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National Innovation and Science Agenda
Welcome to the Ideas Boom | 1
There has never been a more exciting time
to be an Australian.
Advances in technology are transforming just about
every part of our lives, from the way we work to the
way we communicate and access services.
Innovation and science are critical for Australia to
deliver new sources of growth, maintain high-wage
jobs and seize the next wave of economic prosperity.
Innovation is about new and existing businesses
creating new products, processes and business models.
It is also about creating a culture that backs good ideas
and learns from taking risks and making mistakes.
Innovation is important to every sector of the
economy – from ICT to healthcare, education to
agriculture, and defence to transport.
It is about tech entrepreneurs working on the latest
product but, equally, about farmers using sensor
technology to improve yields, or a business bringing
new products to market.
Innovation keeps us competitive. It keeps us at the
cutting edge. It creates jobs. And it will keep our
standard of living high.
Australia is well-placed to take advantage of the
opportunities presented by these exciting times. But to
succeed, there are areas where we need to improve.
The National Innovation and Science Agenda will focus
on four key pillars:
1. Culture and capital
2. Collaboration
3. Talent and skills
4. Government as an exemplar
Together these pillars provide a framework for
Australian innovation policy. The initiatives are worth
$1.1 billion over four years.
The National Innovation and Science Agenda will drive
smart ideas that create business growth, local jobs and
global success.
National Innovation and
Science Agenda
Strong economic fundamentals and a stable
investment climate
Global reputation as a trusted source of
goods and services
Home to some of the highest quality
scientific research organisations in the world
Direct access to markets in Asia – the world’s
economic engine room
Insufficient access to early stage capital for
many startups
The lowest level of industry-research
collaboration in the OECD
School students’ maths skills are falling
Government following on innovation, not
leading
Australia has strong building blocks for success… …but there are obstacles we need to overcome
| National Innovation and Science Agenda 2
Innovation for jobs
and growth
A world of change
The pace of change, supercharged by new and
emerging technologies, has never been so great, nor
so disruptive.
It is being driven by rapid advances in computer
processing power and data storage capacity, with
an average smartphone more powerful than the
combined computing power of NASA in 1969.
The Internet is also disrupting traditional jobs,
businesses and industries in a manner that would have
been unimaginable just a few decades ago. Uber, the
world’s largest ridesharing company, has disrupted
the taxi industry, Airbnb the holiday rental market,
Facebook the advertising industry and iTunes CD sales.
The pace of change is more remarkable than the scale
— Uber and Airbnb were both founded less than a
decade ago.
The Internet is breaking down barriers to entry and
presenting an enormous platform for innovation.
Although the Internet exposes more local businesses
to new sources of competition, it also means that a
larger and far wealthier global market has become
accessible to Australia.
At the same time, economic convergence means
countries that had, until recently, competed for low
cost, low skill jobs are now competing for the most
skilled and producing the most advanced products.
For Australia this is both a threat and opportunity.
Competition for market share is fercer than at any
point in history but it also means that more consumers
have burst into the middle class.
Much of this growth has been and will be in our region
— in the next 15 years China and India together will be
home to over 2.3 billion middle class consumers.
Innovation for jobs and growth
Australia is in its 25th year of economic growth but
faces new challenges as the mining investment boom
comes to an end.
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Direct funding R&D tax incentve
% GDP
Government investment in R&D, by country, 2011
Welcome to the Ideas Boom | 3
Innovation is critical to improving Australia’s
competitiveness, standard of living, high wages and
generous social welfare net, but it is not the silver
bullet. We must also build on the successful economic
reforms of the 1980s and 1990s, lift government
efciency and improve competition, as proposed by
the Government’s response to the Harper Review.
While historically high commodity prices have driven
the growth in our living standards over the last decade,
fostering innovation and commercialising ideas will be
a key driver of future jobs and growth.
Innovative frms are more competitive, more able to
capture increased market share and more likely to
increase employment than their competitors. Over the
period 2006-2011, 1.4 million new jobs were created by
frms aged less than three years old. Employment in
mature businesses, in contrast, fell 400,000.
The role of government
Government supports innovation by investing in
enablers such as education, science and research, and
infrastructure; incentivising business investment; and
removing regulatory obstacles such as restrictions
around employee share ownership or access to
crowd-sourced equity funding.
The Government is investing around $9.7 billion in
research and development in 2015-16. Around
$3.2 billion directly supports business sector R&D and
much of the rest funds research in universities and
research agencies such as CSIRO.
Government also enables innovation by investing in
traditional infrastructure such as research laboratories,
roads and rail and digital infrastructure such as the
nbn, which currently passes 1.5 million premises, with
construction to begin in areas covering almost
7.5 million premises over the next three years.
CSIRO
R&D tax measures
ARC
NHMRC
DST Group
Other
University block
research funding
Other
Health
Australian
Government
Other
Energy&
EnvironmentR&D
Other
3 2 1 0
Australian Government
research actvites
Business sector
Higher educaton sector
Mult-sector
$billion
Rural R&D Cooperatve
$1.8 billion
$3.2 billion
$2.8 billion
$1.9 billion
__________
Total $9.7 billion
Australian Government investment in R&D, 2015-16
Culture and capital
Australians are renowned for their smart ideas, but we often fail to back them and turn them into
commercial realities.
Only 9% of Australian small to medium sized businesses brought a new idea to market in 2012-13,
compared to 19% in the top fve OECD countries.
Our vision is for Australians to be confdent, embrace risk, pursue ideas and learn from mistakes, and for
investors to back these ideas at an early stage.
We will provide new tax breaks to remove the bias against businesses that take risks and innovate,
and we will support greater private sector investment by co-investing to commercialise promising ideas
through a CSIRO Innovation Fund and a Biomedical Translation Fund.
Collaboration
Australia’s rate of collaboration between research and industry sectors is the lowest in the OECD. We
need to encourage Australia’s world-class researchers and businesses to collaborate to shape our future
industries and generate wealth.
We will change funding incentives so that more university funding is allocated to research that is
done in partnership with industry; and invest over the long term in critical, world-leading research
infrastructure to ensure our researchers have access to the infrastructure they need.
Talent and skills
Too few Australian students are studying science, maths and computing in schools – skills that are critical
to prepare our students for the jobs of the future. We also need to create an environment that attracts the
world’s best talent to our shores.
We will support all Australian students to embrace the digital age by promoting coding and computing
in schools to ensure our students have the problem solving and critical reasoning skills for high wage jobs.
We will also link Australia to other innovative economies and change the visa system to attract more
entrepreneurial and research talent from overseas.
Government as an exemplar
Government has consistently lagged behind the private sector in innovation. We must back new ways of
‘doing business’ and learn from mistakes.
We will lead by example by becoming more innovative in how we deliver services and make data
openly available to the public and make it easier for startups and innovative small businesses to sell
technology services to government.
We will place innovation and science at the centre of the Government with a new sub-committee of
Cabinet, and will establish Innovation and Science Australia as an independent advisory board.
Boosting innovation and
science in four key areas
Welcome to the Ideas Boom | 5
Innovation and science at the
core of the policy agenda
The Government has a key role to play in setting a
vision for the future of the nation and putting in place
the policies that allow Australians to succeed and
prosper.
