THE announcement yesterday that IBM would invest $10 million in its operations here and create some 300 additional jobs in the process is a fine example of a community working together.

IBM was the big-ticket business attracted by the University of Ballarat when it established its technology park more than 10 years ago.

Attracting such a prestigious business to the site in the first instance set the scene for others to follow.

Today, Technology Park at Mt Helen is home to more than 1300 employees working in large-scale enterprises and in fledgling businesses.

It truly is a Ballarat success story and one that continues to go from strength-to-strength.

Its proud boast is that it is the most successful technology park in the country. Its development over 10 years has helped build Ballarat's reputation as a tech-savvy city.

Statistics suggest our city employs more people in IT per head of population than any other regional Victorian city and we are the third largest IT employer in regional Australia.

This latest injection will see IBM Australia build an IT services centre to complement its existing facility.

The centre has come about as a result of a partnership between IBM, the University of Ballarat, the City of Ballarat and the State Government.

And all of them deserve credit for making this happen.

Premier John Brumby said yesterday the investment was a confidence booster for Ballarat. At a time when the economy is slowing down - not just here, but across the country - a shot in the arm such as this is welcome.

The new centre and the jobs it will create are expected to reap flow-on benefits of $61 million to the local economy.

That is certainly not to be scoffed at.

Ballarat is, indeed, lucky to have a tertiary institution with the vision and capacity that University of Ballarat has to make these things happen.