Senator the Hon Helen Coonan
Minister for Communications,
Information Technology
and the Arts
New Priorities in ICT
Opening of future parc—CeBIT Australia
Sydney
Wednesday 25 May 2005
Thank you Jackie [ Taranto, Managing Director Hannover Fairs Australia].
Good morning everyone, it is great to be a part of this event.
In three very successful years CeBIT Australia has established itself as the leading ICT trade show in Australasia.
One of the main selling points of CeBIT Australia is its ability to attract the highest level of government and industry representation.
Here at future parc the focus is on our prosperous R&D industry. This is where business meets research and new technologies.
It is the perfect platform to share knowledge and exchange ideas among leading business and research professionals.
It is also the perfect platform for me to raise some important issues for the ICT sector in Australia.
Setting Priorities for ICT
As leaders in your field you have significant influence, and I am asking you to use that pulling power to paint on a bigger canvas.
I am keen to engage the industry on the basis of dealing with major national issues rather than taking a sector-specific focus on ICT industry development. This will be of mutual benefit as the solutions to these issues will involve significant opportunities for the ICT sector.
I am keen to look at ways to promote a more strategic and considered approach to the use of ICT across Government, industry and society. And I think it is timely to ask the ICT community and industry to think about how it might improve its strategic engagement with Government across a range of issues.
Today I am announcing the formation of an ICT Advisory Board - a small advisory group to provide broad advice to me starting with the ICT Priority Setting Exercise.
The group covers a broad section of the ICT community, with a focus on commercialisation and research to identify areas where Australia is conducting world leading research and how these areas could be maximised for greatest commercial advantage.
The group has a good mix of research and commercialisation experience. The members were selected for their individual expertise and come from innovative SMEs, multinational and public sector R&D centres, the investment community and even large business users of ICT to cover the broad spectrum of the ICT sector in Australia.
This group must also be viewed in the appropriate context – it is an additional source of advice but I will ensure that during the priority setting process and on other matters that broader stakeholder views are canvassed.
This inclusive process will involve the relevant industry associations and representative bodies such as the AIIA, the ACS and AEEMA who consistently and effectively advocate on the industry’s behalf with Government.
The Priority setting exercise is the start of a process of broader engagement with the ICT sector – to ensure that our efforts in supporting the industry are focussed on areas of competitive advantage or in dealing with broader national and economic challenges.
These will be consistent with the National Research Priorities – drawing on Australia’s competitive advantages and giving us the kind of information and shared understanding we need to keep advancing as a nation.
I am very enthusiastic about this exercise and the contribution it will make to not only developing the industry but harnessing the capacity of ICT to address the key challenges we have as a nation.
It will be a process of ensuring that ICT is at the table on broader economic debates.
Call to Industry
On this matter, we all recognise that developments in ICT over recent decades have changed the way we work, live and play.
We all share a strong interest in the rapid diffusion of ICT to deal with our problems. We also share a strong interest in the successful exploitation of ICT to develop new products and services.
The Australian Government has clearly stated that there are some significant challenges for our nation and our economy in moving forward.
Encouraging more Australians back into the workforce and keeping our ageing population in work for longer, improving the delivery of Government services, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare, national security, better managing our water usage, and improving our export performance have been clearly flagged as priority national challenges for the Government.
If our ICT community is serious about making a difference, then it needs to put forward some strategic thinking about how ICT can contribute to solving these national challenges.
And the most important thing to remember is that these issues are not unique to Australia.
If we as a nation can go someway to finding solutions to some of these issues and if the local ICT community and industry is heavily involved then Australia will be in a position to engage a worldwide audience.
Opportunities in Health
As a demonstration of these opportunities – the ability of ICT to improve the delivery of healthcare and drive efficiencies through the health sector has been identified by all levels of Government in Australia.
The Australian Government has already flagged that e-Health is a priority area and as we investigate ways of reforming and improving the delivery of healthcare in Australia – ICT will be integral to this strategy.
To give you an indication of the emerging opportunity for the sector in Health – expenditure on ICT in health is estimated at between $1.6 billion and $2 billion per annum.
While this is a significant amount of money – it is still only 2-2.5% of total health expenditure in Australia. Given that the World Bank found our total expenditure on ICT across the economy was about 10.7% of GDP in 2003 – it would be fair to say that ICT is underutilised in the health sector.
This is also an example of an area of significant and increasing Government expenditure, it is an issue that has both political, social and economic importance and there is no reason why the ICT industry can’t help drive the agenda.
Finally if our ICT industry plays a key role in addressing some of the issues faced by our economy from an ageing population and rising healthcare costs – then the potential export market could be enormous.
These are issues faced by all developed nations.
I am keen to play my part in addressing these problems and the priority setting exercise I am launching today will help us all to focus our efforts on areas of opportunity and commercial advantage.
This process is not simply a matter of addressing whether Australia should a producer of ICT or just a good user of technology, because I believe we can be world leaders in both areas.
This will only occur when the industry itself realises it needs to contribute to the broader economic debate.
According to a recent report prepared by the NSW State Chamber of Commerce and Unisys, Getting a Grip on IT, the inability of the industry to appropriately explain the cost-effectiveness and benefits of IT are barriers stopping business from adopting new information technology. And this is no different for Government.
What this suggests is that the users have to be front of mind for our ICT producers and clearly need to be better involved in the policy debate.