This Agenda is an important step on the path to a more
innovative and entrepreneurial economy.
It builds on key measures we have already put in place,
including:
3 Establishing Industry Growth Centres in key
sectors of competitive advantage: Advanced
Manufacturing; Food and Agribusiness; Medical
Technologies and Pharmaceuticals; Mining
Equipment, Technology and Services; and Oil,
Gas and Energy Resources
3 Reforming employee share schemes to allow
startups to attract world leading staf
3 Delivering tax cuts through the $5 billion Small
Business and Jobs Package
3 Signing three historic free trade agreements
– with China, Japan and South Korea, and
concluding the Trans-Pacifc Partnership
3 Delivering the Entrepreneurs’ Programme to
help our entrepreneurs get of the ground
3 Supporting the teaching of computer coding
across diferent year levels in schools
3 Reforming the Australian Curriculum to give
teachers more class time to teach science, maths
and English
3 Requiring that new primary school teachers
graduate with a subject specialisation, with
priority for science, technology, engineering and
maths (STEM)
3 Establishing a regulatory regime for
crowd-sourced equity funding
3 Improving regulation and adopting international
standards where possible
This package of measures is not the end of the
Government’s commitment to nurturing a healthy
innovation system.
We will make innovation central to all our major
policies going forward. This will include a focus on
innovation in the Defence White Paper and the Tax
White Paper, and build on our responses to the Harper
Competition Policy Review and the Murray Financial
System Inquiry.
Part of being a Government committed to innovation
is to lead by example and respond to changing
circumstances.
We believe the measures in the Agenda put us on the
right track to becoming a leading innovator. But we
will also be open to adapting and changing course if
things don’t work. This is what an agile government
should do.
A more innovative Australia will improve the quality of
life of Australians across the country, from our cities
and our regions, to our rural and remote communities.
Every Australian will beneft from an agenda that puts
innovation and science at the heart of government.
| National Innovation and Science Agenda 6
Culture and capital
Australians have great ideas – both from our world class research and from traditional Australian ingenuity.
We don’t always make the most of those ideas, missing the opportunity to transform them into new
businesses and new jobs.
We need a greater emphasis on celebrating success rather than penalising failure. This takes a cultural shift to
encourage more Australians and businesses to take a risk on a smart idea. We need to leave behind the fear of
failure, and challenge each other to be more ambitious.
We need to improve the availability of fnance for our innovative startups. The period between initial funding to
when a startup begins generating revenue is known as the ‘valley of death’. During this time additional fnancing
is usually scarce, leaving the business vulnerable to cash fow requirements.
Around 4,500 startups miss out on equity fnance each year and access to additional fnance is one of the main
barriers to growth that startups face. Innovative businesses that don’t have a track record and that are not
following a proven methodology can fnd it particularly difcult to raise fnance from traditional sources. Early
stage investors, whether individuals or companies, can play a key role, both in providing direct investments and in
contributing their business experience.
The venture capital industry is gaining momentum in Australia, with over $600 million raised or planned since
30 June 2015. Confdence in early stage start up activity is strong, but this is primarily concentrated in the
technology sector. It’s important that we build on this momentum, improving funding for promising projects
right across the economy.
The measures in this package will address this funding gap and help ensure a steady fow of investment
opportunities through to later stage venture capital investors.
New initiatives
We are aligning our tax system and business laws with a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation.
X We will provide new tax breaks for early stage investors in innovative startups. Investors will receive
a 20% non-refundable tax ofset based on the amount of their investment, as well as a capital gains tax
exemption. This scheme is based on the successful Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme in the United
Kingdom, which has resulted in over $500 million in funding to almost 2,900 companies in its frst two years.
Welcome to the Ideas Boom | 7
X We will build on the recent momentum in venture capital investment in Australia including by
introducing a 10% non-refundable tax ofset for capital invested in new Early Stage Venture Capital Limited
Partnerships (ESVCLPs), and increasing the cap on committed capital from $100 million to $200 million for
new ESVCLPs.
X We will relax the ‘same business test’ that denies tax losses if a company changes its business activities,
and introduce a more fexible ‘predominantly similar business test’. This will allow a startup to bring in an
equity partner and secure new business opportunities without worrying about tax penalties.
X We will remove rules that limit depreciation deductions for some intangible assets (like patents) to a
statutory life and instead allow them to be depreciated over their economic life as occurs for other assets.
X We will also reform our insolvency laws, which currently put too much focus on penalising and stigmatising
business failure. The Government understands that sometimes entrepreneurs will fail several times before
they succeed – and will usually learn more from failure than from success. Accordingly, we will:
• reduce the default bankruptcy period from three years to one year;
• introduce a ‘safe harbour’ for directors from personal liability for insolvent trading if they appoint a
professional restructuring adviser to develop a plan to turnaround a company in fnancial difculty; and
• ban ‘ipso facto’ contractual clauses that allow an agreement to be terminated solely due to an
insolvency event, if a company is undertaking a restructure.
BACKING OUR INNOVATIVE ENTREPRENEURS BY OPENING UP NEW
SOURCES OF FINANCE AND MAKING MORE OF OUR PUBLIC RESEARCH
We will back high potential ideas with capital to help
ensure they stay and grow in Australia.
X We will establish a new $200 million CSIRO
Innovation Fund to co-invest in new spin-of
companies and existing startups that will develop
technology from CSIRO and other publicly
funded research agencies and universities.
X We will establish a new Biomedical Translation
Fund to co-invest $250 million with the
private sector to increase the capital available
for commercialising medical research within
Australia and help ensure that our deep strengths
in this area are leveraged to drive future growth.
| National Innovation and Science Agenda 8
Track record
The Government has a strong track record
in promoting an entrepreneurial culture and
supporting businesses.
We have introduced generous tax concessions
for startups who reward their staf through
employee share schemes, allowing them to
compete with established companies and to
attract the best talent from overseas.
We have also introduced legislation to allow
new companies to attract fnancing through
crowd-sourced equity. The scheme allows
companies to raise up to $5 million per annum
through this mechanism, which compares
favourably to other countries such as the United
States (US$1 million p.a.) and New Zealand
(NZ$2 million p.a.).
Australia’s successful startups
We need to support new businesses that
disrupt and challenge the status quo – creating
new opportunities and new jobs like SEEK and
Atlassian.
For example, the jobseeking website SEEK was
founded as a startup in 1997. SEEK is now one
of Australia’s top 100 companies with market
capitalisation of over $4 billion and over
500 employees in Australia and New Zealand
alone.
In 2001, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott
Farquhar founded Atlassian on a $10,000 credit
card. Today the enterprise software company is
a multinational valued at over US$3 billion and
employs over 750 people.
We will also back small businesses and startups to help them establish and grow. Over the decade from 2001
to 2011, SMEs aged less than fve years employed only around 15% of the Australian workforce, but made the
highest contribution (40%) to net job creation in Australia.
X We will support incubators which play a crucial role in the innovation ecosystem to ensure startups have
access to the resources, knowledge and networks necessary to transform their ideas into globally scalable
new businesses.
