Published on the 09/03/2022 | Written by Heather Wright

From digital health to commercialisation… 

A re-engineered My Health Record, the establishment of a national AI Commercialisation Hub and a Digital Restart Fund and education reform are among the recommendations put forward by the AIIA as it calls for a stronger focus on Australian innovation and emerging technologies in the Federal Budget 2022. 

The recommendations are among 24 included in the Australian Information Industry Association’s Federal Government Pre-Budget and Pre-Election Policy Submission 2022, with the AIIA noting that while the 2021 budget included strong investment in ICT – including AU$124 million in AI funding – the majority of that funding has yet to be spent, with the government ‘failing to quickly transition to execution within the sector’.

The Federal Government invests around $8 billion in ICT and Gartner has forecast for $111 billion to be invested in digital technologies in Australia this year. 

“This is the time for the government to act and support the sector through significant policy initiatives.”

“Government needs to lead and invest in the right strategic capabilities to ensure our economy remains competitive into the next decade,” the report says. 

The 24 recommendations are a wish list focused on digital government, emerging technology such as Quantum and AI, skills, domestic capability, commercialisation and digital health, designed to help foster Australia’s goals of being a leading digital economy by 2030 and one of the top three global digital governments by 2025. 

The country is currently ranked 25th on the Global Innovation Index (down from 23 in 2020) despite being the 13th largest economy globally. New Zealand, meanwhile, was holding steady at 26th.

With that in mind, the AIIA says there is still a significant amount of work to be done to harness Australian economic possibilities and meet those goals.

Ron Gauci, AIIA CEO, says the growth in ICT is ‘unlimited’.

“It delivers jobs, economic growth, global competitiveness and it protects Australia’s core industries. Our geographic location is no restriction on our growth potential. Australia has the opportunity to be a globally leading digital economy, but this is the time for the government to act and support the sector through significant policy initiatives,” he says.

“Our industry is full of organisations with the appetite and commercial experience to respond if it can see tangible support from Government.”

Among the recommendations laid out is a push for greater work to assist with commercialisation , including introducing a collaboration tax incentive to encourage business-research institute collaborations and a software development tax incentive or grant to support the development of software which doesn’t qualify for the R&DTI but has potential to create innovative products and services. An extension of the proposed patent box regime to other sectors is also recommended, along with ‘urgent work’ to support globally viable commercialisation off the back of government-assisted research. 

On the domestic front the establishment of a Made in Australia office within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet is called for to support critical industries and growth of emerging critical technologies. Also on the domestic front is the suggestion of a Digital Restart Fund for procuring innovative, but unproven, Australian solutions to promote startup, scale-up and SME involvement with government innovation.

The report also suggests better leveraging ASX 200 reporting to track companies’ domestic ICT spend, procurement and supply chain integration in a similar way to the mandatory Modern Slavery reporting. 

The development of a Quantum strategy, including funding, within 12 months, the establishment of a National AI Commercialisation Hub and an Office of the National Digital Twin to drive digital twin capability development and application is also recommended.

Simon Bush, AIIA general manager of public policy, says advancing key areas of the digital economy, such as quantum, digital engineering, industry incentives and cybersecurity is critical.

“Australia must prioritise these innovative technologies in our critical industries to ensure we are globally competitive. For example, Quantum computing offers strong opportunities for Australia to lead, but there is still no national strategy,” he says.

Recommendations around skills, including reform of the Australian Curriculum to prioritise the digital economy and Industry 5.0 capabilities for primary and secondary school students, are also to the fore in an effort to address the 60,000 strong annual ICT labour gap. 

Skills and training accreditation, especially microcredential courses for rapid upskilling is also among the recommendations. 

The re-engineering of My Health Record is to enable the system to become ‘a true digital health record, with its own portal, a database of discrete data and software algorithms to analyse data, identify health risks and provide alerts to prompt immediate action’.

It joins a call to prioritise digital delivery models as key digital health initiatives AIIA is pushing. 

Many of the recommendations are drawn from previous policy white papers produced by the AIIA and its members over the past 18 months, and the organisation notes that some recommendations, such as the appointment of a Digital Economy Minister and investment in an AI The AIIA has reportedly however, been less than impressed about a lack of action in the AI Action Plan, saying last month that the slow pace meant funding won’t reach businesses until very late this financial year – more than a year after the plan was announced.