A Time for Bolder Innovation Policy

By Melinda Cilento

Australia must seize this moment to shift the national conversation and to commit to building a stronger culture in support of innovation across business and the community Melinda Cilento argues.

Australia, like many countries around the world, is considering reshaping policy to deliver jobs-rich growth and lay the foundations for future prosperity in the face of great headwinds and uncertainty. Looking anew at innovation policy is a crucial early step.



While there are new complexities to Australia’s policy challenges, serious issues had emerged prior to the COVID-19 crisis. Increases in population and working hours were enabling economic growth. Productivity, however, was languishing, and, as a result, so too was innovation.

Too few businesses in Australia have been investing enough in innovation, particularly compared with international peers, and it has been difficult to capture the imagination of the Australian community around the benefits of innovation. Research by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) confirms this. The results of our 2018 Community Pulse survey showed that respondents did not see business investment in new technologies and training as important.

Evidently, Australians remain disconnected from the benefits of innovation to their daily lives. If we cannot connect the benefits of innovation to the wider community (in terms of jobs, income and better products and services) or to business (in terms of competitiveness and performance), it will be difficult to gain widespread support for a renewed focus on policy changes that enable innovation in Australia.

Ironically, the COVID-19 crisis presents an unexpected opportunity. There has been, for example, significant interest and pride in the role of our great research institutes – such as the CSIRO and the Peter Doherty Institute – in understanding and tracking the virus and developing a vaccine. We have also seen innovations that have saved lives, prevented infections, enabled businesses to remain open and preserve jobs, as well as ensured access to goods and services for households. Businesses big and small have changed their models and innovated at a pace few imagined possible before, delivering outcomes that could be used to connect innovation and its benefits to the wider community.

This is a moment to shift the national conversation on innovation and work to build a stronger innovation culture across business and the community. In this vein, the SARS epidemic in Singapore set a precedent. Underlying many of the bolder business and policy changes we’ve seen has been an acceptance of greater risk. Not all decisions should be made as though the nation is in crisis, but risk aversion is not conducive to judicious investment in innovation.

A 2019 report by the Australian Institute of Company Directors highlighted the adverse impact on innovation of risk-averse boards and mapped smarter directorial action. This focus is welcome, and the top two barriers to innovation raised in the survey – human-talent shortages and financial impediments – must be a policy priority. Business and government will need to work together to address these issues, particularly given the uncertainties around future capital and labour movements – uncertainties that may otherwise diminish risk-appetite.

Confidence in our ability to attract the best and brightest minds through skilled migration and gain financial clout through foreign investment is an important foundation for business decision-making on innovation investment. A renewed focus on supply-chain resilience and diversification has reignited debate on Australia’s manufacturing industry. We cannot afford a “back-to-the-future” approach that relies on protection and governmental propping up of uncompetitive sectors and businesses.

There is renewed appetite for putting industry policy back on the table, which, in turn, would foreshadow prioritising innovation as a driver of industry competitiveness. We have an opportunity to jumpstart our future. The keys are a focus on investment in R&D and innovation, and in exploring more proactive government collaboration with business in pursuit of sustained benefits to the community.

Melinda Cilento is the Chief Executive of CEDA. She is a Non-Executive Director of Australian Unity and Co-Chair of Reconciliation Australia. She is also a member of the Parliamentary Budget Office panel of expert advisors.