X To make it easier for promising businesses to hire and retain top staf, we will make existing employee
share scheme (ESS) rules more user friendly. The new rules will allow companies to ofer shares to their
employees without having to reveal commercially sensitive information to their competitors. These
changes build on the recent reforms to ESS, which included deferring the taxing point for employees and
introducing an additional concession for those working in startup companies.
INNOVATION IS THE OUTPUT OF A STRONG ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE. A CULTURE OF SPEED OF EXECUTION, EMPOWERMENT OF
PEOPLE AND IDEAS, AND A TOLERANCE OF FAILURE AND OF THOSE
WHO TRY
Emma has
a new idea to
produce on-demand
3D printed parts
for farm
machinery
Emma sets up her new
business, 3DPrintSmart Pty Ltd.
Alex, a savvy early stage (angel) investor,
invests a further $1 million in 3DPrintSmart
and claims a 20% tax ofset under the Tax
Incentive for Startup Investors.
Emma needs a further $10 million to produce and
market her 3D printing services to farmers.
A-OK Ventures invests $10 million in Emma’s
business using funds from a range of investors who
are eligible to claim a 10% tax ofset under new
reforms to ESVCLPs.
Emma spends $500k on designing
software for her new 3D printer.
She receives a refundable tax ofset
through the R&D Tax Incentive.
Emma starts selling her service to the market.
Emma’s business becomes proftable and
grows, creating local jobs. As a result,
3DPrintSmart will have greater access to
deductions for previous tax losses through the
new Predominantly Similar Business Test.
Emma accesses the expanded Innovation
Connections programme to fund a scientist
that helps co-design her prototype printer.
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Emma’s startup
journey to market
| National Innovation and Science Agenda 10
Collaboration
Track record
The $20 billion Medical Research Future Fund
has been established to provide a new, sustained
increase in funding available for medical research
and innovation.
Our fve Industry Growth Centres will lift
innovation, competitiveness and productivity
to drive industry growth in areas of national
competitive strength.
We have set Science and Research Priorities to
help build capability and ensure that our world-
class science and research eforts align to our
needs.
We have developed an Intellectual Property
Toolkit, with model contracts and case studies,
to facilitate collaboration between research and
industry.
We reformed the long-standing Cooperative
Research Centres programme to enhance their
focus on industry and growth sectors.
The Australian Technology
Network of Universities (ATN)
is responding to the need for
increased collaboration with
industry
The ATN represents fve of Australia’s
technology focussed universities. At these
universities, 70% of research income has come
from industry and other end users since 2010,
and 92% of ATN research is rated at or above
world standard (2015).
The ATN is also partnering with business
to engage doctoral students in solving-real
world problems, through its Industry Doctoral
Training Centre in Mathematics and Statistics.
Collaboration is about our brightest minds in research and business working
together to create novel solutions and job-creating enterprises. Businesses that
collaborate on innovation with research organisations are three times more
likely to experience productivity growth, improved sales and exporting activity.
Despite these benefts, Australia’s rate of collaboration between industry
and researchers (at 2-3%) is currently the lowest in the OECD. Australian
businesses do not have as much internal research expertise as key comparator
countries either. At 43%, Australia’s proportion of researchers employed in
business is signifcantly lower than countries such as Germany (56%),
South Korea (79%) and Israel (84%).
That’s why this Agenda includes a package of measures to translate our world
leading science and research into growth opportunities.
37%
14%
3%
2%
Large ?rms SMEs
OECD Average Australia
We have the lowest
collaboration rate between
frms and researchers
Welcome to the Ideas Boom | 11
INCREASING THE LEVEL OF COLLABORATION BETWEEN INDUSTRY
AND RESEARCHERS TO FIND SOLUTIONS TO REAL WORLD PROBLEMS
AND CREATE JOBS AND GROWTH
New initiatives
Building world-class national research infrastructure
X We will provide long-term funding certainty for cutting-edge, national research infrastructure to
ensure research jobs stay in Australia and Australia retains the capability to be at the forefront of
global discoveries. Over the next decade, the Government will provide $520 million for the Australian
Synchrotron, $294 million for the Square Kilometre Array, while the National Collaborative Research
Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) will receive $1.5 billion. In 2016, Australia’s Chief Scientist will undertake a
process to identify national research infrastructure capability needs to inform where funding is required in
future years.
Greater collaboration between universities and businesses
X We will introduce new arrangements to encourage collaboration between researchers and industry
by streamlining and refocussing a greater proportion of research block grant funding toward
collaboration. We will also provide an additional $127 million over the forward estimates to research block
grant funding.
X We will introduce, for the frst time, clear and transparent measures of non-academic impact and industry
engagement when assessing university research performance. This will be piloted through the Australian
Research Council in 2017 and fully implemented by 2018.
X We will also connect more small and medium businesses with researchers by expanding and relaunching
the successful Research Connections programme as Innovation Connections, opening up Australian
Research Council Linkage Projects to continuous applications to fast track decisions on collaborative
research grants, and opening a new application round for the Cooperative Research Centre programme in
February 2016.
Linking to the world
X We will increase linkages with key economies to enable Australia to improve research, commercialisation
and business performance, and access international supply chains and the global market. This will include
providing access for entrepreneurial Australians to landing pads in Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv and three other
locations, and leveraging the expertise of the Australian diaspora in key markets. We will also provide
funding for Australian collaborations with international research-industry clusters, such as Leading-Edge
Clusters and Fraunhofer Institutes in Germany.
Investing in the future of information technology
X We will establish a new Cyber Security Growth Centre to create opportunities for Australian businesses in
this critical new sector. We will boost Australia’s world class capability in quantum computing research by
investing $26 million towards building a silicon quantum circuit, with the potential to create new jobs and
new business models.
| National Innovation and Science Agenda 12
Talent and skills
Track record
To ensure that our young people have the skills
they need for the future, the Government has
been leading nationally by calling for and
working with the States and Territories on a
national STEM School Education Strategy.
In September 2015, the Australian Curriculum
was endorsed by the COAG Education Council.
The Curriculum includes a digital technologies
element – and the Government has reinforced
this with $3.5 million for teaching coding, as part
of the $12 million restoring the focus on STEM in
schools in 2014.
To get the skills that businesses need now, the
Government has been refning its visa settings
– including by improving 457s for startups so that
they can access the workers they need right now.
.
Curious Minds - Inspiring girls’
participation in STEM
As part of an Australian Government funded
initiative, 54 school girls will be brought to
Canberra in December for the frst national
all-girls Curious Minds STEM extension learning
and mentoring programme.
School girls from diverse backgrounds will
spend four days learning science, informatics
and mathematics, mentored by inspiring
women in science, including Professor Angela
Moles (2013 Life Scientist of the Year), and
young innovators such as Microsoft’s Esther
Mosad.
The talent and skills of our people is the engine behind Australia’s innovative capacity. We are focussed on
equipping Australians with the skills needed for high wage, high productivity jobs. We will also attract the best
and brightest to Australia and do more to leverage our extensive diaspora and their networks by working with
organisations such as Advance.
