Innovation key to creating more competitive, productive Australian economy
Sydney -- Australia, 19 January 2012: Australia needs to strengthen industry support and engagement with its leading innovation programs to increase competitiveness and productivity, two reports, commissioned by GE, have found.
The first report by independent economics firm Milken Institute provides a global analysis of the environment by which innovation is supported in 22 countries. The second report conducted by market research firm Strategy One provides the GE Innovation Barometer, measuring business sentiment towards innovation.
The reports reveal that:
- According to the Milken Institute Innovation Report, Australia is ranked leading in five of the seven innovation indicators and above average in the remaining two
- Despite this, the GE Innovation Barometer survey of global business leaders shows that business sentiment towards Australia as an innovation leader is low - Australia was ranked 16th out of 25 countries
- Locally, the GE Innovation Barometer reveals that 31% of Australian respondents felt the innovation environment had not improved over the last five years, among the most negative response rates globally
"Both reports highlight the importance of innovation to strengthening the Australian economy, but they are poles apart in assessment of the local commitment to research and development," said Michael Ackland, Vice President of Strategy & Growth for GE in Australia and New Zealand.
The Milken Institute Innovation Report concluded: "Australian respondents to the GE Innovation Barometer survey were fairly negative regarding a number of areas where the nation actually performs quite well. Although Australia was spared a severe downturn, the global recession certainly played a role in these responses.... These perceptions do not completely match up with the improvement Australia has made to its innovation system".
Innovation is a transformation driver for national economies
The GE Innovation Barometer survey found that 86% of Australian business leaders agree that innovation is the main lever to create a more competitive economy; 85% felt innovation investment was the best way to create jobs, and 84% felt it was the best way to create a greener economy.
More than the global average, Australian business leaders believe innovation can successfully improve Australian lives in five key areas -- communications (96%), education (90%) health quality (89%), job market (89%) and the environment (87%).
Interestingly, Australian business leaders believe the top two economic sectors with the most innovation-driven growth potential are within Energy (21% compared to 16% globally) and Healthcare (17% compared to 13% globally).
"The challenge for Australia in the 21st century is competitiveness, and to achieve that we've got to drive productivity," said Ackland. "The research identifies industry, innovation, higher education, and research as key productivity drivers to focus our efforts around, with particular optimism locally about the energy and healthcare sectors," he said.
Collaboration the new innovation imperative
Australian business leaders overwhelmingly agreed (88%) that the key to innovation is partnerships between different organisations rather than stand-alone activity. Perhaps fuelled by this belief, four out of five respondents felt that the innovation playing field has levelled-out, enabling SMEs to compete more effectively with the innovation efforts of larger companies.
The Milken Institute Innovation Report ranks Australia as a leader in facilitating collaboration, pointing to the fact that two out of the seven innovation policy priorities set by the Australian Government are focussed on this goal. So far, Australia has invested $3.5bn to establish 44 Cooperative Research Centres nationally, however the GE Innovation Barometer found that 66% of Australian business leaders say government policy could be more efficiently organised.
Chief Executive Officer of CSIRO, Dr Megan Clark, said that more than ever, partnerships are crucial to innovation success in today's environment.
"Good ideas come from everywhere, and when you bring industry, science and education together you get not only great perspectives that lead to better innovation, but you also find like-minded organisations that are driven to bring good ideas to reality.
"Our strategic research alliance with GE is a great example of that," said Dr Clark.
More information: http://www.ge.com/au/innovation_barometer.html
Contact:
Joanne Woo
Communications Director
GE Australia & New Zealand
+61 409 330 731
[email protected]
Alec Stanwell
n2n Communications
(02) 9213 2305
[email protected]
Joanne Woo
Corporate Communications Director, Australia & New Zealand
[email protected]
+61 409 330 731