It could be 25-year-olds that will take 181-year-old Ballarat forward, if there's the right conditions.
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According to a celebrated demographer and futurist, it's people in their mid-20s who are completing study and moving into the workforce who should be encouraged to help grow the city.
Bernard Salt, who studies demographic changes and provides independent analysis to governments, is in town on Tuesday for the Digital Innovation Festival, a statewide event promoting new ideas.
He said data shows Ballarat has an unusually high influx of people in their mid-20s, and the city needs to harness their potential - they're "good investments".
"They're young, fit, healthy, good consumers, they start families, join footy and netball clubs - it's a good proposition," he said.
"The reason they come here, of course, is the universities, which attracts people, and gives Ballarat a youth, an energy, dynamism, and potential.
"It's a point of difference with other regional cities in Australia, and the question is how do we retain more of that youth and energy?"
The answer, he said, is a culture of entrepreneurialism - that is, encourage these young people to take risks, and celebrate the ones who succeed.
"If you're 23, or 24, with no mortgage, no kids, why not have a shot?" he said.
"Showcase a 28 year-old (entrepreneur) so a 23-year-old can say I want to have a crack at that."
Ballarat already had several of the ingredients necessary - for example, co-working spaces and a start-up hub, a critical mass of businesses and consumers, and proximity to higher education and bigger cities, all of which could keep new ideas, and young people, in Ballarat.
He added the cafe culture, and "smashed avocadoes on Sturt Street", also helped.
"It's pretty much got all the bits and pieces, it's a matter of linking them and really focusing the community on the future, getting them to buy into the idea that you can shape the future, because otherwise, it just happens, and it can shape you," Mr Salt said.
"That's what I'm trying to do, just get the idea that that's a better proposition.
"Aim towards independence, and economic and cultural sovereignty as opposed to becoming an extended dormitory suburb for Melbourne.
"Regional Australians have seen opportunities leak to the capital cities - there must be a way we can cultivate a stronger economy that will hold people back."
Presented by Startup Ballarat and the City of Ballarat, Mr Salt's presentation is at Civic Hall on Tuesday at 6pm.
Tickets are available online.
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