We need to expose more students to coding and computational thinking to equip our students with the problem
solving and critical reasoning skills for the jobs of the future. Over the coming decades some jobs will be lost to
automation but many other new jobs will be created in both new and existing industries.
The Foundation for Young Australians predicts that today’s young people will hold as many as 17 diferent jobs,
in fve diferent careers, over the course of their working lives. Our education system, therefore, must equip
students to be successful entrepreneurs, hold a diverse number of jobs or work across a number of industries.
Women hold around a quarter of STEM and ICT related jobs and are signifcantly underrepresented in high level
research positions. We need to engage more girls in STEM and computing, and provide pathways to progress
their interest across the education system and into careers.
Welcome to the Ideas Boom | 13
DEVELOPING AND ATTRACTING WORLD-CLASS TALENT AND
PREPARING OUR WORKFORCE FOR THE JOBS OF THE FUTURE
New initiatives
Equipping young Australians to create and use digital technologies
To help Australians prepare for the jobs of the future, we are investing $51 million in:
X Year 5s and 7s to learn coding through online computing challenges;
X Supporting and upskilling our teachers to implement the digital technologies curriculum through online
learning activities and expert help; and
X Targeted ICT and STEM programmes like ICT Summer Schools (for Year 9s and 10s) and STEM partnerships
to bring scientists and ICT professionals into classrooms.
Expanding opportunities for women in STEM
X We are investing over $13 million to support the greater participation of girls and women in the research
sector, STEM industries, startups and entrepreneurial frms; and
X We will celebrate female STEM role models and build programmes and networks that support workplace
gender equality – such as the Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) pilot – to realise our full potential as
a nation through greater contribution from women.
Improving visa arrangements
We will bring entrepreneurs and other innovative talent to Australia by:
X Introducing a new Entrepreneurs Visa for up and coming entrepreneurial talent;
X Actively seeking out and encouraging talented individuals to come to Australia, using existing Government
overseas networks; and
X Enhancing pathways to permanent residency for high quality STEM and ICT post-graduate students.
Inspiring STEM literacy
To inspire the next generation in STEM, right from the beginning and throughout their schooling, we are
investing $48 million in:
X Encouraging school students to participate and achieve in science and maths by supporting participation
in international competitions and by introducing youth prizes in the prestigious Prime Minister’s Prizes for
Science;
X Engaging preschoolers with fun experiments, inquiry and play-based learning apps focussed on STEM
concepts; and
X Backing science in our communities, with events such as National Science Week, that inspire STEM curiosity
and knowledge in young people.
| National Innovation and Science Agenda 14
We are committed to changing the way government delivers to Australians by trialling good ideas, sharing
information, looking for innovative suppliers and changing our policies when they are not working.
It has often been easier for government to continue with the ways things have been done rather than
embrace new technological opportunities. We are making government digital by default and opening up
procurement and data to encourage innovation in Australian business. Digital technologies provide huge
opportunities for government to deliver better services for less money.
The Government is actively leading the cultural and technological change required to ensure innovation
is central to the way government operates. We are setting up a new independent board – Innovation and
Science Australia – to act as a strategic coordinator of science, research and innovation policy across
government and the economy.
Government as an
exemplar
Track record
We established the Digital Transformation
Ofce to help government deliver simpler, faster
and easier to use digital services to the public. It
works across government agencies using agile
techniques to fast track digital projects.
We are partnering with Pollenizer, an established
Australian incubator, to fnd, incubate and
accelerate innovative business ideas that
leverage openly available data from the
Australian Government.
InnovationXchange has been established within
the Department of Foreign Afairs and Trade to
catalyse and support innovation across the
Australian aid programme.
ATO’s Digital Disruption
The Australian Taxation Ofce has made tax and
super help easily accessible through a new app.
In 2015, the ATO was recognised for being the
frst Commonwealth agency to deploy such
a mobile app on all three major app stores
after undergoing a major internal cultural
transformation.
The ATO’s mobile apps team designed, built
and delivered the app in less than 10 weeks by
engaging with key stakeholders and business
partners.
Welcome to the Ideas Boom | 15
New initiatives
Placing innovation and science at the heart of policy making
X We are getting the governance settings right, so that there is a single body responsible for researching,
planning and advising government on the long term strategic vision for innovation and science.
X We are establishing a new independent statutory board, Innovation and Science Australia, supported
by a chief executive ofcer, accountable through the Industry Minister to a new Innovation and Science
Committee of Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister. This will place innovation and science at the centre of
policymaking.
X The board will take a coordinated view of policies that afect innovation to ensure that we implement this
Agenda so that Australia builds a stronger, more entrepreneurial economy. One of its frst responsibilities
will be to review the current R&D Tax Incentive to improve its efectiveness and integrity, including by
sharpening its focus on encouraging additional R&D spend, drawing on the detailed departmental review
currently underway.
Encouraging innovation through government procurement
X We will leverage technology to improve services through the Digital Transformation Ofce, making
government more accessible to startups and innovative small and medium businesses by breaking down
barriers to technology procurement. These businesses will fnd it easier to compete for the $5 billion
that the Government spends a year on ICT through a new Digital Marketplace, to be built by the Digital
Transformation Ofce. ICT products and services will be standardised and broken into component parts to
reduce barriers to participation.
X We will also pilot a new approach to government procurement through the Business Research and
Innovation Initiative. We will challenge small to medium enterprises to deliver innovative solutions for
government, rather than tendering for an existing product.
Government joining the data revolution
X To promote innovation and make best use of the vast quantity of public data, we will remove existing
barriers between the many diferent data holdings across government. Non-sensitive data will be made
openly available by default, in machine readable and anonymised forms through data.gov.au so that the
private sector can use and reuse it to create new and innovative products and business models.
X We will also ensure that Australia builds and maintains world-leading data science research capability
through Data61. With cutting edge research in data analytics and cyber security, Data61 can help develop
new technology-based industries and transform existing ones. Data61 will work with universities to
expand its PhD programme where students work directly with industry to solve problems and develop new
products, processes and services.
THE GOVERNMENT WILL LEAD BY EXAMPLE BY EMBRACING
INNOVATION AND AGILITY IN THE WAY WE DO BUSINESS
Appendix of measures
Culture and capital 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 Total
Tax incentives for angel investors $0m $3m $51m $51m $106m
New arrangements for venture capital investment $0m $0m * * *
Access to company losses $0m * * * *
Intangible asset depreciation $0m $0m $20m $60m $80m
CSIRO Innovation Fund** $0m $5m $5m $5m $15m
Biomedical Translation Fund ** $2m $6m $1m $1m $10m
Incubator Support Programme $0m $3m $3m $3m $8m
Improve bankruptcy and insolvency laws $0m $0m $0m $0m $0m
Employee Share Schemes $0m $0m $0m $0m $0m
Collaboration 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 Total
Critical research infrastructure $0m $15m $198m $245m $459m
Sharper incentives for engagement $0m $25m $51m $52m $127m
Global Innovation Strategy $0m $7m $9m $10m $26m
Cyber Security Growth Centre $0m $4m $7m $11m $22m
Innovation Connections programme $0m $3m $7m $8m $18m
Quantum computing $0m $5m $5m $5m $15m
Measuring impact and engagement in university
research
$2m $3m $2m $2m $9m
ARC Linkage Projects Scheme $0m $0m $0m $0m $0m
Government as an exemplar 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 Total
Data61 $0m $25m $25m $25m $75m
Business Research and Innovation Initiative $0m $4m $10m $5m $19m
Digital marketplace $3m $5m $4m $4m $15m
Innovation and Science Australia $1m $2m $3m $2m $8m
Public data strategy $0m $0m $0m $0m $0m
Talent and skills 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 Total
Inspiring all Australians in digital literacy and STEM $0m $26m $25m $33m $84m
Support for innovation through visas $1m $1m $0m $0m $1m
Total 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 Total
National Innovation and Science Agenda $9m $143m $424m $521m $1,097m
* Unquantifable
** The $70m investment component of the CSIRO Innovation Fund and the $250m investment in the Biomedical Translation Fund do not directly impact on
the underlying cash balance.
