Beijing, China
E&OE…
The decisions we take and the policies we make through innovation affect the economy and quality of life, they affect the environment and climate change and they also turn to the human spirit.
So, innovation matters not just as a little thing but as a driver of big history.
So, the question for this meeting is what are the lessons that we can learn from each other and what are the policies that we can exchange?
In Australia’s case, we had been fortunate to experience 25 years of consecutive growth.
The biggest source of productivity in that time has been innovation and the source of innovation has been continuous policy evolution.
We heard from Germany the question about fiscal incentive.
We have a research and development tax incentive which drives $18 billion of annual investment by providing tax credits.
But now, our most recent initiative is the three waves of a National Innovation and Science Agenda.
The first wave was commenced in December of 2015 and that is about attracting young people into science, technology, engineering and maths through incentives for them to study.
The second element of what we did in 2015 is about ensuring that we have big science infrastructure, supporting our particle accelerator, supporting with South Africa and the European Union, the global radio telescopic project, the Square Kilometre Array which we are building in our Western desert.
And then it’s about ensuring that we, most importantly, attract investment capital into innovation and this, for Australia, is perhaps the most important thing and so we have put in place tax incentives for early angel investors and a National Medical Translation Fund to take from the lab to the market, the best of the ideas.
The Government puts in 50 per cent equity and the private sector puts in 50 per cent equity and of all our initiatives, this has perhaps been the most successful so far.
The private sector has jumped to partner with the public sector.
Our second wave of innovation and science to come in 2017 will be built around more, big science infrastructure to do the basic research which can be translated from the lab to the start-ups and the marketplace.
And it’s about a further wave of national innovation funding on that same 50/50 basis of government equity to come where there is private equity and we believe that that will help drive advanced food and agriculture, advanced scientific development and advanced digital activity.
The third wave to come in 2018 will be about a national business simplification initiative because when we’re honest about what actually prevents investment in innovation, sometimes it’s just too hard, sometimes the bureaucracy in any of our countries, including our own, just makes to too hard for young entrepreneurs or businesses from overseas to go through the different layers of administration.
So, we will aim for a radical simplification of business approvals.
The last part of what we will do in the third wave is about university precincts and technology parks.
Growth in Australian university precincts is two and a quarter times the national average.
That’s the same story across the OECD and the G20 and so we will now turn to learn from Germany and the United States, from China and other countries about the best of the university precinct plans because, for us, we believe that will be the great driver of national, our next national wave of growth.
Finally, Mr Chairman, today I am delighted to launch, on behalf of Australia, a $3.2 million regional collaboration program.
This program will fund Australian start-ups and researchers to work with Asia-Pacific start-ups and researchers on some of the great questions of food, medicine and climate.
I thank you, I congratulate you, I honour you.
(ENDS)