At the recent GMC meeting I mentioned global rankings as one of the reasons companies would innovate. I should explain…
What do global rankings have to do with us here anyway? The data from the Global Innovation Index 2017 was for Australia as a country amongst the 127 countries participating. We are a first world country, surely there is little to learn from the data?
Actually there is a lot to learn. Most of our industries are in competition with global players. Australia has one of the most open markets in the world for all sorts of goods. Choosing just one sector, we have world leading food production here from the point of view of environmental cleanliness, quality and freshness. Yet many supermarket food products are made in China – frozen seafood for example.
Clearly just about all Australian businesses need to be globally competitive. We get ahead with competitive edge, not discounting and this comes from innovation. So our ranking in the international index is more than interesting it is instructive on where we need to focus effort to head off our competitors advantages.
Drilling down into the data some of the facts for Australia are:
- Ranked 23 globally considering all aspects of innovation in Australia – this means we have some of the best research institutions and the smartest people publishing great research.
- Where we fall down is in our ranking of 76 out of 127 for the innovation efficiency ratio. This is the area we need to focus effort and resources on. The innovation efficiency ratio ranks us on how much innovation output (economic benefit) Australia is getting for its inputs (research).
Many factors go into this. Two main factors include venture capital and the appetite for risk in new ideas and businesses is low in Australia. This is slowly changing but lags world standard.
For our governments, policies that promote the development of ideas into real products and services sustains innovation investment which helps turn cyclical economic upswings into longer term growth. The Regional Industry Collaboration Program, funded by the Victorian State government is one such measure to make the connection with research and promote economic growth. Our partners at Deakin University have a breadth of talent and innovative capacity ready for companies to utilise.
To access the benefits of RICP to help your company to grow contact Mike Williams, 0439882366