Note: Totals may not add due to rounding. The funding in the table covers the forward estimates only but most measures have funding implications beyond
the forward estimates, such as Critical research infrastructure (totalling $2.3b over the next decade), Inspiring all Australians in digital literacy and STEM
(totalling $112m to 2019-20), Cyber Security Growth Centre (totalling $30m to 2019-20), Quantum computing (totalling $26m in funding to 2021-22) and
Global Innovation Strategy (totalling $36m to 2019-20).
doc_496128839.pdf
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National Innovation and Science Agenda
Welcome to the Ideas Boom | 1
There has never been a more exciting time
to be an Australian.
Advances in technology are transforming just about
every part of our lives, from the way we work to the
way we communicate and access services.
Innovation and science are critical for Australia to
deliver new sources of growth, maintain high-wage
jobs and seize the next wave of economic prosperity.
Innovation is about new and existing businesses
creating new products, processes and business models.
It is also about creating a culture that backs good ideas
and learns from taking risks and making mistakes.
Innovation is important to every sector of the
economy – from ICT to healthcare, education to
agriculture, and defence to transport.
It is about tech entrepreneurs working on the latest
product but, equally, about farmers using sensor
technology to improve yields, or a business bringing
new products to market.
Innovation keeps us competitive. It keeps us at the
cutting edge. It creates jobs. And it will keep our
standard of living high.
Australia is well-placed to take advantage of the
opportunities presented by these exciting times. But to
succeed, there are areas where we need to improve.
The National Innovation and Science Agenda will focus
on four key pillars:
1. Culture and capital
2. Collaboration
3. Talent and skills
4. Government as an exemplar
Together these pillars provide a framework for
Australian innovation policy. The initiatives are worth
$1.1 billion over four years.
The National Innovation and Science Agenda will drive
smart ideas that create business growth, local jobs and
global success.
National Innovation and
Science Agenda
Strong economic fundamentals and a stable
investment climate
Global reputation as a trusted source of
goods and services
Home to some of the highest quality
scientific research organisations in the world
Direct access to markets in Asia – the world’s
economic engine room
Insufficient access to early stage capital for
many startups
The lowest level of industry-research
collaboration in the OECD
School students’ maths skills are falling
Government following on innovation, not
leading
Australia has strong building blocks for success… …but there are obstacles we need to overcome
| National Innovation and Science Agenda 2
Innovation for jobs
and growth
A world of change
The pace of change, supercharged by new and
emerging technologies, has never been so great, nor
so disruptive.
It is being driven by rapid advances in computer
processing power and data storage capacity, with
an average smartphone more powerful than the
combined computing power of NASA in 1969.
The Internet is also disrupting traditional jobs,
businesses and industries in a manner that would have
been unimaginable just a few decades ago. Uber, the
world’s largest ridesharing company, has disrupted
the taxi industry, Airbnb the holiday rental market,
Facebook the advertising industry and iTunes CD sales.
The pace of change is more remarkable than the scale
— Uber and Airbnb were both founded less than a
decade ago.
The Internet is breaking down barriers to entry and
presenting an enormous platform for innovation.
Although the Internet exposes more local businesses
to new sources of competition, it also means that a
larger and far wealthier global market has become
accessible to Australia.
At the same time, economic convergence means
countries that had, until recently, competed for low
cost, low skill jobs are now competing for the most
skilled and producing the most advanced products.
For Australia this is both a threat and opportunity.
Competition for market share is fercer than at any
point in history but it also means that more consumers
have burst into the middle class.
Much of this growth has been and will be in our region
— in the next 15 years China and India together will be
home to over 2.3 billion middle class consumers.
Innovation for jobs and growth
Australia is in its 25th year of economic growth but
faces new challenges as the mining investment boom
comes to an end.
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Direct funding R&D tax incentve
% GDP
Government investment in R&D, by country, 2011
Welcome to the Ideas Boom | 3
Innovation is critical to improving Australia’s
competitiveness, standard of living, high wages and
generous social welfare net, but it is not the silver
bullet. We must also build on the successful economic
reforms of the 1980s and 1990s, lift government
efciency and improve competition, as proposed by
the Government’s response to the Harper Review.
While historically high commodity prices have driven
the growth in our living standards over the last decade,
fostering innovation and commercialising ideas will be
a key driver of future jobs and growth.
Innovative frms are more competitive, more able to
capture increased market share and more likely to
increase employment than their competitors. Over the
period 2006-2011, 1.4 million new jobs were created by
frms aged less than three years old. Employment in
mature businesses, in contrast, fell 400,000.
The role of government
Government supports innovation by investing in
enablers such as education, science and research, and
infrastructure; incentivising business investment; and
removing regulatory obstacles such as restrictions
around employee share ownership or access to
crowd-sourced equity funding.
The Government is investing around $9.7 billion in
research and development in 2015-16. Around
$3.2 billion directly supports business sector R&D and
much of the rest funds research in universities and
research agencies such as CSIRO.
Government also enables innovation by investing in
traditional infrastructure such as research laboratories,
roads and rail and digital infrastructure such as the
nbn, which currently passes 1.5 million premises, with
construction to begin in areas covering almost
7.5 million premises over the next three years.
CSIRO
R&D tax measures
ARC
NHMRC
DST Group
Other
University block
research funding
Other
Health
Australian
Government
Other
Energy&
EnvironmentR&D
Other
3 2 1 0
Australian Government
research actvites
Business sector
Higher educaton sector
Mult-sector
$billion
Rural R&D Cooperatve
$1.8 billion
$3.2 billion
$2.8 billion
$1.9 billion
__________
Total $9.7 billion
Australian Government investment in R&D, 2015-16
Culture and capital
Australians are renowned for their smart ideas, but we often fail to back them and turn them into
commercial realities.
Only 9% of Australian small to medium sized businesses brought a new idea to market in 2012-13,
compared to 19% in the top fve OECD countries.
Our vision is for Australians to be confdent, embrace risk, pursue ideas and learn from mistakes, and for
investors to back these ideas at an early stage.
We will provide new tax breaks to remove the bias against businesses that take risks and innovate,
and we will support greater private sector investment by co-investing to commercialise promising ideas
through a CSIRO Innovation Fund and a Biomedical Translation Fund.
