Briefcase: Business Snippets from around South Australia
In this week’s Briefcase, a milestone ale is released and award winners are revealed. Plus, the latest business events.
- Playford Alive development expands
- Coopers celebrates 25 years of Vintage Ale
- Nova Systems takes flight with new deal
- Fleet Space Technologies named Space Business of the Year
- Finalists announced for 2025 Premier’s Business and Export Awards
- Renew Adelaide’s successful FY25 results
- Merged university to host first open days
- AGL customers to receive three free hours of electricity daily
Playford Alive development expands
A range of new allotments have been announced for the Playford Alive Development, enabled by land rezoning of the Northern Suburbs community.
The announcement includes plans for 110 new allotments at Playford Alive East in Munno Para.
Strong demand in the area has already fuelled 22 new allotments which hit the market on Thursday, the first of five planned releases over the coming months.
Meanwhile, 25 new affordable rental homes are being built in Playford Alive, delivered through Renewal SA’s Builders Panel. The panel allows homes to be built while surpassing the usual delays, with pre-designed plans, fewer tenders, and standardised contracts.
“Renewal SA’s Builders Panel is getting rid of red tape and delays in building more homes for South Australians,” said Housing and Urban Development Minister Nick Champion.
Altogether, Playford Alive’s eastern parcel will deliver more than 1480 homes, including about 1300 individual allotments and five medium-density sites.
Coopers celebrates 25 years of Vintage Ale
Coopers is celebrating its 25th seasonal Vintage Ale release with a 2025 edition beer full of spice and zest.
The annual release of Coopers Vintage Ale is regularly included in top beer lists, with last year’s vintage featured in the 2024 GABS Hottest New Releases.
You might like
“Each year our brewing team looks to go one better. The bar keeps getting raised and we all truly relish the challenge,” said Coopers chief brewer and fifth-generation family member, Dr Tim Cooper.
Cooper has overseen the making of every Vintage Ale and says the 2025 edition is the most unique yet, with tasting notes of sweet fruit, peach, citrus, pine and spicy characters, balanced out by malt sweetness before finishing with a firm bitterness.
The Vintage Ale is currently available in 50L kegs and 355ml bottles in South Australia and from August 7 nationally.
Nova Systems takes flight with new deal
Nova Systems has entered into a collaborative agreement with Canada’s International Test Pilot School (ITPS), amid growing demand for uncrewed aircraft systems expertise.
ITPS’ globally recognised training program operates in Canada, providing advanced industry training developed with highly skilled professionals.
Nova Systems is Australia’s leading Test and Evaluation (T&E) provider and partner, which invests in cutting-edge technologies and digital engineering toolsets to deliver training solutions. The partnership will include Nova Systems’ T&E training in the ITPS curriculum.
“The collaboration with ITPS supports our efforts to be at the cutting-edge of T&E and deliver world-class training and capability solutions that meet the evolving needs of defence and other clients,” said Nova Systems CEO Dean Rosenfield.
Fleet Space Technologies named Space Business of the Year
Leading Australian space company Fleet Space Technologies, which is headquartered in Adelaide, has been named the Space Business of the Year at Defence Connect’s 2025 Australian Defence Industry Awards.
The business, which has a global presence with a team in the US and offices in Canada, Luxembourg, and Chile, specialises in mineral exploration, defence, and space exploration.
“This honour reflects the dedication and brilliance of our world-class Fleet Space crew – our engineers, scientists, technologists, partners, and explorers – who are united by a shared mission to build next-gen space technologies that strengthen Australia’s national resilience and drive real-world impact for customers in the global defence, space, and critical mineral sectors worldwide,” said CEO and co-founder Flavia Nardini.
Finalists announced for 2025 Premier’s Business and Export Awards
The South Australian Business Chamber, in collaboration with the Government of South Australia, has unveiled the finalists for the South Australian Premier’s Business and Export Awards 2025.
