction equipment, we've got new earth moving technologies, and we've got data analytics that overlies all of that looking at new ways to do things."
To futureproof WesTrac against complacency, Sanders wants his company to be a disruptor, rather than be disrupted.
An insufficient risk appetite, favouring efficiency over free thinking, allowing past success to dictate the future direction and a fear of failure all held back innovation in big companies, Sanders said.
"We are firm believers that WA is the hub of earthmoving and mining innovation in the world. Some of the mining developments that were seeing out in the Pilbara prove that," he said.
Sanders believes Core will allow WesTrac to break out of the big company mould.
"Core allows us to be surrounded by innovation and start-up mentality and people and it allows us to be part of the WA innovation and technology community and that's really important to us," he said.
From the pit to the valley
Unearthed, an innovation program for the resources sector, is also now based at Core.
Having just returned from two weeks in Silicon Valley with resource executives, Unearthed director Zane Prickett shared his learnings of Silicon Valley's fabled startup ecosystem at the Core launch, comparing it to the Perth scene.
"There is no difference in capability," he said, then asked a number of questions to set the executives thinking about innovation for the future.
"They have billions of dollars of funding and were not going to match that, but you can always go over there and get your funding. The … key issue … is how do we start to think global?
"How do we look at big hard challenges and see the seed of it starting from here and growing globally?"
