Wrap-Up: 2025 AEDA Business Summit

Adelaide’s economic future was centre stage at the 2025 AEDA Business Summit, with experts sharing bold insights on growth, investment, tourism and branding to help shape the city’s next chapter.

Among keynote speakers and panellists at the Summit, held on 20 May 2025 at Adelaide Oval, were The Demographics Group Co-Founder and Director Simon Kuestenmacher, REMIX Summits Co-Founder Peter Tullin and The Honourable Peter Malinauskas MP, Premier of South Australia.

More than 450 people attended the Summit – the event's biggest iteration since its inception in 2022.

With a spotlight on topics such as innovation, housing, population growth, immersive tourism, local success stories and business growth, the Summit sparked big ideas and even bigger conversations about the city’s next move.

AEDA Chair Steve Maras said Adelaide’s future looked bright, but all sectors had to play a key role to ensure the city thrived in a rapidly changing world.

“Together, we need to seize vibrancy and cement Adelaide as a magnet city, because we all know that is already the case,” Mr Maras told Summit attendees.

“As the economic development arm of the City of Adelaide, we’re doing that now. 

"We know the city, and we are always willing to learn more, and we want to create something that is better than any other Australian precinct has available.”

Skip to the best bits:

• Keynote One: Get the people, drive the economy
• Panel One: Adelaide’s growth trajectory: Attracting talent, finding housing and lifting real wages
• Keynote Two: Immersive tourism - What’s hot, what’s next
• Panel Two: Adelaide’s local success stories
• Panel Three: Why Adelaide has a great story to tell
• Keynote Three: The rise of Rising Sun Pictures

Adelaide has the potential to be the best place for young Australians to live because of its strong culture and creativity, The Demographics Group Co-Founder Simon Kuestenmacher says.

However, to achieve that, he noted the city needed to desperately attract millennials, particularly those in their twenties and thirties. 

He listed creative culture as the city’s biggest strength, which should be leveraged to appeal to millennials year-round. 

“You want to make sure that (Adelaide) is a short-term visit on the list of everyone in Australia aged in their twenties because they are in the pre-family formation stage,” Mr Kuestenmacher said. 

“They will, at least, have (an experience) of what Adelaide is, so that they might potentially consider it when they make a career move, (take up a) work promotion opportunity or when they might think about settling the family. 

“You have to be on the radar because you don’t move to an area unless you have seen it.” 

He said the city should take advantage of its innovation sector, as well as further education through the Adelaide University merger. 

“You’ve got Lot Fourteen – this is the kind of stuff you want when you come to a city,” Mr Kuestenmacher said. 

“(You have an) eco-system where you actually make room for startups and really create a dense community of businesses that talk to each other.” 

However, despite comments that “Adelaide had it all worked out”, he identified housing prices as the city’s biggest weakness, akin to many other locations across Australia. 

He proposed halving housing prices so that people “feel like they are getting more bang for their buck”. 

“You must focus on affordability and culture, while capturing the Zeitgeist and imagination of young people through a clear urban identity,” Mr Kuestenmacher said. 

“At the moment, housing is very much pushing people away rather than drawing them in. 

“So, if we were to make housing radically cheaper, we would radically get more young people (and that would) radically free up money for households that spend on stupendously expensive mortgages.”

Premier Peter Malinauskas says people across the country are looking at Adelaide “very differently” because its economy has improved in a post-COVID landscape.

Speaking alongside CMAX Clinical Research Chief Executive Jane Kelly, QinetiQ Chief Strategy Officer Rebecca Humble and South Australian Productivity Commission Chair Adrian Tembel, he said part of the city’s success could be put down to a willingness to put capital on the line.

He told Summit attendees that the university amalgamation, increasing urban sprawl, the Northern Water expansion, new housing developments, investment in education were among other areas boosting the economy.

“We’re seeing more investment in that regard, but we can always do a lot more,” he said

“Fast forward 10 years from now, and I think there is a real prospect that we will be living in a state that is enjoying sustainable rates of growth that has embedded resilience.

“It is entirely possible if we play our cards right.”

Other topics discussed included boldly attracting more millennials, housing affordability, increasing business development to attract private investment, and a bid to host the 2026 United Nations Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP31) to further elevate Adelaide on a global scale.

“(COP) is not about filling hotel rooms or bums on seats. This is a major opportunity for South Australia to recast itself, for Adelaide to reposition itself around the attraction of global capital as awareness develops," the Premier said.

Ms Kelly said Adelaide’s business sectors needed to collaborate to drive growth and secure a strong future.

“Be loud and proud. We need to sing from the same hymn book and attract people in.” Ms Kelly said.

