Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Let me say at the outset that I appreciate the consideration extended to me from the other side on the Pathways to technological innovation report of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Science and Innovation. I am under a time constraint, and I do appreciate being able to juggle the order a little. In the chamber, when the report was being introduced, I spoke about the need to develop an entrepreneurial culture in this country. Innovation, as I see it, is the development of ideas, certainly the transference of technology, through to the commercialisation of the process. Essentially, that is the basis upon which successful countries have been able to articulate their innovation into action and ultimately into the economy. It is a little late in the day to simply sit back and wait for a good idea to materialise, hopefully get a lucky break and crack the market.

One thing we found throughout our hearings was that, unfortunately, not all our best ideas made it to the marketplace. One reason why that has occurred is that it is not necessarily just scientific and engineering knowledge that supports a good idea into the marketplace; it is largely the development of the entrepreneurial skills to be able to support innovative content. We should not simply wait until people graduate from university to try and instil that culture. Quite frankly, that should be extended from schooling onwards. Therefore—as you would recall, Mr Deputy Speaker—one of the findings of this committee is that this should be engendered in our society very much from the earliest years, looking to develop innovative content but also with a view to looking at the skills necessary to make something happen; not just to dream something up but to make it happen.

Innovation is not entirely based on the ideas, as I say—it must be looked at in relation to its commercial possibilities and its impact on society, business and the economy—but basically it is the transition of good ideas into a commercial process. In its report, the committee looked at the issue of entrepreneurial skills. The committee effectively acknowledged the importance of entrepreneurial skills to innovation, the transfer of technology and the commercialisation process. Evidence to the committee indicates that there has to be a fundamental reform in our thinking in that regard. As I said, it must become very much a cultural shift. Quite frankly, it is stooped in our education system. Therefore, in the opinion of the committee, it requires a whole-of-government approach. Given that there is a very clear link between entrepreneurship and innovation, for this country to match the global efforts of our competitors or at least to maintain our productivity and economic wealth, we need to be out there promoting the development of a cultural shift, and a culture of entrepreneurship must be consistent with all that.

We found fostering a culture of entrepreneurship to be a critical step in improving this country’s pathways to innovation. It does not fall to any one group to do that, whether it involves innovative support mechanisms, education systems or business as a whole. Quite frankly, it is probably something that does require a whole-of-government approach in order to coordinate a policy link to assist in that regard. So formulating a program by which government can assist such a cultural shift and engender a more entrepreneurial culture requires the expertise of all those who assist in the development of our students, not only in schools but also in universities.

Throughout this inquiry much was made of the fact that we are simply not encouraging people into sciences or engineering, and that some of the people leaving school do not have the maths ability to be able to cope with those areas. But that comprises only one leg of this argument. Certainly, we do need to encourage our kids into sciences and into engineering, and schools play a significant role in preparing kids for those areas. But if that is all we are going to produce, and we fall short on the issues of commerce and business development skills, I am afraid we are still going to be exporting our most valuable resource—that is, ideas. We do not just need to be able to conceptualise our ideas; we need to be able to shift those ideas into the marketplace. The committee addresses this point in recommendation 5, where it says that a whole-of-government task force should be established to investigate a suite of appropriate policy program measures to foster a natural culture. I think it is important that we do see innovation as more than just hatching a good idea and that we look at the process that is involved.

On that theme, one of the things that the committee did notice is that there is certainly a lack of data available for us to be able to assess the level of business skills that we have. Despite the fact that our business skills and our entrepreneurial nature are critical to the development of commercial innovation, we found that there was very scant material available in terms of business and commerce graduates. That type of material does not appear in the Australian science and innovation system annual statistical snapshot put out by the Department of Education, Science and Training. The committee recommends that that be addressed. We think that the department should look very clearly at how we assess business and commerce graduates to make sure that we do have the requisite numbers. Without knowing that sort of data, we are not going to be totally successful in promoting this partnership that we would like to see eventuate between those in engineering and sciences, those who are going to conceptualise ideas, and those who are going to be out there with a view to commercialising those ideas for the benefit of business and of the Australian economy. In recommendation 4, the committee recommends that that data be captured and assessed by the department.

Innovation is about growth. It is certainly the basis upon which growth can occur not only in a business but also in the economy. Innovation is therefore more important as we attempt to compete as well as extend our position within our region and within our marketplace. Internationally, innovation policy has become the key element of industry policy and is, surprisingly, seen as the main factor driving productivity and in turn economic growth. The path to international innovation or competitiveness in this country, quite frankly, can only be through those innovation processes. This government has presided over about 49, I think it is, consecutive monthly trade deficits. (Time expired)

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