Paul Martins wants to build stronger connections between UniSC and the thousands of businesses operating across the City of Moreton Bay as he begins a new chapter in his economic development career.
As UniSC’s inaugural Director of Strategic Partnerships, Martins will work across business, government and industry to connect the university’s growing pool of students, researchers and innovation programs with opportunities beyond the campus.
For local businesses, that could mean greater access to emerging talent, research expertise, work-integrated learning and programs designed to help start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs grow and enter new markets.
“There is an incredible array of talent at UniSC. I think my top priority is to shine a light on it,” Paul said.
“Whether this be the amazing researchers we have doing world-class investigations; the amazing students that can participate in work integrated learning with local businesses; and the fantastic business accelerators the university runs to help the business community scale their business and access new markets.
“We are a massive talent factory, and we can help businesses address their issues and grow.”
Martins’ move to UniSC follows a career spanning international trade, economic development and local government, including senior roles with Sunshine Coast Council and City of Moreton Bay.
Most recently, he served as City of Moreton Bay’s Chief Economic Development Officer, where he helped drive the city’s investment attraction, business support and economic development agenda.
Martins said relationships had been fundamental throughout his career and would remain central to his work at UniSC.
“I think my ability to work with people across all walks of life from the private sector to government to university to achieve a great outcome will be a big asset,” Paul said.
“I had two key concepts ‘exceptional customer service’ and ‘getting great results’ engrained into me at a young age by a mentor and when you focus on getting outcomes, sharing results and achieving benefits for your community, everybody wants to get behind that.”
After working in and around UniSC for more than a decade, Martins said the opportunity to help strengthen its connections with industry was a major attraction.
“I saw first-hand the good they do every day. I saw the dreams they helped young people achieve through their studies and research,” Paul said.
“I was really excited by the role, and I knew that I could help the university with their industry engagement and innovation programming.
“Having worked across SEQ, I want to help make connections that help our city and our community be more successful.”
One of the biggest opportunities on Martins’ radar is ensuring businesses and workers are positioned to participate in the economic activity expected to flow from PsiQuantum’s quantum computing project at Moreton Bay Central.
“A key priority moving forward will be to work with the Council and industry partners (we have 33,500+ companies in Moreton Bay) on fully leveraging the opportunity that PsiQuantum offers City of Moreton Bay and industry,” Paul said.
“We really want to get down to the detail of the supply chain gaps and help train the next frontier of talent and help industry connect to this amazing opportunity.”
The focus extends beyond quantum.
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Martins sees significant partnership potential across science, technology and engineering, as well as health and allied services, reflecting both the city’s growth and its existing industrial strengths.
“This aligns well with both the growth across City of Moreton Bay but also its value proposition of having key manufacturing centres across the city and with the new TAFE and Advanced Manufacturing Hub at Moreton Bay Central,” Paul said.
UniSC itself is becoming an increasingly significant part of the city’s economic and workforce landscape.
The university says it has invested more than $250 million in City of Moreton Bay infrastructure and has collaborated on programs supporting local start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs.
That includes establishing a local tax clinic with support from Council and the Australian Taxation Office, as well as bringing The Ultimate HQ to its Moreton Bay campus to support innovation and industry.
UniSC’s latest Moreton Bay campus profile shows enrolments reached 5,905 in 2025, with 67 per cent of students coming from the City of Moreton Bay.
Martins believes the university’s greatest long-term economic contribution, however, could be its graduates.
UniSC data indicates 70 per cent of graduates remain in the geographical area where they studied, creating the potential for the growing campus to feed skilled workers directly into the local economy.
That connection between education and employment will become increasingly important as City of Moreton Bay attracts investment and develops new industries.
Martins also brings to the role first-hand knowledge of what local businesses have been asking for.
Looking back on his time at Council, he said he was particularly proud of helping build an organisation that listened to businesses and supported investment and job creation.
“The vision from the Mayor and Councillors was really clear from the start of my role helping existing businesses and creating more jobs and that is what my team and I tried to do every day,” Paul said.
“We weren’t perfect, but we listened and we always tried to help.”
While his position has changed, the broader objective has not.
Instead of attracting investment and supporting businesses from within local government, Martins will now work to connect UniSC’s people, research and capabilities with the businesses and industries shaping the City of Moreton Bay’s next phase of growth.
To connect with Paul Martins and the team at UniSC, email industry@usc.edu.au.