“We don’t blow our trumpet enough … you need to attract people to Adelaide and, once they get here, they see what a beautiful place it is.”

Adelaide can become a trendsetter in global immersive tourism, according to REMIX Summits' Peter Tullin, who highlighted the city’s potential to tap into the booming sector.

He listed experiences such as the City Museum in St. Louis, Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, and Omega Mart in Las Vegas as exciting immersive entertainment experiences and “disruptors".

The session highlighted that there is an increasing number of examples of innovation and investment in Adelaide, such as Zero Latency, and that more could be done to generate audience engagement and economic growth.

“We have been talking a lot about attracting more people, and I think the experience economy can be a part of that,” Mr Tullin said.

“Do you (Adelaide) want to be a trend creator and be at the heart of building the experience economy?”

Adelaide is carving out a dynamic future on the global stage – driven by vision, innovation and homegrown talent – according to three AEDA Summit panellists.

Biome Bank Co-Founder Dr Sam Costello, Tantalus South Head of Studio Kim Forrest and Fivecast Senior Director of Marketing Monica Brink agreed that business success in Adelaide “was a point of pride”.

Mr Forrest said Adelaide offered an incredible experience for visitors and workers alike, and its contribution to the gaming sector had been recognised globally.

“We’ve copped a lot of flak from other cities … but they are a little bit more threatened by the fact that (the gaming industry) is up and coming," he said.

“(Gaming) is punching above its weight, like many other industries in South Australia... we are world-class.”

Ms Brink said she always pitched Adelaide to potential investors, partners and customers as one of the “safest, most-trusted democracies in the world"

“That really helps us on an export stage… (as does) our innovation and tech sector, which is really burgeoning.”

Meanwhile, Dr Costello said Adelaide had “exceptional scientists” who were producing “world-leading” work.

Taking people on a journey and telling a story are among key strategies to develop a strong brand, the head of Australia's largest place and property marketing agency says.

Andrew Hoyne, founder and director of Sydney-based Hoyne, said companies should consider vision and purpose more than logos and slogans.

“With a place brand, we have so much potential to create experiences that impact people’s lives; to affect the way they engage with a place," Mr Hoyne said.

“We then deliver on what that vision and purpose are.”

Speaking on a panel with AEDA Board member and marketing director Emma Kardachi, South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) Executive Director of Marketing Erik de Roos, and Verian State Director SA & NT Naomi Downer, Mr Hoyne said a brand had to inject a point of difference to resonate with people.

Mr de Roos said driving narrative about South Australia was also important in showing Adelaide to the world.

“South Australia is coming to a time where it is really maturing… we’re pretty cool,” he said.

“Let’s project that to the world.”

Mr de Roos advised businesses looking at changing their business models or establishing a business to “not be someone you are not” and “try to be cognisant of the environment (they) are playing in".

From a small team in Adelaide to a global visual effects powerhouse, Rising Sun Pictures has put its success down to an innovative approach and fostering a robust talent pipeline.

Rising Sun Pictures (RSP) Business Development Manager Bree Whitford-Smith said building trust and relationships was important to a successful business.

However, she highlighted the power of innovation in solving problems was also driving growth.

“These values are at the core of RSP, both in our work with clients and externally,” she said.

“Despite challenges like COVID-19, streaming wars, the writer strikes and later the actor strikes… we continued to push forward.

“The core of RSP’s success has been its unique blend of creative excellence, complex problem solving and technological innovation.”

RSP began in 1995 when four colleagues sat at the Rising Sun Inn in Kensington, dreaming of one day working on Hollywood films.

Now, it is one of the most successful visual effects (VFX) studios in the world.

It has worked on projects such as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Thor: Love and Thunder and Elvis.

Upcoming productions include Mortal Kombat II, Thunderbolts and Sinners.

“Managing technical complexity was what put RSP on the map ...  as one of the best VFX companies known for doing small bodies of very complex work,” Ms Whitford-Smith said.

Since its inception, RSP has launched 250 careers, and graduates of its education wing had gone on to employment at local, domestic, and international levels.

Ms Whitford-Smith said the company takes immense pride in offering employees the unique opportunity to live and work in Adelaide, all while having their work shown on the big screen in Hollywood.

Captions

Image 1: Simon Kuestenmacher

Image 2: Rebecca Humble, Jane Kelly, Peter Malinauskas and Adrian Tembel (L-R)

Image 3: Peter Tullin

Image 4: Jess Adamson, Kim Forrest, Monica Brink and Dr Sam Costello (L-R)

Image 5: Erik de Roos, Emma Kardachi, Naomi Downer and Andrew Hoyne (L-R)

Image 6: Bree Whitford-Smith

Photography: Frankie the Creative