Australian executives agree successful innovation comes from global collaboration, according to the GE Innovation Barometer results released today.
Out of the 26 countries surveyed, the report revealed 82% of executives in Australia agree that innovation is increasingly becoming a global game. The results outlined that merging and combining talents, ideas, insights, and resources across the world is the only way to be successfully innovative -- a view which is in line with executives' globally.
Australian executives are increasingly recognising the value of collaboration with 63% of executives reporting that the revenue generated by collaborative innovation activities has been growing over the last year, increasing by eight points from 2013 (55%).
Regarding collaboration, Australian executives are slightly below the global average in saying that despite the risks associated, collaboration is a risk worth taking if you want to successfully innovate (72% compared to 77% global average); displaying a high agreement rate nonetheless.
Suzana Ristevski, Head of Strategy and Growth, GE Australia and New Zealand said, "Australia's business capability would benefit greatly from adopting disruptive behaviour to drive innovation. It is encouraging that local executives have growing confidence in collaborating in new ways to gain a competitive advantage"
"Executives in Australia are very aware of the need to be ahead of the innovation curve and the best ways to attract skilled employees and build their global networks. Interestingly, Australian executives are ready to embrace a new world of working, particularly with big data and global collaboration, but they don't quite know how to activate programs to do so yet," Ristevski said.
The report, conducted by an independent consulting and research firm, also revealed that almost half of Australian executives surveyed perceive smaller businesses such as SMEs and start-ups as driving innovation in Australia.
The The barometer also provides clear differences in the global and local outlook to innovation, recognising;
- Executives in Australia perceive innovation as a positive force with 86% agreeing that people in their country live better today than 10 years ago because of the impact of innovation --this is 6 points higher than the global average (80%)
- Two fifths of Australian executives (42%) perceive smaller businesses such as SMEs and start-ups as driving innovation in Australia.
- There has been an increase in government support for innovation, with 30% of Australian executives agreeing that government support for innovation is efficiently organised (+7 points compared to 2013),
- However government support for innovation is perceived to be below the global average (40%). 67% of executives also highlighted insufficient support to SMEs -- compared with the global average (61%).