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What is an effective Knowledge Nation?What will the Knowledge Nation look like?The Knowledge Nation will be a fairer nationRecommendations:
What Is To Be Done?The preceding sections have detailed how Australia is falling behind the world’s leading wealth creators because it is not yet a high performing Knowledge Nation. They have shown that in the face of a changing world economy where knowledge is paramount, Australia is facing a national crisis. This section argues that the only way forward for Australia is to become a courageous and effective Knowledge Nation in which every one participates and shares the benefits.
What is an effective Knowledge Nation?At its heart, the Knowledge Nation is about a national mind shift to a culture in which the national priority is to invest in the minds of all its people so they can deliver the new industries, transform existing industries, and take us down yet unimagined paths of discovery to provide a better life for current and future generations. The Knowledge Nation is not just for scientists and people working in ‘emerging’ industries. It will improve opportunities and security for all Australians, whatever their age or level of education, by strengthening traditional industries, creating new jobs, and helping people re-train and re-skill. The Knowledge Nation will be a fairer nation.
What will the Knowledge Nation look like?1. A Government that creates and promotes effective linkages between research organisations — such as CSIRO, the universities, Cooperative Research Centres and Federal and State Government agencies — to ensure an adequate national database, and inventory of skills, resources and the environment (cadastre). The purpose is to enable effective coordination of national and regional efforts to tackle major problems that threaten the nation’s viability, especially in regional and remote areas. Examples of such problems include desertification, soil salinity and acidification, pollution of rivers and erosion. 2. A government that works imaginatively and creatively as a catalyst, encourager, information provider, infrastructure supplier, major customer, and example of world’s best practice. 3. A national strategy of ensuring investment in those key areas where it can establish a leading global position. 4. A twenty-first century education system that:
5. An economic system based increasingly on innovation and the creation and commercialisation of ideas, and that reverses the serious imbalance in trade in high value added goods and services. This means:
6. Core economic and social objectives of leading-edge telecommunications, transport and research infrastructure in our cities and regions, and regional development. 7. Policies that regard saving the environment as an opportunity, and promote sustainability. The application of knowledge to simultaneously promote energy efficiency and higher living standards and create more jobs. 8. A transformed national culture that emphasises knowledge, excellence and innovation, and aims for this to be reflected in its international reputation. Like Ireland, Finland and Israel, our international ‘image’ must be transformed by creating an inventory of internationally recognised goods and services. 9. The use of knowledge resources to promote the public good, encourage access and equity, provide resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and overcome social, class, regional, ethnic and gender barriers. 10. The creation of a more challenging and creative environment to help reverse the ‘brain drain’ and assist us in importing the skills we need. 11. The strengthening of great national institutions such as the ABC, CSIRO, galleries, museums, libraries, the Australia Council, the Australian Heritage Commission, Telstra, Australia Post and the Bureau of Meteorology.
The Knowledge Nation will be a fairer nationThe Knowledge Nation is going to be the new source of power relations in the future. It is fundamentally blind to gender, race and other forms of difference. Far from being elitist, the Knowledge Nation is a force for inclusion, breaking down distance and differences, ensuring the benefits are enjoyed by women, Indigenous Australians, people from non-English speaking backgrounds, people with disabilities, in short, by all of those who too often have been excluded by the inequitable distribution of power and access in the past. Nobody should be excluded from the Knowledge Nation, and it is a specific duty of government to ensure that nobody is left out and that nobody is left behind.
Government leadership and commitmentBecoming an effective Knowledge Nation requires aggressive and sustained leadership from the Commonwealth Government in:
The Commonwealth Government, and particularly the Prime Minister, must be the driver of change. It must develop a national strategy and a determination to implement it through all relevant departments and agencies. It must change the national culture to one with an ingrained understanding of the importance of knowledge creation and its commercialisation to the nation’s future, and sell this new reality abroad to help transform the rest of the world’s understanding of us. The first step in this program should be a Knowledge Nation Summit. The primary purpose of this summit is to create connections between and within governments and the business, research and education sectors to hasten the creation of the Knowledge Nation. An international campaign to highlight Australia’s culture of excellence must also be undertaken. The Prime Minister must take ownership of the delivery of the Knowledge Nation and produce an annual report to the nation outlining progress. Recommendation 1The Prime Minister must take the lead in advocating Australia as a Knowledge Nation domestically and abroad, acting as a catalyst to change the culture to that of a Knowledge Nation. The Prime Minister should:
Create an inventory of existing knowledge resources (cadastre) as the starting point for making connections and utilizing Australia’s full potentialWhile in some ways Australia is already on a path to becoming a Knowledge Nation, we are a disconnected and under-performing one. We already have many of the ingredients of a Knowledge Nation. To harness our impressive — but disparate — Knowledge Nation resources, and extract the full benefit of our national abilities, we must have a clear picture of our resources and optimise their use. Recommendation 2The Commonwealth should coordinate with the States and major research organisations the development of a comprehensive and broadly available inventory (or cadastre) of Australia’s resources and knowledge capacity, as a basis for action and policy formulation. The information gathered must be accessible to all Australians.
