Playing in the gaming sector... an interview with Mitch Olson at SmallWorlds

Australia is home to a vibrant gaming sector, yet over the past few years a string of high-profile games developers have closed their doors for business thanks to the high Australian dollar.

With the rise of mobile and social gaming, many overseas publishers have also pulled the plug on video games midway through development, leaving Australian studios scrambling to secure new work or risk lapsing into insolvency.

The secret to survival may depend on introducing more resilient business models, so I recently interviewed the very talkative Mitch Olson, founder of SmallWorlds, about establishing NZ's largest social gaming company in New Zealand. Mitch has a knack for attracting millions of dollars in external investment - both from government grants & private investors - and is using its latest round of funding to fund the company's expansion into Brazil.

Read the interview here...

Icebreaker interview: has Caroline Hamilton devised a new way of funding albums?

In London, an investment fund called Icebreaker has devised a new model for funding the creation of music.

Created by entrepreneur Caroline Hamilton, the model brings investors together with artists and bands in the same way the feature film industry relies on financing from private investors. Will it work?

Caroline politely ignored her jet lag on a recent trip to Brisbane to explain how the Icebreaker model works. Our conversation is published here

Creative3, Brisbane

I travelled to Brisbane last month to interview two of the speakers at the Creative3 forum, which was headlined by Stefan Sagmeister. Hats off to Stefan -- for years now he's given speeches and written books about the value of taking time off to creatively re-charge, and people still love hearing him talk. I've seen him give similar presentations in three different countries, and from a design perspective they're not all that surprising, and a little repetitive, though on a personal level they are endearing because they reveal the things that matter to Stefan -- happiness, friendship, curiosity, freedom, love.

More illuminating was the fact that Brisbane has come such a long way in terms of its support of the creative sector. The conference highlighted the business end of design -- pathways to investment, business culture, idea generation, disruptive entrepreneurs, new models for entertainment and arts financing -- all the aspects of business that creative professionals often need guidance with.

Most illuminating of all: I am forced to admit Brisbane has come a long way since my childhood, when I used to visit my grandma over the Christmas holidays, reluctantly, with my sisters, when we were overwhelmed by the sweltering boringness of the city compared to Sydney. Today, there's the GoMA, the award-winning State Library (designed by Donovan Hill), and tiny enclaves of designer restaurants and wines bars. I'd still never live there though.