Anthony Watts retired from Banc Mortgage Financial Corp in 2004

Colby Fischer is an innovative leader with more than a decade of experience in the field of corporate finance

John Gilbey is the Institute QA Manager for IGER and a honorary lecturer in the department of Computer Science, University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Before moving into strategic development, John Gilbey managed an IT service for 400 scientists, post-graduates and administrators. A Fellow of the British Computer Society, he teaches a course in Internet Services Administration for the Department of Computer Science at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. John gave a plenary talk on "Managing Standards - Delivering a Quality Assured Web Environment". John can be contacted at john.gilbey@bbsrc.ac.uk.

Peter Gilbert is a SharePoint evangelist and "developer" working at UWE. He works in SharePoint technologies using C#, InfoPath, Skelta and blog about their good and bad points. In his "spare" time he is an artist and photographer and helps organise the Southbank Bristol Arts Trail as well as running other arts events throughout the year. Peter will be giving a plenary talk entitled "The impact of SharePoint in Higher Education" with James Lappin, part of the Doing the Day Job session.

US-based global investment management firm, T Rowe Price (TRP), has opened a new office in Melbourne. Head of Australian business for TRP, Murray Brewer, said TRP in Australia is going from strength to strength.

Singapore's RedDot Brewhouse plans to establish a new independent commercial microbrewery and beer garden in Melbourne’s west. The new RedDot facility in Truganina (21 km west of Melbourne's city centre) will be the company’s first brewery outside Singapore.

International consumer management company, Gigya, has opened an office in Melbourne as part of its expansion into the Asia-Pacific region. The move comes after strong growth in 2013 for the US-based company, during which it processed more than 800 million logins for clients in 46 countries, including Tommy Hilfiger, the Independent, the Globe and Mail, KLM, L'Occitane, Next Media, Japan Airlines and Canon.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has grown its Australian service locations to Melbourne. The expanded company will roll out Amazon CloudFront - a content delivery Web service that offers both businesses and developers an easy way to distribute content with low latency and high data transfer speeds.

Singapore’s Fatfish Internet Group will open a new office in Melbourne to help boost its business in the Australasian region. Founded in 2011, Fatfish invests its own funds and money from the Singapore government in IT start-up companies and those in growth stage.

San Francisco-based IT company, Zendesk, is expanding its operations in Melbourne to take advantage of Victoria’s strong information technology skills base. “Our head of product and engineering says Melbourne is the best place for us to hire right now because of the combination of expectations, talent and production,” said Mikkel Svane, co-founder and chief executive of US-based Zendesk.

Former US President Bill Clinton has told delegates at the 20th International AIDS Conference, AIDS 2014 in Melbourne, that finding more economically efficient ways to respond to HIV is vital to saving lives and preventing the spread of the virus. Mr Clinton’s speech was made to over 2,000 people at one of the most eagerly anticipated sessions at the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne.

New Zealand-based hydraulic equipment specialist, Transport Hydraulic Solutions (THS), has opened a large manufacturing facility in the Melbourne northern suburb of Campbellfield (26.5 km north of the city centre). “A growing number of Melbourne clients are located around this area, and for those who are based further away, our office is right near the freeway where the Western Ring Road and Hume Highway intersect,” said Managing Director of THS, Brenden Lyons.

Fleet management service provider, TR Fleet, recently launched TR Fleet Australia – the parent company’s first venture outside the UK. The Melbourne-based manufacturing business will offer a range of services in Australia and New Zealand, including a risk management tool to help employers comply with 2015 changes to workplace health and safety regulations.

Indian learning solutions company, Dexler, has opened its Australian headquarters in Melbourne. Dexler Education (Australia) is expected to create 25 new skilled jobs in Melbourne following its 2014 acquisition of Online Learning Australia which had clients including AMP, ANZ, BHP Billiton, Bluescope Steel, Coles, Myer, NAB, Target, Telstra and Westpac.

Australia’s fastest-growing city, Melbourne, has again been recognised as the best city in the world to live, topping the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) 2014 Global Liveability Index for the fourth year in a row.

Victoria will host an unprecedented number of international sporting, arts, cultural and trade events between 9 January and 29 March 2015 as part of the 80 Days of Melbourne initiative. A business-hosting component of the initiative is designed to attract high profile, senior international business leaders to Melbourne to secure international investment and jobs for Victoria.

Leading global consulting, technology and professional services company, Capgemini, has opened its new Melbourne Global Delivery Centre and Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud services Lab. The French multinational operates in 44 countries around the world and offers a range of integrated services in the business sector.

Rohlig Australia will open a new branch office in the Melbourne western suburb of Truganina in mid 2015. The new Melbourne base for the international logistics company will be a modern 8,730sqm facility that includes space for a large warehouse and an open plan office.