Increasing and targeting R&DResearch and development is too important to the Knowledge Nation to allow under performance, or even average performance. We have no less a task than leaping to the leading ranks of innovative nations. Not only must overall R&D spending be dramatically increased, it must be more closely targeted to key Knowledge Nation industry sectors, based on their prospects for commercialising new products and ideas here in Australia, and exports overseas. Five key emerging industries are identified in this report as worthy of targeted assistance (see Recommendations 5-9). A number of others, such as nanotechnology and supercomputing, could also be examined. In yet others, such as medical research (as distinct from biotechnology, although the two are linked), Australia needs to build on its existing success. Government should be in the business of determining priority industries; it should not be in the business of trying to pick winning companies. But fear of ‘picking winners’ should not be allowed to constrain Australia from developing a national investment strategy. Such a strategy would build on areas of strengths in existing globally leading industries (including those in the resources and manufacturing sectors and medical research) and potential strengths in emerging industries (including ICT, environmental management, and biotechnology). Government would work with them to provide a critical mass of infrastructure and R&D incentives and to develop management expertise and a skilled workforce. Government has an additional role as a ‘knowledge broker’ to forge linkages between such areas to create new fields of common endeavour. The Australian Defence Force and Department of Defence can also play a role in exploiting information technologies to maximise the effectiveness of our defence force. A knowledge edge is the most important capability for any modern military organisation. It is essential for Australia’s Defence Organisation to take advantage of technological advances and other trends, particularly in integrating the command, control, communication and intelligence systems that underpin that knowledge edge. To maintain a knowledge edge, it is essential that Australia have a modern and innovative industry base to support our Defence Organisation. The Australian Defence Force’s acquisition program can play a crucial role in supporting and growing that industry base and encouraging research and development of leading-edge technologies. The Knowledge Nation must also encompass a deep commitment to the manufacturing industry. In 1999, our trade deficit in elaborately transformed manufactures (ETMs) was nearly $60 billion. As the report A Comparative Performance of Australia as a Knowledge Nation makes clear, a good performance during the 1980s and early 1990s in ETM exports has been allowed to slip since 1996. Taken together, exports of ETMs in the areas of pharmaceuticals, computing equipment, telecommunications, road and other transport vehicles, and clothing, grew by 21.3 per cent per annum between 1985– 86 and 1995– 96. Over the same period, imports of these ETMs grew at less than half the annual rate (10.2%). Since 1995– 96, however, annual export growth for these ETMs has slowed from 21.3 per cent to 9.3 per cent, and been overtaken by import growth of 13 per cent per annum. Before 1996, ETM exports grew at double the rate of ETM imports. Since 1996, ETM imports have grown faster than exports. (35) The linkages between Australia’s manufacturers and the nation’s research infrastructure are underdeveloped, resulting in a much slower rate of new product development, new company formation and technology commercialisation than in other OECD countries. The creation of an Institute of Manufacturing will provide a focus for strengthening these linkages and making manufacturing a key component of the Knowledge Nation. Australia’s Investment Promotion Program and other measures must focus on securing new investment to expand the nation’s productive capacity in ETMs. (35) Considine et al. op. cit., pp. 39–42In addition, many economists and business-strategy consultants correctly argue that manufacturing will actually become more important in the first several decades of the twenty-first century because of the emergence of what is referred to as service-enhanced manufacturing. As MIT Professor Richard Lester points out:
Recommendation 3Australia should increase its public and private sector R&D performance by:
Commercialising Australian R&DOther recent reports have made recommendations on how to improve the commercialisation of research in Australia. Recommendations have included:
(36) S Berger and R Lester (1997) Made by Hong Kong, Oxford University Press
pp xiii & 30
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 | benchmark Australia against other successful Knowledge Nations, such as
Ireland, Israel, Singapore and the United States; and
| recommend tax and other incentives that will encourage greater
commercialisation (see also Recommendations 3, 5, 6 and 7). | |
The Taskforce believes, however, that the commercialisation of Australian research will only be improved significantly if we send strong signals to business by getting the fundamentals right. This means attracting large players in the worldwide pharmaceuticals industry to commercialise home-grown biotechnology research (see Recommendation 6). It means securing investment in a wide range of ETM industries to upgrade their organisational capabilities and management systems, thus improving their capacity to commercialise Australia’s research outputs. This must include the capacity for firms to upgrade their organisational capabilities and management systems. The Karpin Report of 1995 flagged fundamental changes required for management education. (38) It means getting the telecommunications and digitisation policies right (see Recommendation 5). And it means getting environmental regulations right. But the final and possibly most important factor is to convince business that there is the leadership and the strategy to make Australia a Knowledge Nation (see Recommendation 1).
The engine of wealth creation for the past two centuries was built around goods-producing industries, particularly manufacturing. Today, a new engine of wealth creation is emerging, based on information processing, the Internet and supporting infrastructure. But it is a false dichotomy to argue that there is a ‘new economy’ and an ‘old economy’. On the contrary, it is the application of advances in science, engineering and information technology, and the utilisation of the online economy by companies in mining, tourism, agriculture, manufacturing, warehousing, transport and a wide range of service industries, that is and will continue to render obsolete any hard and fast dividing line between old and new industries or companies. These terms are used occasionally simply to facilitate comparisons and communication and highlight differences.