Collaboration
Australia’s rate of collaboration between research and industry sectors is the lowest in the OECD. We
need to encourage Australia’s world-class researchers and businesses to collaborate to shape our future
industries and generate wealth.
We will change funding incentives so that more university funding is allocated to research that is
done in partnership with industry; and invest over the long term in critical, world-leading research
infrastructure to ensure our researchers have access to the infrastructure they need.
Talent and skills
Too few Australian students are studying science, maths and computing in schools – skills that are critical
to prepare our students for the jobs of the future. We also need to create an environment that attracts the
world’s best talent to our shores.
We will support all Australian students to embrace the digital age by promoting coding and computing
in schools to ensure our students have the problem solving and critical reasoning skills for high wage jobs.
We will also link Australia to other innovative economies and change the visa system to attract more
entrepreneurial and research talent from overseas.
Government as an exemplar
Government has consistently lagged behind the private sector in innovation. We must back new ways of
‘doing business’ and learn from mistakes.
We will lead by example by becoming more innovative in how we deliver services and make data
openly available to the public and make it easier for startups and innovative small businesses to sell
technology services to government.
We will place innovation and science at the centre of the Government with a new sub-committee of
Cabinet, and will establish Innovation and Science Australia as an independent advisory board.
Boosting innovation and
science in four key areas
Welcome to the Ideas Boom | 5
Innovation and science at the
core of the policy agenda
The Government has a key role to play in setting a
vision for the future of the nation and putting in place
the policies that allow Australians to succeed and
prosper.
This Agenda is an important step on the path to a more
innovative and entrepreneurial economy.
It builds on key measures we have already put in place,
including:
3 Establishing Industry Growth Centres in key
sectors of competitive advantage: Advanced
Manufacturing; Food and Agribusiness; Medical
Technologies and Pharmaceuticals; Mining
Equipment, Technology and Services; and Oil,
Gas and Energy Resources
3 Reforming employee share schemes to allow
startups to attract world leading staf
3 Delivering tax cuts through the $5 billion Small
Business and Jobs Package
3 Signing three historic free trade agreements
– with China, Japan and South Korea, and
concluding the Trans-Pacifc Partnership
3 Delivering the Entrepreneurs’ Programme to
help our entrepreneurs get of the ground
3 Supporting the teaching of computer coding
across diferent year levels in schools
3 Reforming the Australian Curriculum to give
teachers more class time to teach science, maths
and English
3 Requiring that new primary school teachers
graduate with a subject specialisation, with
priority for science, technology, engineering and
maths (STEM)
3 Establishing a regulatory regime for
crowd-sourced equity funding
3 Improving regulation and adopting international
standards where possible
This package of measures is not the end of the
Government’s commitment to nurturing a healthy
innovation system.
We will make innovation central to all our major
policies going forward. This will include a focus on
innovation in the Defence White Paper and the Tax
White Paper, and build on our responses to the Harper
Competition Policy Review and the Murray Financial
System Inquiry.
Part of being a Government committed to innovation
is to lead by example and respond to changing
circumstances.
We believe the measures in the Agenda put us on the
right track to becoming a leading innovator. But we
will also be open to adapting and changing course if
things don’t work. This is what an agile government
should do.
A more innovative Australia will improve the quality of
life of Australians across the country, from our cities
and our regions, to our rural and remote communities.
Every Australian will beneft from an agenda that puts
innovation and science at the heart of government.
| National Innovation and Science Agenda 6
Culture and capital
Australians have great ideas – both from our world class research and from traditional Australian ingenuity.
We don’t always make the most of those ideas, missing the opportunity to transform them into new
businesses and new jobs.
We need a greater emphasis on celebrating success rather than penalising failure. This takes a cultural shift to
encourage more Australians and businesses to take a risk on a smart idea. We need to leave behind the fear of
failure, and challenge each other to be more ambitious.
We need to improve the availability of fnance for our innovative startups. The period between initial funding to
when a startup begins generating revenue is known as the ‘valley of death’. During this time additional fnancing
is usually scarce, leaving the business vulnerable to cash fow requirements.
Around 4,500 startups miss out on equity fnance each year and access to additional fnance is one of the main
barriers to growth that startups face. Innovative businesses that don’t have a track record and that are not
following a proven methodology can fnd it particularly difcult to raise fnance from traditional sources. Early
stage investors, whether individuals or companies, can play a key role, both in providing direct investments and in
contributing their business experience.
The venture capital industry is gaining momentum in Australia, with over $600 million raised or planned since
30 June 2015. Confdence in early stage start up activity is strong, but this is primarily concentrated in the
technology sector. It’s important that we build on this momentum, improving funding for promising projects
right across the economy.
The measures in this package will address this funding gap and help ensure a steady fow of investment
opportunities through to later stage venture capital investors.
New initiatives
We are aligning our tax system and business laws with a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation.
X We will provide new tax breaks for early stage investors in innovative startups. Investors will receive
a 20% non-refundable tax ofset based on the amount of their investment, as well as a capital gains tax
exemption. This scheme is based on the successful Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme in the United
Kingdom, which has resulted in over $500 million in funding to almost 2,900 companies in its frst two years.
Welcome to the Ideas Boom | 7
X We will build on the recent momentum in venture capital investment in Australia including by
introducing a 10% non-refundable tax ofset for capital invested in new Early Stage Venture Capital Limited
Partnerships (ESVCLPs), and increasing the cap on committed capital from $100 million to $200 million for
new ESVCLPs.
X We will relax the ‘same business test’ that denies tax losses if a company changes its business activities,
and introduce a more fexible ‘predominantly similar business test’. This will allow a startup to bring in an
equity partner and secure new business opportunities without worrying about tax penalties.
X We will remove rules that limit depreciation deductions for some intangible assets (like patents) to a
statutory life and instead allow them to be depreciated over their economic life as occurs for other assets.
X We will also reform our insolvency laws, which currently put too much focus on penalising and stigmatising
business failure. The Government understands that sometimes entrepreneurs will fail several times before
they succeed – and will usually learn more from failure than from success. Accordingly, we will:
• reduce the default bankruptcy period from three years to one year;
• introduce a ‘safe harbour’ for directors from personal liability for insolvent trading if they appoint a
professional restructuring adviser to develop a plan to turnaround a company in fnancial difculty; and
• ban ‘ipso facto’ contractual clauses that allow an agreement to be terminated solely due to an
insolvency event, if a company is undertaking a restructure.
BACKING OUR INNOVATIVE ENTREPRENEURS BY OPENING UP NEW
SOURCES OF FINANCE AND MAKING MORE OF OUR PUBLIC RESEARCH
We will back high potential ideas with capital to help
ensure they stay and grow in Australia.
X We will establish a new $200 million CSIRO
Innovation Fund to co-invest in new spin-of
companies and existing startups that will develop
technology from CSIRO and other publicly
funded research agencies and universities.
X We will establish a new Biomedical Translation
Fund to co-invest $250 million with the
private sector to increase the capital available
for commercialising medical research within
Australia and help ensure that our deep strengths
in this area are leveraged to drive future growth.
| National Innovation and Science Agenda 8
Track record
The Government has a strong track record
in promoting an entrepreneurial culture and
supporting businesses.