US-based data visualisation software storage company, DataCore Software, has expanded its operations in Melbourne. The new marketing function located in Melbourne delivers demand-generation programs and better serves the DataCore Australia-New Zealand partnership.

La Trobe University in Melbourne will bring its world-class scientific expertise to the newly launched Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI).

Australia’s premier business organisation dedicated to promoting investment and trade with China will be the first bilateral business chamber to be part of the Victorian Coalition Government’s new International Chamber House (ICH). The Australia China Business Council (ACBC) will move its head office from Sydney to Melbourne to be part of ICH, which is set to open later this year in Melbourne’s city centre.

Melbourne’s dynamic environment for business has been reaffirmed by the Global Financial Centres Index 16 (report) which highlights Melbourne’s position amidst the Global Financial Centres. Melbourne is ranked sixth in the Asia-Pacific, with Sydney fifth - the top six centres all dropped in rating. Melbourne ranked 24th, which is one rating point difference between Melbourne and Sydney - an improvement of 11 points and a rank improvement of 13. Sydney, ranked 23rd, dropped eight rating points, but maintained its rank.

Australia’s largest biotechnology company, Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL), will invest A$210 million to expand albumin production at its Broadmeadows manufacturing site (25 minutes from Melbourne’s city centre) to meet increasing demand for its global ‘ablumin’ critical care therapy. The planned manufacturing facility for the Broadmeadows site is expected to create up to 200 jobs during construction, with a further 190 manufacturing jobs once the plant is operational.

Aegis Services Australia has announced it will expand its business processing outsourcing operations in Victoria, creating 550 new jobs over the next two years. Aegis is a global outsourcing and technology company. The expansion will mean a doubling of the company’s existing local workforce and a substantial investment in training and up-skilling of employees. The company’s announcement underscores Victoria's strong reputation as a destination for global investment and business services centre.

Australia’s manufacturing sector has been given a boost with the opening of Australia’s largest additive manufacturing hub and a new world-class research facility in Melbourne. The new 3D printing additive manufacturing plant produces parts and devices for the mining, defence, bio-medical, construction, aerospace and automotive industries, in a more cost-effective way than traditional methods.

The Fu Wah International Group will establish its Australian headquarters in Melbourne, bringing 20 jobs to Victoria. A high-end real-estate development and commercial property management group based in China, the company recently took ownership of the iconic Melbourne Park Hyatt Hotel and is exploring other investment opportunities in Victoria's property and hotel sector.

Hong Kong-based independent hotel company the Hind Group is to establish its new Australian headquarters in Melbourne, creating 10 new jobs. The Hind Group is one of Hong Kong's most successful independent hotel and serviced apartment operators. It owns and manages two hotel brands, Ovolo Hotels and Naumi Hotels and also runs two food and beverage businesses, Café O in Hong Kong and Rang Mahal in Singapore.

Underutilised rail yards on the edge of Melbourne’s city centre are set to be transformed into the newest inner-city suburb - E-Gate. The 20 hectare site is equivalent in size to five Melbourne City blocks and will be developed into a new integrated community providing residential, retail, commercial and community facilities.

Indian company Ray Business Technologies (Raybiztech) has chosen Melbourne as its Australian headquarters. The company plans to create 30 new highly skilled local Information and Communications Technology (ICT) jobs over the next two years. Headquartered in Hyderabad, India, with offices in the USA and UK, Raybiztech delivers cloud, mobility, big data and social media solutions to its enterprise clients around the world, in the sectors of finance, healthcare, manufacturing, media, leisure and utilities.

Global technology supplier Finmeccanica – Selex ES will establish its Australian Naval Communications headquarters in Melbourne, creating 80 manufacturing jobs by 2019. Finmeccanica - Selex ES works across the international defence, security, aerospace, naval and transport sectors.

The Victorian Government has secured the right for Melbourne to continue to host the Australian leg of the world’s largest digital games festival, the Penny Arcade Expo Australia (PAX Aus), for the next five years until 2019.

UK packaging company LINPAC has chosen Melbourne as its Australian headquarters. The A$22 million investment will create 72 manufacturing jobs at the new headquarters in the suburb of Truganina in Melbourne’s West, and allow the company to increase its food packaging manufacturing capacity. Operating in 37 countries around the world, LINPAC is a global leader in the production of primary fresh food packaging and food service solutions.

Global food company, the Kerry Group, has announced that it will establish its new centre for excellence for bakery products in Melbourne, creating 118 new jobs. The A$13.7 million investment by the company in the Western Melbourne suburb of Altona (18 km from the Melbourne city centre) will be used to purchase state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment, and increase their research and development capacity.

Japanese-based pharmaceutical company Eisai has announced it will open its Australian headquarters in Melbourne to provide a platform to market its portfolio of epilepsy and oncology products. The company ranks in the top 25 pharmaceutical companies in the world by revenue, and employs over 10,000 people worldwide.