Similarly, the key industries on which the Taskforce has focused for future growth and development do not exist in isolation. A nation cannot realise the full potential of its ICT, environmental management and biotechnology industries without a strong service-enhanced manufacturing industry, world-class science and engineering facilities, and a host of other industries and occupations through which linkages are established. The reader should bear this is mind when considering the Taskforce’s findings on the emerging growth opportunities in the following key industries. They are not the only growth opportunities of the future. But they are critical to the success of Australia as a Knowledge Nation.
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) represent an industry sector that is yet to reach its full potential in Australia as a result of policies that have stifled innovation and growth. As ICT is an enabler of innovation in the public and private sector, the combined strategy of identifying ICT as a key industry and pursuing affordable, high bandwidth access to communications infrastructure will complement other strategies to build Australia’s capacity to become a Knowledge Nation.
Due to policy failures, Australia is not a pace setter and leader in ICT; we are a user and follower. We must become both a technology user and a technology creator. Australia must build on its strengths as an early adopter of ICT to create a larger software and hardware industry.
Government must play a leading role by moving government services online, in particular, education, health and innovative forms of government administration and service delivery. Extending government services online may create savings that could be used to expand broadband digital access to all Australians, thus helping to avoid the widening of the digital divide, an expression to describe the inequities between those who have Internet access and those who do not.
Government must also use its purchasing power to ensure that government contracts are available to small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in the ICT sector. With governments responsible for over 40 per cent of ICT purchasing in Australia, there is potential to provide strategic growth opportunities for existing SMEs, particularly those expanding their export opportunities.
There are relatively under-developed opportunities for growth in niche sectors of ICT.
One such sector is photonics, the use of particles of light to communicate, store and process information, including optical fibre networks. Photonics is a strategic growth industry in its own right and an enabling technology providing broadband solutions to underpin the transformation of existing industries. (See breakout box on Photonics).
ICT is embedded in almost every industry and activity of a Knowledge Nation. Creating high-level capacity in ICT infrastructure and skills is an essential prerequisite to modernising Australia’s education, health and other services, strengthening existing manufacturing industries and creating new industries.
For government administrations, researchers and business, the availability of high bandwidth is a prerequisite to a culture of innovation.
Broadband communications networks will form the backbone of new industrial organisations. Business-to-business trading environments will become, if they are not already, the platform on which companies do business with each other, and the Internet will be the internal communications medium through which businesses organise themselves. As more and more businesses and people are linked to the electronic nervous system of global business, the thirst for bandwidth will explode.
However, capacity and influence to expand broadband access also requires improving the current telecommunications regulatory arrangements.
While Australia does have high Internet use compared to many other nations, we must ensure that we improve as other nations implement ambitious programs to boost their own levels of digital technology use.
The Commonwealth should retain its majority public ownership of Telstra — Australia’s leading ICT company — to help ensure that affordable digital broadband services are available to all Australians.
A key strategy for achieving universal digital broadband access will be to move from the existing Standard Telephone Service to a Standard Communications Service. The current Standard Telephone Service guaranteed to all Australians requires only the provision of voice telephony services. The Standard Telephone Service mandates a standard data speed (bandwidth) of 2.4 kilobits per second (kbps). This is the minimum necessary for voice telephony of reasonable quality. However, it is totally inadequate to provide even basic dial-up Internet services.
The Howard Government’s recent announcement that it will encourage, though not legislate for, Telstra to provide a minimum 19.2 kbps data speed is also insufficient to provide all Australians with reasonable dial-up Internet access. By contrast, for example, it is expected that by 2005, 95 per cent of households in Denmark will have access to at least 256 kbps, and 70 per cent will have access to 2 Megabits per second (Mbps).
The Digital Data Service Obligation (DDSO), introduced in 1999, provides all Australians with access on request to a minimum 64 kbps ISDN or equivalent data service. The DDSO no longer reflects the latest in available broadband technology, nor has the subsidy available under it proven to be attractive. To date, only 74 Australians have taken up the DDSO on other than fully commercial terms.
The Customer Service Guarantee framework sets maximum timeframes for telecommunications carriers to connect customers to their network, or to repair or service the connection of existing customers. Currently, the Customer Service Guarantee only ensures the timely connection and repair of voice telephony services. It should also be upgraded to take into account data services.
Timing is important. For Australia to develop into a Knowledge Nation, we will need to be at the forefront of some world developments. Digitising Australia’s cable networks and ensuring access to broadband as urgent national policy priorities will bring us into the lead, along with a small number of other countries, in having the platform to develop the next generation of services.
