Introductory Remarks
Media conference to release the Review of the National Innovation System Report - Venturous Australia
Treasury Place, Melbourne
[Check against delivery]
This is the most important review of the innovation system in a generation.
Many elements of the system have been in place since the late John Button developed Australia’s first innovation policy in the 1980s.
It is time for a root-and-branch rethink.
The setbacks of the Howard years have made the need for a review even more urgent.
Innovation is critical to solving problems like climate change and lifting Australia’s productivity and competitiveness.
The prime minister makes no bones about our readiness to offer “incentives to design innovative approaches to … long-term challenges”.
The review was an election promise, and this is a government that keeps its promises.
Thanks
I want to thank Dr Terry Cutler and his colleagues Dr Megan Clark, Professor Glyn Davis, Professor Steve Dowrick, Professor John Foster, Dr Nicholas Gruen, Narelle Kennedy, Catherine Livingstone, Professor Mary O’Kane and Dr Jim Peacock.
I want to thank my department.
And I want to thank the thousands of Australians who wrote submissions, took part in stakeholder consultations, and attended workshops.
Recommendations
The report contains seventy-two recommendations to boost the innovation performance of:
- business
- universities and public sector research agencies
- and government.
I don’t propose to go through the recommendations in detail, but the report’s big ideas include:
- increasing the level of Commonwealth spending on science innovation
- scrapping the R&D tax concession and replacing it with two R&D tax credits
- adopting national innovation priorities to focus our efforts and resources
- meeting the full cost of university research
- and providing open access to the results of publicly funded research.
White paper
The government will release a policy white paper on innovation before year’s end.
Its goals will be to reverse the neglect of the past, steer safely through the difficult times we are experiencing at present, and prepare Australia for the future.
This will be a big task, but we don’t start empty-handed.
This report gives us plenty to work with.