Innovatia

For many jurisdictions, it is an opportunity to reshape their economies for the 21st century, with innovation at the core. Many jurisdictions have been acting on the task of economic renewal for a long time. Sadly, many more have continued to rely on economies grounded in the past. The attitude of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is all too common. Such inac- tion has led to anaemic economic growth, inef- ficiency and stagnant wages. If continued, it will widen the gulf between the hand-sitting juris- dictions that are struggling to attract and retain talent to build their knowledge economies, and those jurisdictions that moved quickly to foster innovation and are now benefiting from a virtu- ous cycle of creativity, investment and growth. There are many jurisdictions around the world known for their success in innovation. In 2019, the World Economic Forum listed the global meg- acities of New York, Tokyo and London among them. Elsewhere, places such as Singapore, Tel Aviv and Los Angeles have been outperforming their global peers for some time. But success in innovation is not just about adding up the num- ber of “unicorn” companies (startups valued at over US$1 billion), nor is it a matter of measur- ing overall economic growth. There are plenty of jurisdictions benefiting from strong growth today in sectors that simply won’t exist tomorrow. Success in innovation is about looking at how businesses across all sectors of an economy are performing against their global peers. It’s about encouraging people to think differently and take risks. And, importantly, it’s about creating a place where people want to live, work, raise a family and build a life, ensuring a cycle of growth and reinvestment as those who succeed invest their time, expertise and capital into new ventures.

Thinking differently is what creates new ideas and new businesses. Being competitive in a global environment is what keeps companies strong. And being a place where people want to live, work and raise a family ensures a cycle of growth and reinvestment as those who suc- ceed invest their time, expertise and capital into new ventures. “Historically, creativity, investment and growth have come to jurisdictions that moved quickly to foster innovation.” In the Australian Capital Territory, the question of how to do these things simultaneously has been at the heart of the government’s thinking for more than a decade. With a population of nearly 430,000 and gross state product of around $42 billion, Canberra is a small city by global standards, but when it comes to innovation, we regularly outperform our peers on a per-capita basis across a number of important metrics. Canberra had 1.9 patents registered per 10,000 people in 2018, compared to the Australian aver- age of 1.1 and the next most prolific state or ter- ritory, New South Wales, at 1.4. In 2018-19, we also had the largest service-exports sector rela- tive to population with around $54 million worth of exports per 10,000 people – more than 40 per cent higher than the national average. Numerous factors have been central to this success: • maintaining a focus on attracting the best and brightest minds;

CANBERRA – AUSTRALIA’S INNOVATION CAPITAL Only by positioning innovation at the heart of economies can it be achieved in a meaningful, widespread way. Canberra, with its wealth of institutions and performance belying its size, is a strong example of how this can be done. By Andrew James Barr

P ost-COVID-19, smart, forward-looking jurisdictions are taking the time to reflect on what the future of the global economy looks like and how they can rebuild to be in the

best position for success. Though devastating in scale for both humanity and the economy, COVID-19 created an opportunity for economic renewal not seen since the end of World War II.

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INNOVATIA

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INNOVATIA

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