The Commonwealth should make it an urgent national priority that all Australian households and businesses have the option of access to digital broadband. This could be done by:
| Using the array of Commonwealth powers, capacity and influence to expand
broadband access. This will include improving the current regulatory
arrangements and maintaining majority government ownership of Telstra.
| Upgrading the current standard telephone service, which mandates minimum
levels of voice telephony service, to a standard communications service that
mandates minimum levels of data transmission.
| Improving the competitive and regulatory environment to ensure fair access
to the Customer Access Network and to ensure that broadband cable networks
are open, digitised and inter-connectable as soon as possible.
| Providing incentives, including investing in broadband networks, for the
take up of broadband technology.
| Making Government a leader in the use of high broadband technology,
including innovative online government services.
| Ensuring that all Australians, particularly those in regional areas, have
the opportunity to access fixed price, untimed calls nationwide, for both
voice telephony and data services.
| Removing the existing restrictive and failed datacasting regime and
opening up a new digital spectrum to the exciting, potential new services of
the future.
| Building a national strategy around the growth and development of
Australia’s software and digital content sector, including a comprehensive
capability inventory.
| Using improved government procurement policies to encourage the further
development of an Australian ICT industry.
| Closing the digital divide by using community and regionally based
strategies to improve skill levels and assure affordable Internet access. | |
Photonics — A Strategic Growth Industry for AustraliaPhotonics, the use of particles of light to communicate, store and process information, presents a unique combination of three features that mark it out as an industry worthy of special Government attention. Firstly, as a strategic growth industry in its own right. Secondly, as a foundation, national, enabling industry to underpin the development of all other industries, and thirdly for the opportunity it presents, through the conjunction of the first two features, to develop a suite of new answers the growing inequities in society that are related to access and use of information technologies (the digital divide). 1. Because of investment in Photonics in the early 1990s, Australia today has a rare opportunity to be a leading participate in the next generation of giant, global high tech industries. Photonics networks are the optic fibre pipes and light-based switches that will be the backbone and nervous system of the Internet, which means it can only continue to grow. Australia has already developed a global reputation for excellence in this field and therefore is strongly positioned to develop core photonics technologies for the global market. Even post the “tech wreck”, photonics is one of the most exciting industries in the world, attracting $US3.4 billion in venture funding for optical networking in the first nine months of 2000. Total optical networking equipment sales are predicted to increase from $US30 billion in 2001 to $US70 billion in 2006 (Insight Research Corp). Already, Australia has produced a handful of global leading niche Photonics companies and captured the attention of the photonics world with its innovative science. Being a leading participant in the industry in the next decade is an opportunity so important it is worthy of the status of a national mission. 2. Broadband communications networks will form the backbone of new industrial organisation, and will be at the core of all industries. Business to business trading environments such as the auto industry electronic trading market, will be the platform on which companies do business with each other, and the Internet will be the internal communications medium through which businesses organise themselves. As more and more businesses and people are linked to the electronic nervous system of global business, the thirst for bandwidth will explode. High bandwidth access will be the enabler for businesses wanting to participate in international trading platforms or to employ the latest management techniques. Australia needs to encourage the rollout of world-best broadband networks in the same way as it had to build world-class roads, rail and ports to allow past generations of industry to compete internationally. 3. The combination of a strong and innovative Australian photonics industry and a business sector savvy to the opportunities presented by broadband communications will enable a national strategy to address regional development and the digital divide. As the demand for broadband and the domestic capacity to provide it grow, it will create an opportunity for communities to connect into the new networks. Already, Canada and the US have seized opportunities to bring communities into the mainstream of new job, education and social opportunities through projects such as the Canarie network in Canada and community-based schemes in cities such as Palo Alto and Cedar City in the US. Australia, with its photonics industry, educated and technology-aware population and advanced economy, can lead the world in bridging the Digital Divide. |
Dr. Peter Andrews of the Institute of Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland has argued that Australia is at the cusp of the third great economic revolution of the modern era — the biotechnology revolution. (39)
The world-wide explosion of the transformational impact of the second revolution of the modern era — that of ICT — did not prevent Australia’s standard of living slipping to 26th in the world. A century earlier, Australia ranked first in the world. Australia also slid from being the first to the fourth largest economy in East Asia. And we enjoy the ignominy of now being second last after Argentina among OECD exporters of high technology.
Dr. Andrews’ challenge is whether Australia will fall further and further behind in its terms of trade and the international table of nations if it fails to capitalise fully on the next quantum transformation of the world economy: the revolution in biotechnology.
The Taskforce’s response to this challenge is that our national government must establish a clear-cut national goal of making Australia a world leader in biotechnological research, development and commercialisation by 2010, building on our existing strengths in medical research. This will require specific action plans.
A national biotechnology meeting should be convened involving the States, the life science research community and biotechnology companies to determine a coordinated national biotechnology strategy to develop the industry in Australia. If Australia is to become a world leader in this industry, it must concentrate its efforts on those sub-fields in which it has an existing research base — rather than spreading that effort too thinly.
The NHMRC and ARC grants system should be restructured (or augmented by the establishment of a specific National Biotechnology Research Grant) to allow for large-scale biotechnology projects of national significance. The Taskforce recommends at least two such national projects.
1. An Australian Genome Project to explore the genetic and molecular characteristics of key animals, plants and micro-organisms of relevance to Australia’s unique biodiversity and of commercial significance to the global economy.
2. A National Proteomics Project aimed at the commercial application of the emerging body of genomic research to diagnostic and therapeutic medicine. In part, it may take the form of providing advanced research platforms for the high-speed processing of protein data under different conditions.
