Streamlined immigration processes for scarce skills, a liberalised employee share ownership regime, investment in science, technology and maths education, and a $60 million co-funding programme for start-ups are among the key elements of Australia’s Industry Innovation and Competitiveness agenda which was released this month.

And not a moment too soon for Australia’s chief scientist, Professor Ian Chubb, who in September lambasted the Federal Government for leading; “The only OECD country without a science or technology strategy.”

One of the cornerstones of the Government’s innovation initiative is an industry growth centre plan which will receive $188.5 million of funding over four years. Five industry sectors have been identified for these centres: food and agribusiness; mining equipment, technology and services; oil, gas and energy resources; medical technologies and pharmaceuticals; and advanced manufacturing.

An industry growth centre will be established for each sector with the intent to encourage more collaboration and R&D across key sectors of the economy. The centres will be funded for four years, after which they will need to become self-reliant.

Organisations can apply through the relevant centre for grants to support co-funded research and development. A $60 million entrepreneurs’ infrastructure programme has also been announced to co-fund commercialisation opportunities.

On the education front the programme has pledged $7.4 million to implement new maths programmes in schools, $3.5 million to introduce more computer coding across the curriculum and $1.1 million spread across a P-Tech style trial (mirroring the US programme intended to encourage young people into technology careers) and science and maths summer schools.

The Government has also signalled that it will liberalise the 457 Visa programme by streamlining the approvals process and increasing the Visa approval period from 12 to 18 months for start-ups.

Finally the rules governing employee share ownership programmes (ESOPs) are to be reversed. A 2009 decision by the previous government saw employees of start-ups being taxed on options when they were issued rather than when they were exercised.

ESOPs are used widely by technology start-ups the world over to engender loyalty among knowledge workers by offering them a stake in the company at a time when cash is often in short supply. However by taxing the options at issue, the Government effectively denied that avenue of activity to start-ups.

It has now signalled that from July 2015 options will again be taxed at the time they are exercised – although that still means a long eight-month wait for the current crop of technology start-ups.