In case you haven't heard, with all the tweets, posts, blogs and noise lately, there's something grand going on in Launceston.

The Macquarie House Innovation Hub (MHIH) development, part of The Catalyst Project, is a proposal to convert the historic building into a hybrid coworking space, a burgeoning trend in the new digital economy to create flexible workplaces for innovators, startups and growing businesses. Tasmanian entrepreneurs from all industry sectors will have the opportunity to take their place in the exploding international innovation and startup scene.

Lend your support to this awesome initiative! Read on....

Australia’s startup scene is poised for greatness, but according to two incisive reports we are also on the brink of letting a game-changing opportunity pass us by without some bold thinking.

An article in Shoestring magazine takes a look at the StartupAus 'Crossroads' report and the PWC/Google 'Startup Economy' reports, and demonstrates how the ethos advocated in both reports has been proven in economies internationally, with remarkable results.

StartupTasmania holds monthly breakfasts and after work drinks in Hobart and Launceston, and we're launching in the north of the state tomorrow! These are the social networking side of StartupTasmania, where we relax, have fun, and share experiences.

But there's more! So much more to StartupTasmania....

In his budget reply speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday, shadow treasurer Chris Bowen dedicated significant time to outlining a Labor Party agenda that aims to foster innovation and entrepreneurship.

Calling on Australia to find its own niche and not be a carbon copy of Silicon Valley, he said that high growth companies currently generate less than 0.2% of Australia’s GDP but that it could account for 4% of our GDP, according to PwC, generating more than half a million jobs by as early as 2033.

As a special deal for StartupTasmania members, the Business Fest 2014 in Launceston is holding its early bird HALF PRICE registration open - you'll get a discount from $80 to $39.95 if you sign up NOW!

Business & Employment invites you to join with other like-minded small businesses to a new innovative major day event. Business Fest is a Business-to-Business Event and not open to the public.

The abolition of Commercialisation Australia removes a vital lifeline for Australian startups and much needed support for angel investment, says StartupAus.

Government must move quickly to fill gap left by abolition of Commercialisation Australia, Innovation Investment Funds, and take swift action on Employee Share Schemes.

Hot on the heels of the Federal Budget’s call for innovators to swing into action, Tasmanian entrepreneurs are embarking on commercialising three major innovative projects over the next month.

From from a groundswell of energy in the Tasmanian business community largely being played out in social media, the entrepreneurs and others passionate about Tasmania’s future economy came together recently, after an intense round of responses and discussion on a LinkedIn post about the Tasmanian economy.

IT'S three years since Midlands woolgrower James McShane decided to make a smartphone app on which he could record all his farm records and was smart enough to know the details of his livestock and crops.

In that time he's won won the Tasmanian Farmer of the Year award twice and in 2013 took out Startup Tasmania's Bootcamp Finalist place, pitching the refined Farmware app to a panel of startup experts.

Delivering his first budget, Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey maintained that one of Australia’s greatest strengths as a nation “is our capacity to innovate and invent, however a range of assistance programs will be drastically reduced.

Delivering significant cuts to the limited funds and programs that have offered the industry assistance over the years, the Government will start by abolishing a range of industry assistance programs, saving over $845 million, refocussing effort on innovation and self-reliance.

Our innovation ecosystem is headed for danger and we need to tell our success stories loud and clear.

There has never been a better time for Australia to follow the wave of innovation and entrepreneurialism that the rest of the world is following so brilliantly."

"There is no doubt that investment in innovation has benefits to the wider community, but perhaps, we have failed to tell those stories to the public and clearly they have been lost on the existing government.