All finalists were considered for two major awards: South Australian Business of the Year and South Australian Exporter of the Year, to be presented by the Premier Peter Malinauskas at a Gala Dinner held at the Adelaide Convention Centre at the end of August.
All winners will be entered as finalists in the Australian Exporter Awards, which will be held in Canberra in November.
“The feedback from previous years’ finalists is that the night was a celebration beyond their expectations, and they have benefited from this acknowledgement in their marketing and communications,” South Australian Business Chamber CEO Andrew Kay said.
“It is always a challenge for the judges to select the finalists from so many high-quality applications”.
Stay informed, daily
Tickets for the gala event are available online.
 |
|
Digital Adelaide 2025: Digital Adelaide is returning to the Adelaide Oval for a two-day event, running from July 30 to July 31. Australia-ASEAN Business Forum 2025: Adelaide is set to host the Australia-ASEAN Business Forum on August 26 and 27, 2025, welcoming over 750 senior delegates, including diplomatic officials, investors, and commercial leaders from the Southeast Asian region. EuroMix 2025: The French-Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in collaboration with nine other European Chambers, is bringing together key European players in Australia for this unique event on 28 August. Gala Dinner – South Australian Premier’s Business and Export Awards: The South Australian Business Chamber and the Government of South Australia are hosting the gala dinner for the South Australian Premier’s Business and Export Awards at the Adelaide Convention Centre on Friday, August 29. South Australian Zero Homelessness Summit 2025: This event on October 23 aims to unite key stakeholders from across the state to foster practical solutions for ending homelessness in South Australia. |
 |
Renew Adelaide’s successful FY25 results
Not-for-profit organisation Renew Adelaide, which supports emerging businesses by providing them with rent-free spaces, has completed one of their most successful financial years to date.
Among the biggest successes of the year was the Westbound festival, which supported emerging local businesses and musicians in a west end takeover.
“We challenged perceptions about the city’s west end, positioning this humble and much beleaguered precinct as the beating heart of our grassroots arts scene,” said CEO Gianna Murphy.
The program also saw its expressions of interest database grow to over 1300, showing that Adelaide continues to be an incubator for unique business concepts, Murphy said.
Altogether, Renew Adelaide supported the launch of 18 new ventures, activating 2705 square metres of space and creating 253 jobs.
“My thanks go to each of our experienced, voluntary directors for their enthusiastic participation and governance,” said chairperson Nicholas Begakis.
“We look forward to celebrating our next 15 years activating spaces across our favourite city.”
Merged university to host first open days
Adelaide University has announced its first “Open Days,” ahead of its official opening in January next year.
The city open day event will take place on Sunday the 27th of July, with 15,000 people expected to attend.
Adelaide University’s future City East Campus (currently the University of Adelaide and UniSA’s city east campuses) will host various activities, including live music, food trucks, and panel discussions, involving students with on-campus life and their future lecturers.
At the west end, the event will include tours of MOD, an on-campus future-based museum, and the South Australian School of Art (SASA) gallery.
“We want to give visitors a taste of the new Adelaide University culture and on-campus experience, and we’re delighted with how our staff and student volunteers have rallied together to set that scene and convey the energy of campus life,” said Professors Peter Høj AC and David Lloyd, co-Vice Chancellors, Adelaide University.
AGL customers to receive three free hours of electricity daily
Australian energy company AGL has announced a new energy plan called “Three for Free” as part of its AGL Community Power program.
The plan will provide customers with free electricity from 10am to 1pm daily.
AGL’s Chief Customer Officer Jo Egan said the plan is designed to provide customers with flexibility in how they manage their energy usage and offers a way to share the benefits of the energy transition with those who cannot purchase solar or who may be locked out due to barriers such as home ownership.
“The Three for Free plan is about giving more Australians the opportunity to access similar benefits as someone who has solar that is self-consuming in the middle of the day,” Egan said.
“Customers on the plan who shift their energy use can create savings on their electricity bills, they don’t need to install solar panels to reduce their energy usage costs during daylight hours.”
