Since our April newsletter, the Cellulose Valley project team has:

• received a special visit from one of the world’s leading plant scientists
• completed our Report and Concept Plan
• commenced preparations for the launch by the NSW Premier of our Concept Plan
• completed the initial design for the Cellulose Valley Technology Park, using ESD experts
• started construction on the Cellulose Valley Technology Park site
• prepared an incentives package for prospective tenants at the Technology Park
• held our inaugural meeting for the Cooperative Research Centre for Phytotherapeutic Products
• set the dates for an international conference on herbal medicines in 1999.

The continuing success of our efforts is based on a solid network of partnerships with local, state and federal government departments; representatives from the herbal medicine industry and primary production organisations.

We continue to seek your input, so please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or ideas you may have about this important project.

Professor Peter Baverstock
Dean of Research
Southern Cross University
Email: pbaverst@scu.edu.au

The Technology Park is all about:

• transforming good ideas into commercial reality
• pioneering world’s best practice
• using and developing responsive technology
• establishing synergistic relationships
• respecting and valuing nature.

The Cellulose Valley Technology Park will cater to research and commercial development of natural plant products, particularly their therapeutic application, and a range of compatible ancillary businesses. It will also provide for the improvement and active management of important local and regional fauna habitat, particularly for the endangered koala, with almost half of the Park being managed for nature conservation.

The project will establish an important regional, national and international centre of excellence, based on a compatible clustering of firms, institutions and activities which support the ethical growth and competitive advantage of this emerging natural plant products industry. Based on sustainable development and permaculture principles, its establishment and operation will ensure it is a model of environmental and commercial best practice, which will attract both regional, national and worldwide interest and ensuing steady visitation.

Designed as a working technology community, the Park will contain a core village area with a range of business, research and social facilities and services, surrounded by landscaped research and manufacturing facility sites, interwoven into organic agricultural and ecological systems of the property. The project presents exciting opportunities for research institutions, business and community groups to establish beneficial partnerships with the Technology Park, which will be linked with agricultural research and natural plant product growers, and manufacturing companies in the region, and further afield.

Southern Cross University will play an important role in facilitating and participating in this process, helping to establish an important economic and social focus for northern NSW. 

Working closely with sustainable development experts, Peter Cuming and Dr David de Vries from Sustainable Futures Planning & Design, we have developed seven guiding principles to assist us in achieving the Vision of the Cellulose Valley Technology Park:

1. Mutually Beneficial Partnerships
2. Sustainable Development
3. A Centre of Learning
4. Quality Lifestyle and Community
5. Ethical Business Practice
6. Recognising Influences and Constraints
7. Project Monitoring, Evaluation and Review

The following eight goals create a holistic approach to site development and management, which also help us to achieve the Vision:

On Friday 10 July we held a workshop with representatives from Southern Cross University, and State and Federal Governments, to identify the financial assistance that might be available for tenants of the Cellulose Valley Technology Park.

This will assist us in presenting an attractive 'Incentives Package' to prospective tenants for 1999. At present, possible opportunities for tenants who decide to occupy Cellulose Valley offices in the Year 2000 may include:

• access to free land for the first 10 years
• no headworks or infrastructure charges
• support for obtaining government assistance through various schemes available, ie. payroll tax relief
• support from Lismore City Council under its Incentives Policy.

On Monday 18 May an inaugural meeting for the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Phytotherapeutic Products took place in Lismore. The proposed CRC partners include:

• Southern Cross University
• University of Sydney
• University of Western Sydney (Hawkesbury and Macarthur)
• University of Newcastle
• MediHerb Pty Ltd
• Blackmores Ltd
• Australian Tea Tree Oil Research Institute
• NSW Department of Agriculture.

The CRC submission is due at the end of September. If our CRC for Phytotherapeutic Products submission is successful, the CRC headquarters will be based at the Technology Park.

The phytochemist and former BBC presenter praised the Cellulose Valley project for the myriad possibilities it presents for international technology transfer with universities such as Strathclyde, and emphasised the array of opportunities that will be made available by Cellulose Valley for targeting Asian markets.