We have introduced generous tax concessions
for startups who reward their staf through
employee share schemes, allowing them to
compete with established companies and to
attract the best talent from overseas.
We have also introduced legislation to allow
new companies to attract fnancing through
crowd-sourced equity. The scheme allows
companies to raise up to $5 million per annum
through this mechanism, which compares
favourably to other countries such as the United
States (US$1 million p.a.) and New Zealand
(NZ$2 million p.a.).
Australia’s successful startups
We need to support new businesses that
disrupt and challenge the status quo – creating
new opportunities and new jobs like SEEK and
Atlassian.
For example, the jobseeking website SEEK was
founded as a startup in 1997. SEEK is now one
of Australia’s top 100 companies with market
capitalisation of over $4 billion and over
500 employees in Australia and New Zealand
alone.
In 2001, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott
Farquhar founded Atlassian on a $10,000 credit
card. Today the enterprise software company is
a multinational valued at over US$3 billion and
employs over 750 people.
We will also back small businesses and startups to help them establish and grow. Over the decade from 2001
to 2011, SMEs aged less than fve years employed only around 15% of the Australian workforce, but made the
highest contribution (40%) to net job creation in Australia.
X We will support incubators which play a crucial role in the innovation ecosystem to ensure startups have
access to the resources, knowledge and networks necessary to transform their ideas into globally scalable
new businesses.
X To make it easier for promising businesses to hire and retain top staf, we will make existing employee
share scheme (ESS) rules more user friendly. The new rules will allow companies to ofer shares to their
employees without having to reveal commercially sensitive information to their competitors. These
changes build on the recent reforms to ESS, which included deferring the taxing point for employees and
introducing an additional concession for those working in startup companies.
INNOVATION IS THE OUTPUT OF A STRONG ENTREPRENEURIAL
CULTURE. A CULTURE OF SPEED OF EXECUTION, EMPOWERMENT OF
PEOPLE AND IDEAS, AND A TOLERANCE OF FAILURE AND OF THOSE
WHO TRY
Emma has
a new idea to
produce on-demand
3D printed parts
for farm
machinery
Emma sets up her new
business, 3DPrintSmart Pty Ltd.
Alex, a savvy early stage (angel) investor,
invests a further $1 million in 3DPrintSmart
and claims a 20% tax ofset under the Tax
Incentive for Startup Investors.
Emma needs a further $10 million to produce and
market her 3D printing services to farmers.
A-OK Ventures invests $10 million in Emma’s
business using funds from a range of investors who
are eligible to claim a 10% tax ofset under new
reforms to ESVCLPs.
Emma spends $500k on designing
software for her new 3D printer.
She receives a refundable tax ofset
through the R&D Tax Incentive.
Emma starts selling her service to the market.
Emma’s business becomes proftable and
grows, creating local jobs. As a result,
3DPrintSmart will have greater access to
deductions for previous tax losses through the
new Predominantly Similar Business Test.
Emma accesses the expanded Innovation
Connections programme to fund a scientist
that helps co-design her prototype printer.
V
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Emma’s startup
journey to market
| National Innovation and Science Agenda 10
Collaboration
Track record
The $20 billion Medical Research Future Fund
has been established to provide a new, sustained
increase in funding available for medical research
and innovation.
Our fve Industry Growth Centres will lift
innovation, competitiveness and productivity
to drive industry growth in areas of national
competitive strength.
We have set Science and Research Priorities to
help build capability and ensure that our world-
class science and research eforts align to our
needs.
We have developed an Intellectual Property
Toolkit, with model contracts and case studies,
to facilitate collaboration between research and
industry.
We reformed the long-standing Cooperative
Research Centres programme to enhance their
focus on industry and growth sectors.
The Australian Technology
Network of Universities (ATN)
is responding to the need for
increased collaboration with
industry
The ATN represents fve of Australia’s
technology focussed universities. At these
universities, 70% of research income has come
from industry and other end users since 2010,
and 92% of ATN research is rated at or above
world standard (2015).
The ATN is also partnering with business
to engage doctoral students in solving-real
world problems, through its Industry Doctoral
Training Centre in Mathematics and Statistics.
Collaboration is about our brightest minds in research and business working
together to create novel solutions and job-creating enterprises. Businesses that
collaborate on innovation with research organisations are three times more
likely to experience productivity growth, improved sales and exporting activity.
Despite these benefts, Australia’s rate of collaboration between industry
and researchers (at 2-3%) is currently the lowest in the OECD. Australian
businesses do not have as much internal research expertise as key comparator
countries either. At 43%, Australia’s proportion of researchers employed in
business is signifcantly lower than countries such as Germany (56%),
South Korea (79%) and Israel (84%).
That’s why this Agenda includes a package of measures to translate our world
leading science and research into growth opportunities.
37%
14%
3%
2%
Large ?rms SMEs
OECD Average Australia
We have the lowest
collaboration rate between
frms and researchers
Welcome to the Ideas Boom | 11
INCREASING THE LEVEL OF COLLABORATION BETWEEN INDUSTRY
AND RESEARCHERS TO FIND SOLUTIONS TO REAL WORLD PROBLEMS
AND CREATE JOBS AND GROWTH
New initiatives
Building world-class national research infrastructure
X We will provide long-term funding certainty for cutting-edge, national research infrastructure to
ensure research jobs stay in Australia and Australia retains the capability to be at the forefront of
global discoveries. Over the next decade, the Government will provide $520 million for the Australian
Synchrotron, $294 million for the Square Kilometre Array, while the National Collaborative Research
Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) will receive $1.5 billion. In 2016, Australia’s Chief Scientist will undertake a
process to identify national research infrastructure capability needs to inform where funding is required in
future years.
Greater collaboration between universities and businesses
X We will introduce new arrangements to encourage collaboration between researchers and industry
by streamlining and refocussing a greater proportion of research block grant funding toward
collaboration. We will also provide an additional $127 million over the forward estimates to research block
grant funding.
X We will introduce, for the frst time, clear and transparent measures of non-academic impact and industry
engagement when assessing university research performance. This will be piloted through the Australian
Research Council in 2017 and fully implemented by 2018.
X We will also connect more small and medium businesses with researchers by expanding and relaunching
the successful Research Connections programme as Innovation Connections, opening up Australian
Research Council Linkage Projects to continuous applications to fast track decisions on collaborative
research grants, and opening a new application round for the Cooperative Research Centre programme in
February 2016.
Linking to the world
X We will increase linkages with key economies to enable Australia to improve research, commercialisation
and business performance, and access international supply chains and the global market. This will include
providing access for entrepreneurial Australians to landing pads in Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv and three other
locations, and leveraging the expertise of the Australian diaspora in key markets. We will also provide
funding for Australian collaborations with international research-industry clusters, such as Leading-Edge
Clusters and Fraunhofer Institutes in Germany.
Investing in the future of information technology
X We will establish a new Cyber Security Growth Centre to create opportunities for Australian businesses in
this critical new sector. We will boost Australia’s world class capability in quantum computing research by
investing $26 million towards building a silicon quantum circuit, with the potential to create new jobs and
new business models.
| National Innovation and Science Agenda 12
Talent and skills
Track record
To ensure that our young people have the skills
they need for the future, the Government has
been leading nationally by calling for and
working with the States and Territories on a
national STEM School Education Strategy.