Recent research lead by a Melbourne research institute has found that people who carry a particular type of gene have natural resistance against typhoid fever. The Nossal Institute of Global Health at the University of Melbourne conducted the study in collaboration with the Genome Institute of Singapore and Oxford University Clinical Research Unites in Vietnam and Nepal. The research, which is the first large-scale one of its kind, investigated the human natural gene responses to typhoid and associated infectious diseases.

Professor Sharon Lewin, the local co-chair of this year’s 20th International AIDS Conference, and internationally recognised HIV cure researcher, has been named Melburnian of the Year in an awards ceremony held on 15 November.

Melbourne will host world football superstars from Real Madrid, Manchester City and Inter Milan as part of the Australian leg of the third annual International Champions Cup in July 2015. The tournament, a friendly pre-season between the biggest teams in the world, will feature star players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Aguero, Gareth Bale, David Silva and James Rodriguez.

The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), in collaboration with NICTA (National ICT Australia) have announced the opening of a joint data analytics lab in Victoria. The lab will be based at RMIT University’s School of Computer Science & Information (CSIT) in Melbourne. NICTA is Australia’s largest ICT organisation, and its Machine Learning Research Group has been independently rated amongst the top five groups of its kind in the world. In a collaboration valued at over A$1 million, NICTA will combine its expertise with RMIT University’s CSIT, which is widely recognised as a leader in data and information management.

The International Particle Accelerator Conference (IPAC) will take place in May 2019, and will see approximately 1,000 delegates visit Melbourne to discuss, collaborate and present on the latest scientific achievements in particle acceleration. Melbourne’s winning bid was presented in Korea, and was a direct result of collaboration between the Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB) and the Australian Synchrotron, a particle acceleration research facility located in Melbourne.

AEREON, a global leader in combustion, vapour recovery and pollution-control technologies has announced the opening of a new 1250 square metre (13,000 square feet) operations facility in Melbourne. The large facility will create flares, thermal oxidizers and gas compression units that adhere to Australian code requirements in the oil and gas industries. Local fabrication of the materials will allow AEREON to better improve their customer experience and ensure consistency and quality in their product range.

Melbourne has been recognised as the top Major City in Human Capital and Lifestyle, according to the fDi Intelligence Global Cities of The Future 14/15 study. Cities in the study were categorised according to population and, as a Major City, Melbourne was awarded the top position in cities with populations less than 10 million. As winner of the Human Capital and Lifestyle category, Melbourne scored high results in categories such as; literacy rate, education expenditure, health, quality of life, percentage of population as labour force, number of students and numerous other indicators.

The Singapore based low-cost airline, Scoot, has announced that it will launch direct flights from Melbourne to Singapore in November 2015. Scoot is a low-cost subsidiary of Singapore Airlines that flies to a variety of locations in China and Australia. The airline was founded in 2011 and has embarked on a new strategy in providing low fares and quality customer service to travellers. Travellers will be flying with Scoot on the latest Boeing 787 Dreamliner; the world’s most advanced aircraft.

Hotel and accommodation booking app, HotelQuickly, has opened an office in Melbourne as part of its plans to expand its operations in the Australian market. The Hong-Kong headquartered company, which was launched in March 2013, has more than 600,000 users globally and offers last-minute discounted hotel and accommodation booking options for travellers.

Global pharmaceutical company Janssen-Cilag, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, has signed a three-year research collaboration agreement with Melbourne’s Monash University. The collaboration will focus on ground-breaking research at Monash University to develop potential new medicines to treat autoimmune diseases and disorders .

The global data centre and software giant, Equinix, has recently opened a new state-of-the-art data centre in Melbourne, as part of its expansion plans throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The centre, which is strategically located in Port Melbourne, about 2.5 kilometres from the Central Business District, will help to meet the growing regional demand for premium data centre services, and comes amidst strong growth in Australia and Victoria’s IT markets. Equinix has invested A$60 million in the centre, known as ME1, and early reports indicate an successful launch.

The Victorian Government has announced it will begin work on one of Australia’s largest infrastructure projects, the Melbourne Metro Rail Project. The new Melbourne Metro Rail line includes a nine-kilometre twin rail tunnel from Melbourne's south, under the CBD, through to the university and health precinct in the city's north. It will include five new and expanded underground stations.

Melbourne’s Monash University and Amearo Engineering have captured the attention of global aviation industry giants by creating the world’s first 3-D printed jet engine. The manufacturing breakthrough will lead to cheaper, lighter and more fuel efficient jets, and will result in advances in medical technology, according to engineers and researchers.

The global mobile payments company, Square, will open its Australian headquarters in Melbourne, which will be its fourth global base after the United States, Canada and Japan.