While all of us here today understand the importance of ICT to economic development – this needs to be articulated more broadly and as the Minister responsible for ICT I am looking to assist you in doing this.
Productivity Growth
Economic researchers agree that ICT is making a significant contribution to productivity growth.
A report by the former National Office for the Information Economy found that technology, including ICT, had contributed up to 85 per cent of productivity growth in the manufacturing sector over the last two decades.
New work by my Department has also shown that technology has contributed up to 75 per cent of the services sector’s productivity growth over the same period.
All of this supports the proposition that diffusion of ICT across the economy should be an important focus of policy and direction setting as we look for ways to continue our strong economic performance.
I recently released a report called Achieving Value from ICT: key management strategies, which found that no matter what the size or the sector, organisations gain the greatest return if they combine their ICT investments with good management practices.
All users of ICT, be they Government or business have to ensure they take a strategic approach to investing in new technology.
This also has consequences for policy development.
The issues are no longer “who buys ICT and on what terms” or “which areas should the Government be supporting”.
They are more likely to be issues such as “what are the challenges, opportunities or imperatives for innovation in transport, health, agriculture, education or security and what is ICT’s role in facilitating this innovation?”
Or, “given the likely shift in focus from carriage to content on future communications networks, what are the really useful applications for Australia and users globally”.
The focus should be on what we can do with ICT tools, not just a narrow concern with who makes them.
Innovation is not simply measured by the arrival on the market of a new application or a new product. It occurs when those applications or products are put to meaningful use by a community.
ICT is essential infrastructure. The convergence between telecommunications and the Internet also means that new perspectives are required on issues such as security and infrastructure protection.
My Department is addressing these issues through bodies such as the IT Security Expert Advisory Group. But greater involvement of the ICT sector, including appropriate responsibility for the products and services it provides, may be a useful area for further work.
There are opportunities in shaping the global framework where Australian ICT players – both firms and individuals – could demonstrate some leadership.
These include standards setting bodies such as the ITU and IETF; policy bodies such as the OECD and organisations such as APEC, which do great work in capacity building and policy development in our own region.
Already through these and other forums, Australia is leading the international debate on how to stop spam, but there will be many other opportunities to drive the global agenda.
If Australia is to be at the leading edge of these changes and remain internationally competitive then the Government and industry needs to work together.
Focus on Innovation
The Australian Government is playing its part and delivering on key areas needed for sustained growth, like a strong economy, a stable political environment and taxation reform.
In ICT specifically, we’ve made an unprecedented commitment to creating a climate that fosters innovation - developing skills, generating new ideas and turning them into commercial success.
As a result Australian businesses are selling Australian technology to the world.
For example: Cochlear is the world’s pre-eminent producer of hearing aids for the profoundly deaf; Resmed’s sleeping mask is a world leader; and more than 60 per cent of the world’s mining companies use Australian software.
These achievements have been built on Australian innovations, research and skills, and investment in ICT R&D has been important to this outcome.
Total business R&D has increased from $4.3 billion in 1995-96 to $5.9 billion in 2002-03. And business investment in ICT R&D has risen from $1.3 billion in 1995-96 to $2.1 billion in 2002-03.
The Australian Government has made a long term commitment to investment in innovation through the $8.3 billion in Backing Australia’s Ability funding until 2010-11.
This investment is in addition to our ongoing support. In 2004-05 alone, the Australian Government committed $5.34 billion to support science and innovation.
We are also delivering on a range of initiatives to stimulate innovation in the ICT sector.
This includes contributing $380 million to establish our ICT Centre of Excellence, NICTA, which is the ICT cornerstone of our innovation action plan.
This is substantially adding to Australia’s ICT capability, helping to build critical mass in Australia’s ICT research effort and build Australia’s international profile as a strong performer of ICT research and research training.
As a medium-sized economy, Australian inventiveness needs to focus on where it can generate long term competitive advantage and meet the nation’s challenges.
In 2002, the Government released National Research Priorities to target public research in areas where Australia already has, or has the potential to build, competitive advantage. ICT is an essential component of them all.
By focusing these strategic resources, we can enhance the quality of research and align the research effort with the nation’s challenges and our social and economic goals.
To assist in meeting this aim NICTA is working with the CSIRO, DSTO and the CRCs through the ICT Roundtable process to increase the focus and critical mass of ICT research through collaborative endeavours.
While I am aware of how challenging this process must be – the benefits are enormous and I am very supportive of this work.
These three organisations are now looking at ways to enhance our understanding of how humans and machines interact.
They are also investigating fundamental ways in which ICT is changing organisational structures in critical national areas such as defence, as well as the way key services are delivered in both the commercial world and the public sector.
I know that the Research Roundtable is seeking to engage industry in its project and I would encourage the industry to get involved.
I also hope we will be able to build on the Roundtable work with the broader ICT Priority setting initiative.
Conclusion
I am also very enthusiastic about this year’s future parc and the promises it holds.
It is been two years since future parc first made its successful debut, and I know it is highly regarded by both exhibitors and visitors.
This is the place for leading scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs, business people and investors to meet, form partnerships and do business.
So I encourage you all to do just that. And I ask that you keep the bigger picture in mind. Together, we can focus our efforts on areas of commercial advantage while also addressing national challenges.
That is the way to really showcase Australia as a world leader in ICT innovation.
Thank you.