Published on the 16/03/2016 | Written by Beverley Head
The clock is ticking for Australian innovation with the nation’s peak ICT research body giving the nation just a three to five year innovation window…
Speaking at the Tech Leaders forum this week, Data 61 CEO Adrian Turner warned; “We are at a pivotal point as a country – if we don’t figure things out in three to five years we’re in a whole lot of pain.”
Turner said that there was a potential impact worth up to $20 trillion for Australian industries which became more data driven.
“We have a choice – figure how to evolve and build new platform businesses or plug into someone else’s spawned from somewhere else in the world.” He warned that the time to act was now as natural platform businesses are naturally monopolistic – the algorithms at the heart of platform businesses such as Uber or Airbnb got smarter and more effective the larger the organisation. As the platform gets bigger the barriers to entry of a new market increase, delivering a real first mover advantage.
The challenge for start-ups will be achieving scale.
The Government’s innovation strategy released late last year has received some criticism for a perceived bias toward start-ups.
The opposition has yet to announce its innovation and communication policy, but speaking at Tech Leaders, Shadow Minister for Communications Jason Clare acknowledged that; “The key here is not just how many great ideas – but how you scale them up. Tech start ups are incredibly scalable with the capacity to have customers in the billions.”
Turner also reinforced the importance of scale, and said that in the future Data61 would be more circumspect about when it floated off a start-up in order to ensure it was primed for growth.
Scalability requires connectivity of course and Clare was scathing of the calibre of the national broadband network being rolled out currently, which is a slower version of the network initially envisaged by Labor. However he declined to say how a Labor Government might tackle the issue if elected.
He did however highlight the progress of Emotiv, a start-up founded by Australian Tan Le, which has developed a head set that allows people to control devices using brainwaves. The company has since relocated to America however.
Gordon Gay, general manager of the mobile global development group for NEC, who spoke at the event, said that this emigration of ideas was in fact a sad outcome for Australia.
“Controlling devices using your mind – that’s a great innovation – but it’s now based in the US.” Gay said. “If we don’t own the IP in Australia the jobs won’t be here.”
The Government separately yesterday announced the composition of the board of Innovation and Science Australia, a statutory board which will advise the government on innovation and science policy and investment. Chaired by Bill Ferris, the board will comprise chief scientist, Dr Alan Finkel; Maile Carnegie, currently head of Google but about to move to ANZ bank; Atlassian CEO Scott Farquhar; venture capitalists Daniel Petre and Paul Bassat; ResMed director Dr Chris Roberts; and Dr Michele Allan, chancellor of Charles Sturt University.
The author attended Tech Leaders as a guest of Media Connect