The Taskforce further supports the creation of a radically improved environment for life science researchers to reverse the brain drain and secure the return of the brightest and the best Australian expatriate life scientists from abroad. In part this relates to employment conditions and in part, to the international standing of Australian research institutes compared with their competitors. To this end, Australia should develop three life science research institutes of undisputed global standing. One of these may be designated a National Life Sciences Centre.
All three should be built on the existing (and largely rusting) institutional base.
A further priority is the creation of a network of biotechnology business incubators. These incubators should involve the co-location of researchers, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. Where possible, this would occur within the precincts of universities and/or research institutes. Xcelerator, a company in North Ryde that already provides bio-incubation services to biotechnology start-up enterprises, may provide a model.
The creation of a biotechnology industry-wide information Internet portal — or a ‘BioInfoHub’would provide an industry-wide free flow of information as well as a range of satellite sites for Bioentrepreneurs, BioResources, BioMentor, BioJobs, BioInvest, BioNews, etc. It should be jointly funded by government and industry.
To oversee biotechnology developments requires the establishment of a National Biotechnology Advisory Committee headed by a chairperson of global standing in the industry. This committee should be serviced by an Office of Biotechnology within the relevant agency in Canberra. This modestly staffed machinery would drive the implementation of the National Biotechnology Strategy.
Australia urgently needs a National Life Sciences Education Strategy for the long-term development of the national skills base necessary for the nation’s future biotechnology industry needs. This would address the inadequate supply and quality control of maths and science teachers through the nation’s school system, the structure of undergraduate courses, and the incentives necessary to expand the nation’s doctoral and post-doctoral programs.
To boost commercialisation of biotechnology research in Australia, we need a detailed review of the impact of the tax system on biotechnology start-up companies. This would cover roll-over provisions, CGT treatment and employee share ownership schemes. Building on Ireland’s experience with ICT, it might also include a 0 per cent company tax on defined biotechnology start-ups for a period of five years as a means of symbolising government’s strategic commitment to the sector.
One task that must not be overlooked is the development of a National Code of Ethical Practice for the Australian biotechnology industry. This is a gaping hole at present and serves to exacerbate the concerns of those critical of the contemporary manipulation of the molecular structures of plants and animals. It could draw readily on the code already developed by the Queensland Government. It is crucial to provide a certain framework for researchers, entrepreneurs and the community.
The Commonwealth must build on Australia’s strengths in medical research by adopting a goal of making Australia a world leader in biotechnological research, development and commercialisation by 2010. This will require:
| A meeting of the nation’s biotechnology experts to determine a
coordinated National Biotechnology Strategy for the development of the
industry in Australia as a priority.
| Restructuring NHMRC and ARC grants to allow for large-scale biotechnology
projects of national significance.
| Funding an Australian Genome Project and a National Proteomics Project to
concentrate research effort and build on existing Australian strengths.
| Developing three life science research institutes of undisputed global
standing. One of these may be designated a National Life Sciences Centre.
All three should be built on the existing (and largely rusting)
institutional base.
| Creating a network of biotechnology business incubators.
| Creating a biotechnology industry-wide information Internet portal — or
a ‘BioInfoHub’.
| Establishing a National Biotechnology Advisory Committee headed by a
chairperson of global standing in the industry, serviced by an Office of
Biotechnology within the relevant agency in Canberra.
| A detailed review of the impact of the tax system on biotechnology
start-up companies and foreign investment.
| Specific adjustments to national immigration policies to encourage
global-leading biotechnologists to come to Australia and expatriate
Australian leaders to return.
| Developing a National Code of Ethical Practice for the Australian
biotechnology industry. | |
Xcelerator Biotechnology IncubatorXcelerator is a professional biotechnology incubator business located in the ‘Biohub’ of North Ryde NSW. Xcelerator provides complete support to start-up companies working in the biotechnology sector and an environment and infrastructure which is highly conducive to allowing start-up businesses to get on with the task of developing their new venture and growing rapidly. Xcelerator has three key aspects to its business. Biobusiness IncubationXcelerator provides clients with a competitive edge through access to its unique combination of experience, insights, knowledge and networks in business and science, all critical factors to the future success of incubator companies. The aim of Xcelerator is to add value to early stage companies though the provision of its incubator services, and in assisting companies to reach a point where they have become strong independent businesses. Xcelerator seeks in return to derive value from its investment in an incubator company. In return for its original investment Xcelerator takes an equity position, the level of which depends on a number of factors such as: the level of risk, the stage of the technology development and the need for future resource allocation to the company or project. BioentrepreneurBioentrepreneur. net (website:www.bioentrepreneur.net.) is a business unit of Xcelerator Ltd, which develops and presents continuing education workshops on business development for those working in the life sciences. Xcelerator has developed Bioentrepreneur to service a gap in the market, and as part of its commitment to developing educating and growing the life sciences biobusiness sector in Australia in line with international worlds best practice. Commercialisation & Advisory ServicesXcelerator assists with all aspects of biotechnology commercialisation, from project evaluation, due diligence, business planning and introductions to potential investors. Xcelerator works with investors who wish to have technical and commercial evaluations performed. |
Australians are now realising the enormous damage we have inflicted on our continent and the need to create a sustainable future.
