{"id":41678,"date":"2023-10-20T15:15:43","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:15:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/will-the-governments-statement-deliver-australia-a-world-class-national-innovation-system-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:15:43","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:15:43","slug":"will-the-governments-statement-deliver-australia-a-world-class-national-innovation-system-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/will-the-governments-statement-deliver-australia-a-world-class-national-innovation-system-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Will the government’s statement deliver Australia a world class National Innovation System? – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Prime Minister\u2019s announcement on Monday 7 December of a National Innovation and Science Agenda is a welcome development.<\/p>\n
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However, the challenge will be for the government to turnaround our National Innovation System (NIS) which has been steadily in decline for some time.<\/p>\n
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As outlined in the Prime Minister\u2019s statement, Australia has many world class businesses, universities and research organisations. However, Australia ranks at the bottom of the OECD group of advanced nations in relation to university-industry collaboration.<\/p>\n
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We also lag in terms of our spending on R&D. For example, Australia spends around 2.13% of GDP on R&D compared to the OECD average of 2.63%. As a benchmark South Korea spends 4.15% of GDP on R&D.<\/p>\n
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In the Prime Minister\u2019s statement it was noted that enrolments in the fields of science, maths and computing at Australian high schools is declining. To this it can be added that Australia has an average of 8.6 R&D personnel per 1,000 people employed. This compares to Singapore with 10.7 people, Denmark with 14.9 people and Finland with 15.7 people.<\/p>\n
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These \u201cinputs\u201d to our NIS result in \u201coutputs\u201d such as patents, high-tech exports and the generation of royalties and licence fees for Australian originated intellectual property (IP). Here we also lag the world\u2019s leaders. The most significant performance gaps exist in the areas of triadic patent families (e.g. patents lodged in the US, EU and Japanese patents offices), venture capital deals, high & mid-tech output, fee receipts from IP rights, high-tech exports and R&D by businesses.<\/p>\n
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The innovation statement is a wide-ranging and ambitious agenda focused on four key areas.<\/p>\n
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The first \u2013 labelled \u201cTaking the Leap\u201d \u2013 is aimed at generating more high-impact start-ups and fast-growing \u201cGazelle\u201d firms. It addresses at least 10 areas that relate mostly to changes to taxation and company regulation. These initiatives are designed to assist entrepreneurial firms to access venture capital and address commercial risk.<\/p>\n
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The second \u2013 \u201cWorking Together\u201d \u2013 seeks to increase the level of collaboration between the nation\u2019s universities and other publicly funded research centres, and industry. It targets 9 areas primarily relating to research funding and performance measurements for universities. However, it also contains initiatives to help foster innovation in agribusiness and regional Australia. There are additional programs to build capacity in computing technology and cyber security, as well as strengthening linkages with international centres of innovation.<\/p>\n
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The third \u2013 \u201cBest and brightest\u201d \u2013 targets education and immigration programs in an attempt to increase the number of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) workers in Australia. This aims to increase the level of information communications technology (ICT) activity within the school curriculum. It also hopes to encourage more women to take up ICT courses and careers. There will also be a new class of visa designed to attract people with STEM and ICT qualifications.<\/p>\n
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Finally, there is \u201cLeading by example\u201d, that aims to enhance the NIS through investments in e-Government programs and adjustments to government procurement policies.<\/p>\n
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Arresting the steady decline in Australia\u2019s NIS is an important and long overdue government initiative. However, as Professor Mark Dodgson recently outlined in \u201cThe Conversation\u201d the $1.1 billion earmarked for this innovation initiative does little more than \u201cget us back to square one\u201d. The funding provided to this important program is modest compared to what is needed. He quite rightly observes that:<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe Innovation Agenda\u2019s position on insolvency laws and tax investments in startups will begin to help, but unless large firms, particularly overseas multinationals, seriously and consistently invest in innovation here, a key piece of the puzzle is missing.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is important. On 18 November I was invited to attend the Business Council of Australia\u2019s round table discussion on how to enhance industry-research collaboration. Much was said about the need for universities to become more closely engaged with industry.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There was also a strong call for STEM students to work within business prior to their graduation and be encouraged to start-up their own innovative ventures.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The creation of strategies to address the needs of start-ups, small firms seeking growth, and how to move from R&D to commercialisation were all highlighted.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n However, there was also a recognition that many large firms, particularly foreign owned multinationals, do very little fundamental R&D in Australia. The pipeline for STEM graduates into industry and the willingness of many large firms to serve a \u201cKeystone\u201d role in local business ecosystems is currently missing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The innovation statement places a lot of attention on startup ventures as a cure for our ailing NIS. However, while start-up activity is important it is only a small part of the overall innovation architecture in Australia.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In terms of startup activity Australia actually performs very well at the international level. According to the World Bank\u2019s annual Doing Business survey, in 2016 Australia was ranked 11th out of 189 nations in terms of the ease of starting up a new business. This is a decline over the 2015 period when we ranked 10th, but it is still well above the OECD average for advanced economies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nIs there too much hope placed on startups?<\/h3>\n