As city leaders gathered for a three-day forum with Indian delegates this week, Geelong’s growing Indian community is asking what comes next for them.
This week, Geelong hosted one of its most significant international events in years. The Geelong–India Collaborative Futures Forum brought together business leaders, educators, and government officials from Australia and India for three days of talks focused on trade, investment, advanced manufacturing, and education.
The forum, hosted by the City of Greater Geelong in partnership with the Australia India Business Council, is part of the city’s International Engagement Strategy. It follows a Memorandum of Understanding signed last August to strengthen cultural and commercial ties between Geelong and India.
The numbers tell part of the story. According to the 2021 Census, 5,097 Geelong residents were born in India — more than double the figure recorded just five years earlier. India is now one of the city’s fastest-growing communities, and that growth is only expected to continue.
“Families, businesses and investors are increasingly looking beyond capital cities — and Geelong has a lot to offer.”
For many of those families, the forum raises practical questions: Will stronger trade ties create local jobs in industries like advanced manufacturing and agribusiness? Will the education partnerships between Geelong institutions and India create new pathways for students and skilled workers? Will cultural investment follow commercial investment?
Keynote speakers at the forum included AI entrepreneur Aamir Qutub — a Geelong local who built a million-dollar tech company — alongside education leaders, chefs, and community founders. The presence of local voices alongside international delegates signals that Geelong is not just looking outward, but inward too.
What to watchThe forum’s outcomes include a strategic roundtable designed to map next steps for the Geelong–India relationship. Community organisations with interest in cultural programming, employment, or education partnerships should follow up with the City of Greater Geelong’s International Engagement team.
For Geelong’s multicultural communities — Indian, African, Karen, and others — forums like this one matter most when their outcomes reach the street level: jobs, services, cultural recognition, and a seat at the table. Emerge will be watching what comes next.