The environment is an opportunity as well as a challenge. If we use our Knowledge Nation capacity in a focused way we can fix environmental problems, prevent further damage and create a potentially huge export industry in environmental management technology and intellectual product, particularly in the areas of land care, water and waste management, and sustainable energy. All levels of government and the private sector must be involved. Currently, Australian companies are behind other leading nations in their level of awareness of sustainability principles.
There are enormous benefits for regional and rural Australia in particular. By fully using Australia’s intellectual capacity we can fix problems relating to salinity and efficient use of water, improve rural quality of life and provide income-producing technologies.
The Taskforce believes that Australia urgently needs a strategy to concentrate more public and private resources into creating environmental technology and environmental management export services industries.
The Taskforce also believes that we need to create greater awareness in the community of sustainability principles, particularly ‘dematerialisation’, and build ‘triple bottom line’ (financial, social and environmental) principles into government and corporate investment decisions. Creativity will flow if as a result.
That the Commonwealth initiate a massive campaign, in conjunction with the States and all major research organisations, to start a ten-year program to tackle the problems of salinity, land degradation and acidification of soils, polluted rivers and sea coasts, land clearing and deforestation, loss of species diversity, and to implement a strategy to expand Australia’s environmental management industry, for which we already have a high-level capacity. Elements in this strategy should include:
| a goal of obtaining a significant proportion of the global market of
environmental management goods and services by the year 2010;
| development of a specific set of quantitative metrics and milestones for
the year 2010 and each year beforehand to monitor success and highlight
failures as the program unfolds;
| a targeted environmental management R&D program, including support to
improve the sustainability performance of industries that have traditionally
been both environmentally damaging and global leaders, and to generate new
export industries from the expertise developed in doing so;
| the creation of environmental management CRCs, innovation investment funds
and venture funds leading to the development of significant indigenous
industries in environmental management;
| an environmental technology and services export program;
| renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives;
| specific adjustments to national immigration policies to encourage
environmental scientists and management professionals who are global leaders
to migrate to Australia and the return of expatriate Australian leaders; and
| a campaign to promote understanding of the process of
‘dematerialisation’ in industry and the community. | |
Heartlands — towards sustainable land use in the Murray-Darling Basin and the creation of Australian IPThe CSIRO’s Heartlands project illustrates how by using our knowledge capacity is a coordinated way we can address difficult environmental problems, export valuable intellectual product, create new jobs and make regional Australia a central part of the Knowledge Nation. Land and water degradation, especially dryland salinity, poses a serious long-term threat to the sustainability of the Murray-Darling Basin. Changed management of agricultural landscapes, including well-targeted revegetation on a broad scale, is the most viable means to reverse the ongoing environmental degradation. The Heartlands initiative will develop efficient strategies for well-targeted land use in the Murray Darling Basin. It will support implementation of the strategies, and verify their effectiveness. Heartlands is developing and applying the knowledge required to target revegetation works for maximum benefit. It will build on existing knowledge and related research being undertaken by CSIRO and other organizations. Heartlands is an innovative long-term program combining on-ground-works with research and development. Scientists will work closely with catchment managers and the community to:
The Heartlands initiative will:
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One of the major potential uses of information technology is online education, which provides one means for offering accessible and affordable opportunities to many Australians who are currently locked out of higher education by geography, disability, lack of ability to attend the campus, and cost.
Unless Australia establishes a leading online education industry with the emphasis on quality, millions of dollars and highly-skilled jobs for Australians will be lost overseas.
Due to our expertise in distance learning, Australia is currently strong in online education. Already, a number of Australian universities offer extensive courses online and have incorporated online elements into their day-to-day activities.
Australia must take full advantage of the head start we have established and become a world leader in online education at both university and school levels. But online university education must not be an alternative to providing proper levels of funding for existing universities. It should be one of a variety of learning environments for students to choose. Online education is only worthwhile if there is a commitment to providing high-quality courses and teaching, and if it replicates many of the strengths of traditional universities, such as one-on-one teaching and broad subject offerings across all disciplines. Governments must ensure that the benefits of online education are available to all Australians, not just those who can participate in a fee-paying market.
