Senator the Hon Helen Coonan
Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts
Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate
Innovation—the Black Box and beyond
Address to 2006 Australian Innovation Festival
Sydney
Friday 21 April 2006
Thank you James [O'Loghlin, ABC presenter]
I am delighted to be here today representing the Prime Minister.
For such a relatively small population Australians are an innovative lot.
We innovate out of necessity but also, I believe, because we relish the challenge. We see things that need fixing and improving and we question. We do this exceptionally well.
Innovation at the heart of economic growth
Innovation lies at the heart of real economic growth and welfare improvement. It enables us to meet new opportunities and challenges and to deal with adversity.
Innovation is about good ideas – but it is also about having the skills and the capabilities to turn these ideas into products and services that Australians and the world will want to buy.
Innovation is a complex process. It depends on a complex set of institutions, interactions and incentives that mobilise resources, and manage the market, financial and career risks involved.
Small companies play a key role both in stimulating innovation and in promoting economic and employment growth.
T he Australian Bureau of Statistics recently released results of a survey of innovation in Australian businesses .
According to the survey, 35 per cent of Australian businesses undertook innovation over the three years to 2001-03.
Pleasingly this puts us in good stead internationally- the total proportion of business innovating in Australia is equivalent to that of the European Union.
Australia also ranks highly in the Global Entrepreneurial monitor, ranking among the top ten of the 30 participating countries.
Innovation in ICT
Turning specifically to my portfolio – I have no doubt that you are all aware of the breakthroughs in ICT of the last few decades. These include distributed computing, mobile phones, email and the Internet.
What is really interesting is when this innovation in ICT delivers significant benefits in other sectors and fields of endeavour . Sport and film production are two other areas in my portfolio where ICT is having a huge impact.
Australia's extraordinary medal performance at the last Olympics and at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games was no accident.
The winning combination was long term commitment, talent, technology and innovation to produce those results.
As a partner in the Cooperative Research Centre for Microtechnology, the Australian Institute of Sport is developing and using electronic monitoring devices to gather and analyse information on athletes to improve training and performance in competition.
Other innovations allow the Australian Institute of Sport to utilise high performance computing and broadband to analyse a swimmer's stroke in real-time and then shoot the results back to the pool – so that a coach can make adjustments to the swimmer's style right there and then.
The Australian Government is also particularly proud of Australian companies' digital and visual effects production work for film – an industry with a large presence here in Sydney.
Several Australian companies are at the forefront of bringing the seemingly impossible visions of filmmakers to life on screen.
Australian companies such as Animal Logic have produced visual effects for movies such as the Matrix trilogy , Hero , The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire .
And this advancement is not confined to the screen - Australian innovation in digital content is being adapted for use in health.
FastSCAN, a face mapping technology originally used in the Lord of the Rings trilogy , is now used in Perth's Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital to construct immobilisation masks for patients undergoing radiation therapy. Good ideas often have many applications.
Productivity and ICT
Information and communications technologies are offering unprecedented opportunities for enhancing performance, for increasing productivity in industry and government and for fostering our culture and showcasing it to the world.
Australian innovative use and development of ICT has yielded big productivity gains, contributing at least 40 per cent of productivity growth.
There are many more of these technological changes in the pipeline.
We will shortly enjoy the benefits of a ubiquitous high-speed communications and computing capability, for example.
There are also the important emerging technologies such as biotechnology and nanotechnology to consider.
Biotechnology is an established Australian strength that we can all be proud of.
Australian companies are also commercialising Australian biotechnologies in very exciting ways.
For example, the company Mesoblast is undertaking ground-breaking work in the area of adult stem cell research. They also have the patent for treatments associated with bone repair, arthritis, spine and heart diseases.
The Australian Government's National Biotechnology Strategy provides a framework for the development of Australian biotechnology and we are seeing the results of a well thought out strategic approach.
Nanotechnology is a newer field but here too Australia is developing an international reputation.
Australia's research base is strong. We are globally competitive in particular areas with world leading technologies being developed for diagnostic devices, nanomaterials, quantum computing and energy storage.
T he Government is working to position the country to benefit from nanotechnology and is in the process of developing a National Nanotechnology Strategy.
A Forecasting study for my Department suggests that technology including ICT, nanotechnology and biotechnology will continue to be a major driver of productivity improvements over the next 20 years.
Government policy and programs
The Australian Government is committed to playing a leading role seeking to get the settings right to encourage innovation that will develop and sustain competitive advantage.
The Australian Government spends $5.5 billion annually on science and innovation.
The Government has also made an unprecedented long term commitment to Australia's innovation system through the $8.3 billion Backing Australia's Ability package.
A key initiative in information and communications technology was the establishment of NICTA.
With about $380 million of Australian Government funding over ten years, NICTA will provide Australia with a world class ICT research and research training institute.
This Australian Government funding is complemented by contributions from the New South Wales and other governments, universities and commercial partners.
This collaboration between governments, academia and the private sector will be a key factor in NICTA's inevitable success.
I am pleased to say that shortly the Australian Government will finalise the funding deed with NICTA for $250 million over the next five years– giving the organisation the certainty to move forward until 2011.
This significant and ongoing funding support has enabled NICTA to attract world-class researchers and commercial innovators such as its CEO, Dr David Skellern, who was recently reappointed for a further three years.
Dr Skellern has extensive research, education and commercialisation experience and is one of the founding fathers of high speed wireless broadband.
Under his guidance - NICTA is already producing results. These results have the potential to have a significant impact on Australia's economy in areas such as security, telecommunications, water management, traffic systems, life sciences, and health.
These results will be on show at NICTA's Techfest which is being held in Sydney in May and I encourage you all to visit this demonstration of Australian innovation.
There are also several complementary measures, including the $122 million ICT Incubator Program.
The incubators provide incubation services. This includes seed capital, business advice, and assistance with raising follow-on capital.
To date this program has raised an additional $211 million in private co-investment, assisted more than 380 companies who are generating $71 million in annual revenues and have delivered $42 million in export revenues.
With two years to run on this program – these are already significant outcomes.
While the Government can assist in priming the pump - the strength of Australia's innovation will depend on all of us.
Conclusion
Australians have always been innovative and the hallmark of our success is our drive, our enthusiasm and our ability to meet challenges head on.
We can all be very proud of our achievements as a nation and there is much to look forward to.
I have every confidence that Australian innovation will continue to provide the answers to some of life's most puzzling questions.
Thank you.