Question Adelaide’s sophistication, and they’ll argue that because this is the first city in Australia to be founded by free settlers rather than convicts, the culture is more open-minded and creative.

“The Paris and Rome of today are not necessarily the Paris or Rome of tomorrow,” said Mr. Hajdu, who moved to Adelaide in 2015 and is now a paid innovation consultant for the South Australian government. “It’s total world transformation.”

Mr. Hajdu says things like that a lot: sweeping techno-prophecies that he seems to be beta testing for a larger audience.

He told me that his first business, tomandandy, based in New York, had “changed the way music production for media worked.”

He also told me (repeatedly) that he’s friends with Laurie Anderson, the composer and artist; that he makes great wine at the coastal property he shares with his wife and dog; and (repeatedly) that he moved to Australia on a distinguished talent visa, the same visa, he said, given to Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

His smartphone has a cracked screen — and his official title is “chief innovator.”

Last year, South Australia’s Labor government gave him a three-year contract, paying him 300,000 Australian dollars a year (around $230,000) for innovation advice.