WILL WE EVER BE AN INNOVATION NATION? Since the period of economic restructuring in the late 1980s and early 1990s when Australia opened itself to the world with a dream of becoming globally competitive, what has happened? By Ben Kehoe W hen was the last time we had a gen- uine conversation about innovation, wealth and prosperity creation in Aus- tralia? We came close during those periods of concentrated microeconomic reform in the 1980s and early 1990s, with global competitive- ness the driving aspiration. Our failure to have the conversation since then was a key driver for my book Innovation in Australia: Creating pros- perity for future generations. A key message in the book is that our national culture is over- ly focused on lifestyle. We’ve become far too comfortable and complacent, reinforced by 29 years of continuous economic growth that end- ed with COVID-19. We are prosperous because
pears to be Australia’s pitch to the world, yet its 2020 chapter on Innovation and Skills is sadly symbolic of the commercialisation challenge facing Australian innovation. It outlines six in- novation credentials for our country: “The drive to create sustainable wealth will push us beyond comfortable reliance on our once-abundant natural resources.” • technological readiness • the CSIRO ranking in the top 1 per cent of the world’s scientific institutions • seven universities ranked in the top 100 in the world (the 3rd highest number of any na- tion) • about 44 per cent of our workforce having tertiary qualifications • about 50 per cent of Australian firms being “innovation active” • our 5th place Global Entrepreneurship Index ranking Entrepreneurship in Australia as a ‘movement’ is a positive sign, but it is a phenomenon of the last decade. According to the latest published figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics: • 44 per cent of Australian businesses are in- novation-active. • The wholesale trade (61 per cent) and man- ufacturing (59 per cent) industries had the highest proportion of innovation-active businesses. • 37 per cent of Australian businesses intro-
facts as we move into the future. Australia’s innovation credentials – 2020 The Why Australia – Benchmark Report ap-
of our natural resources – in fact, using a crite- rion like wealth per capita, we are among the richest countries in the world – but is it sustain- able? Australia needs to confront some brutal
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