Amazon sets up shop in South Australia with 50 jobs pledge

Tech giant Amazon is setting up a new Adelaide office at the city’s innovation hub, Lot Fourteen, with a promise to create more than 50 jobs by 2024.

The new office will include Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Amazon Sciences, a team carrying out world-leading artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) research.

State Premier Steven Marshall was at the company’s announcement this week.

“Not only will Amazon create more jobs for South Australians, the company will grow its innovation programs to support local companies, from startups to bigger businesses, and government organisations, which is great news for South Australia’s overall high-tech credentials,” he said.

“The decision by Amazon to invest here is proof that South Australia is a major drawcard to international companies across high-tech and high-growth sectors.”

Lot Fourteen is already home to the Australian Space Agency, the SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre, MIT bigdata Living Lab, the Australian Institute of Machine Learning, and the Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre.

Sarah Bassett, AWS’s Head of South and Western Australia, said her team will provide support and cloud enablement to local businesses and government agencies to assist with digital transformation.

“We look forward to helping South Australia to grow their emerging tech workforce, and to drive future innovation from the state,” she said.

The Amazon Science team will conduct new research programs to improve the customer experience for Amazon.com customers.

“Our new office in Adelaide demonstrates our ongoing commitment to invest in Australia, and the long-term potential we believe there is for our nation to be a leader in the global digital economy,” Bassett said.

Adelaide startup Presagen, which specialises in AI enhanced healthcare for women, was among those welcoming the news, with CEO Dr Michelle Perugini saying AWS has enabled her venture to scale quickly and globally.

“As an Australian startup with ambitions of transforming women’s healthcare globally, the support that AWS provides to startups is a critical driver of our rapid product development and speed to market,” she said.

“The access to advanced technology like Artificial Intelligence has enabled Presagen to expand quickly, while remaining compliant with healthcare industry regulations. AWS’s new presence in South Australia is important for the local startup ecosystem, because it will help drive growth of future successful digital businesses.”