Australia must aim to become a world leader in online education at all levels within the next few years, winning at least 10 per cent global market share of revenue. Achieving this will require:
| ensuring that courses are as good as, if not better than, those offered in
traditional formats;
| upfront investment to create quality online courses and retrain teachers
and academics in their effective use;
| developing a leading online education content industry and encouraging the
industry to adopt leading-edge methods of online marketing and distribution
to attract students;
| research into the most effective online teaching, user interface
requirements and online customer service infrastructure;
| improving necessary infrastructure, including access to affordable
bandwidth (particularly in regional Australia), adequate computer backbones
and digitised libraries;
| financial incentives for students to study online, the availability of
widespread public information on courses, and simple ‘one stop shop’
enrolment processes; and
| ensuring that individual academics, universities, TAFE colleges and
private vocational education providers benefit from the creation of
intellectual property. | |
The Connected Learning Community — John Paul College, BrisbaneJohn Paul College, a co-educational P-12 school in Brisbane, recognised in the early 90s the changing dynamics of education and the immediate benefits of using Information Technologies as a vehicle to enhance teaching and learning outcomes and deliver its student-centred philosophy of education. This has now developed into one of the world’s largest school computer Notebook programs and an internationally recognised exemplar of integrated teaching and learning delivered through a technology program which sees over 1800 staff and students using their notebooks and an online curriculum on a lesson by lesson basis. The College has recognised that, for its students, learning is no longer confined to the hours and walls of a classroom, but rather, takes on a global and multicultural perspective as students become active participants in developing our knowledge economy through collaboration with teachers, parents and the wider community. This new reality is reflected in the College’s vision, near to completion, of a Connected Learning Community. New technologies have been implemented to facilitate anywhere, anytime learning. These include wireless connectivity throughout campus to both the Internet and College information learning portals, the introduction of a learning management system, Encarta Class Server (ECS) to facilitate the development of interactive digital content and deliver online curriculum, student personal and public web pages and email accounts, and web cameras in classrooms. A Virtual Private network from home provides access to all school community members. Underpinning the program is a massive commitment to professional and curriculum involvement which is critical to the ongoing success of the program. This blending of infrastructure, access, knowledge and empowerment of students, teachers, parents and the community are features that distinguish John Paul College as an example of a 21st Century learning community. The next stage of the College vision will be realised when the College launches its myjpc.com community gateway on July 26 2001 by Paul Lucas, the Queensland Minister for Innovation and Information Economy. myjpc.com is the central knowledge gateway of the JPC connected learning community. It will link students, teachers, parents and the community to:
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Online Universities and TAFE — making lifelong learning a reality and creating a new export industryOnline education is regarded as one of the crucial areas of content development for the Internet. Unless Australia established a leading online education industry, overseas institutions will fill the void and we will miss the opportunity to create thousands of skilled jobs for Australians.
Online learning is already an established part of traditional campus-based teaching in all tertiary institutions, particularly the world’s leading universities, such as Harvard, with lectures webcast, tutorial discussions held online, and written work submitted electronically. In fact, by using ICT, universities and VET providers can potentially increase the level of interaction between students, tutors and lecturers. The conversion of library holdings into digital format — an essential feature of online universities — holds the promise of easing the problems associated with increasingly crowded and understocked libraries. In short, online learning is about helping existing universities and VET providers do even better the things they already do. Australian tertiary institutions are in the vanguard of this change. The following table lists just some of the online initiatives currently under way, particularly at joint university and TAFE institutions. University of Southern QueenslandHas a subsidiary — USQ Online — that provides courses in Nursing, Commerce (including MBA) and ICT degrees. Central Queensland UniversityIs currently developing 3 online degrees. Edith Cowan UniversityHas a virtual campus, that provides tutorials, chat rooms, reading lists, etc. The University of BallaratHas a subsidiary — UBOnline — that offers a wide range of online courses. Charles Sturt UniversityProvides tutorials, chat rooms and teleconferencing for students. Newcastle UniversityHas a subsidiary that provides postgraduate courses. Murdoch UniversityHas a subsidiary — Murdoch Online — that offers 23 postgraduate only certificates, diplomas and degrees across 3 faculties — social sciences, humanities and education, science and engineering, and business, information technology and the law. The University of New EnglandProvides 300 online courses through a subsidiary UNE Online. La Trobe UniversityLa Trobe has a Centre for Online and Multimedia Education Technologies that works with teaching staff to develop online courses and improve the use of ICT in campus teaching. The TAFE Virtual CampusTAFE VC is an umbrella shopfront for online courses at Victorian TAFE campuses. U3AUniversity of the Third Age has an online presence. These are not-for-degree, leisure courses. Other institutions are combining with the intention of bundling courses for delivery through large international Internet/datacasting companies, spreading the risk across a number of universities. The opportunity exists for Australia to become a world leader in online university education. |
Australia produces world-class medical services and we have developed innovative ways to deliver these services across vast distances. Our health system is particularly good in training our health workforce, including workers in the speciality areas. There is a high demand for our medical expertise in the Asia-Pacific region and with appropriate support, these services can be exported, providing important revenue that will enable our own services to be further enhanced. Done properly, the development of a major medical export industry can be a win-win for Australia, improving the health of Australians while creating thousands of well-paid jobs. Such an export industry must, though, build on the further improvement of Australia’s system of universal health provision.
A large proportion of the health sector, such as hospitals, is under the control of government(s), and certainly much of the rest of the sector is influenced heavily by government policies. The Commonwealth and State Governments, therefore should take the lead in transforming the sector and encouraging the development of international markets for those areas in which we are competitive. Many countries around Australia do not have the high-end services available here, but their populations are prepared to pay for them. The high costs of health care in the United States and some European countries, possible alternative suppliers, makes Australia very competitive.
A key area of opportunity is telemedicine. Developments in telemedicine pioneered in Australia provide significant export opportunities. Telemedicine can now be used to transmit x-ray images and scan images, view pathology slides from remote sites, and conduct face-to-face consultations in real time. Australian hospitals are already using telemedicine links to provide Australian cancer patients with access to multidisciplinary tertiary cancer specialists thousands of kilometres away without having to travel vast distances. The technology also enables specialists to provide online guidance and support to doctors and health workers in small communities, thus improving the quality of care and preventing unnecessary travelling and referrals.
Super-specialty areas of medicine require significant throughput to keep them at the leading edge of developments and experience. In some speciality areas, Australia is not a sufficiently big catchment area. Therefore, to be successful these areas have to look to establishing centres of regional excellence. Singapore, a recent mover into super-specialties, has recognised this and is funding its centre of excellence to significant levels. This is a major growth area in high value added services. If Australia does not act decisively, there is the risk that some super-speciality areas will exit the country to locations that support their objectives.
Australia should develop and implement a strategy to make Australia a leading provider of health services to the Asia-Pacific region. This strategy should include:
| developing and marketing medical, paramedical and nursing training
programs for the international market, utilising all the latest education
tools including online learning;
| funding and administrative support for the development of super-speciality
centres of excellence in Australia, which are directed at the international
market as well as the Australian market;
| supporting areas of strength in Australian medical research, such as
tropical medicine;
| further developing the nation’s telehealth capacity and marketing these
services internationally; and
| establishing relationships with surrounding countries so that Australia
can sell complex medical treatment for their populations, enabling Australia
to lock into a leadership position in the region in those areas in which it
is world competitive. | |
There is a mistaken view that the Knowledge Nation is only about universities and scientists. Knowledge Nation is about raising the standard of education at every level. In the twenty-first century, everyone will require access to post-compulsory education of some kind.
A highly educated and trained population is the foundation of an effective Knowledge Nation. A vital step, therefore, must be to create a better education system, with opportunities for all. This will require a massive reinvestment programme in schools, universities and vocational education.
Australia’s educational performance must be raised dramatically, starting at the level of primary and secondary schools. Year 12 retention rates are stagnating in the low 70 percentage points range, down from almost 90 per cent in some States at the start of the 1990s. Retention rates are significantly lower in public schools than private schools. While Australian students perform above average in international measurements of maths and science, we must aim to be at the top of these tables. There is concern that the situation is actually worse than these tables suggest; in the knowledge world, average will not be good enough.
A starting point for improving our education and training system must be a steep rise in Year 12 equivalent retention rates and ensuring that the remaining people gain a post-compulsory education qualification that will improve their prospects of gaining a well-paying job.
Australia must ensure that by the year 2010, a minimum of nine out of ten young people leave their teens with a Year 12 equivalent qualification, and that all young Australians achieve a formal education or training qualification at the post-compulsory level.
Achieving these targets will require thorough overhaul and modernisation of our education system, with significantly increased funding. We do not need just little changes; we need revolutionary changes. Our aim must be to ensure that all children, regardless of their parents’ wealth, have access to a quality education and the same chance to achieve their full potential. To compensate for disadvantage, our best schools should be in the poorest areas. We must assist and encourage all schools — government and non-government — in innovating and sharing with other schools their successful ideas for improving teaching, developing new curricula and utilising new learning technologies.
Creating the Knowledge Nation will depend largely on the professionalism and dedication of Australia’s teachers. They are one of our nation’s most important assets. We must value them and give them the resources they need to fully develop the nation’s knowledge potential.
Achieving this will require the Commonwealth to play a far more direct and active role in improving outcomes in Australia’s public schools. No longer can the Commonwealth afford to be a remote funder of primary and secondary education.
The Commonwealth and the States should overhaul and modernise Australia’s schools by:
| increasing the proportion of Commonwealth money going to public schools
and funding non-government schools on the basis of need;
| raising school participation through a targeted program that tackles the
causes of disadvantage;
| creating more linkages and co-location between schools and universities,
including ongoing teacher skill development programs and mentoring programs
for disadvantaged high-school students;
| investing in the creation of a modern teaching profession through ongoing
training and re-training programs, providing financial incentives to
teachers to upgrade their skills and qualifications, and, in partnership
with the States and Territories, raising the standing of the teaching
profession, particularly in critical areas of shortage such as science and
maths;
| making ICT literacy a core component of learning alongside literacy and
numeracy by providing ongoing training for teachers in the use of ICT in the
classroom, ensuring there is a national educational Internet portal for all
schools and members of the community to use, expanding ‘cyber
libraries’, making Internet access more affordable for all schools, and
encouraging schools to develop and share high-quality online curricula; and
| providing children, from kindergarten through to Year 12 with a variety of
experiences, encouraging a spirit of curiosity, excitement and their
capacity for conceptual thinking to make linkages, form judgments, and to
feel a sense of empowerment in a variety of disciplines, including language,
music, art, sport, mathematics and communications. | |
Coffs Harbour Senior College — a revolutionary approach to public educationCoffs Harbour Senior College (CSHC) is a part of the Coffs Harbour Education Campus which combines the senior college with a campus of the North Coast Institute of TAFE and a campus of Southern Cross University. The senior college offers students access to a very wide range of facilities allowing for a variety of different approaches to study. It offers an adult oriented learning environment in which students are encouraged to take greater personal responsibility for their own l |