In September 2015, the Australian Curriculum
was endorsed by the COAG Education Council.
The Curriculum includes a digital technologies
element – and the Government has reinforced
this with $3.5 million for teaching coding, as part
of the $12 million restoring the focus on STEM in
schools in 2014.
To get the skills that businesses need now, the
Government has been refning its visa settings
– including by improving 457s for startups so that
they can access the workers they need right now.
.
Curious Minds - Inspiring girls’
participation in STEM
As part of an Australian Government funded
initiative, 54 school girls will be brought to
Canberra in December for the frst national
all-girls Curious Minds STEM extension learning
and mentoring programme.
School girls from diverse backgrounds will
spend four days learning science, informatics
and mathematics, mentored by inspiring
women in science, including Professor Angela
Moles (2013 Life Scientist of the Year), and
young innovators such as Microsoft’s Esther
Mosad.
The talent and skills of our people is the engine behind Australia’s innovative capacity. We are focussed on
equipping Australians with the skills needed for high wage, high productivity jobs. We will also attract the best
and brightest to Australia and do more to leverage our extensive diaspora and their networks by working with
organisations such as Advance.
We need to expose more students to coding and computational thinking to equip our students with the problem
solving and critical reasoning skills for the jobs of the future. Over the coming decades some jobs will be lost to
automation but many other new jobs will be created in both new and existing industries.
The Foundation for Young Australians predicts that today’s young people will hold as many as 17 diferent jobs,
in fve diferent careers, over the course of their working lives. Our education system, therefore, must equip
students to be successful entrepreneurs, hold a diverse number of jobs or work across a number of industries.
Women hold around a quarter of STEM and ICT related jobs and are signifcantly underrepresented in high level
research positions. We need to engage more girls in STEM and computing, and provide pathways to progress
their interest across the education system and into careers.
Welcome to the Ideas Boom | 13
DEVELOPING AND ATTRACTING WORLD-CLASS TALENT AND
PREPARING OUR WORKFORCE FOR THE JOBS OF THE FUTURE
New initiatives
Equipping young Australians to create and use digital technologies
To help Australians prepare for the jobs of the future, we are investing $51 million in:
X Year 5s and 7s to learn coding through online computing challenges;
X Supporting and upskilling our teachers to implement the digital technologies curriculum through online
learning activities and expert help; and
X Targeted ICT and STEM programmes like ICT Summer Schools (for Year 9s and 10s) and STEM partnerships
to bring scientists and ICT professionals into classrooms.
Expanding opportunities for women in STEM
X We are investing over $13 million to support the greater participation of girls and women in the research
sector, STEM industries, startups and entrepreneurial frms; and
X We will celebrate female STEM role models and build programmes and networks that support workplace
gender equality – such as the Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) pilot – to realise our full potential as
a nation through greater contribution from women.
Improving visa arrangements
We will bring entrepreneurs and other innovative talent to Australia by:
X Introducing a new Entrepreneurs Visa for up and coming entrepreneurial talent;
X Actively seeking out and encouraging talented individuals to come to Australia, using existing Government
overseas networks; and
X Enhancing pathways to permanent residency for high quality STEM and ICT post-graduate students.
Inspiring STEM literacy
To inspire the next generation in STEM, right from the beginning and throughout their schooling, we are
investing $48 million in:
X Encouraging school students to participate and achieve in science and maths by supporting participation
in international competitions and by introducing youth prizes in the prestigious Prime Minister’s Prizes for
Science;
X Engaging preschoolers with fun experiments, inquiry and play-based learning apps focussed on STEM
concepts; and
X Backing science in our communities, with events such as National Science Week, that inspire STEM curiosity
and knowledge in young people.
| National Innovation and Science Agenda 14
We are committed to changing the way government delivers to Australians by trialling good ideas, sharing
information, looking for innovative suppliers and changing our policies when they are not working.
It has often been easier for government to continue with the ways things have been done rather than
embrace new technological opportunities. We are making government digital by default and opening up
procurement and data to encourage innovation in Australian business. Digital technologies provide huge
opportunities for government to deliver better services for less money.
The Government is actively leading the cultural and technological change required to ensure innovation
is central to the way government operates. We are setting up a new independent board – Innovation and
Science Australia – to act as a strategic coordinator of science, research and innovation policy across
government and the economy.
Government as an
exemplar
Track record
We established the Digital Transformation
Ofce to help government deliver simpler, faster
and easier to use digital services to the public. It
works across government agencies using agile
techniques to fast track digital projects.
We are partnering with Pollenizer, an established
Australian incubator, to fnd, incubate and
accelerate innovative business ideas that
leverage openly available data from the
Australian Government.
InnovationXchange has been established within
the Department of Foreign Afairs and Trade to
catalyse and support innovation across the
Australian aid programme.
ATO’s Digital Disruption
The Australian Taxation Ofce has made tax and
super help easily accessible through a new app.
In 2015, the ATO was recognised for being the
frst Commonwealth agency to deploy such
a mobile app on all three major app stores
after undergoing a major internal cultural
transformation.
The ATO’s mobile apps team designed, built
and delivered the app in less than 10 weeks by
engaging with key stakeholders and business
partners.
Welcome to the Ideas Boom | 15
New initiatives
Placing innovation and science at the heart of policy making
X We are getting the governance settings right, so that there is a single body responsible for researching,
planning and advising government on the long term strategic vision for innovation and science.
X We are establishing a new independent statutory board, Innovation and Science Australia, supported
by a chief executive ofcer, accountable through the Industry Minister to a new Innovation and Science
Committee of Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister. This will place innovation and science at the centre of
policymaking.
X The board will take a coordinated view of policies that afect innovation to ensure that we implement this
Agenda so that Australia builds a stronger, more entrepreneurial economy. One of its frst responsibilities
will be to review the current R&D Tax Incentive to improve its efectiveness and integrity, including by
sharpening its focus on encouraging additional R&D spend, drawing on the detailed departmental review
currently underway.
Encouraging innovation through government procurement
X We will leverage technology to improve services through the Digital Transformation Ofce, making
government more accessible to startups and innovative small and medium businesses by breaking down
barriers to technology procurement. These businesses will fnd it easier to compete for the $5 billion
that the Government spends a year on ICT through a new Digital Marketplace, to be built by the Digital
Transformation Ofce. ICT products and services will be standardised and broken into component parts to
reduce barriers to participation.
X We will also pilot a new approach to government procurement through the Business Research and
Innovation Initiative. We will challenge small to medium enterprises to deliver innovative solutions for
government, rather than tendering for an existing product.
Government joining the data revolution
X To promote innovation and make best use of the vast quantity of public data, we will remove existing
barriers between the many diferent data holdings across government. Non-sensitive data will be made
openly available by default, in machine readable and anonymised forms through data.gov.au so that the
private sector can use and reuse it to create new and innovative products and business models.
X We will also ensure that Australia builds and maintains world-leading data science research capability
through Data61. With cutting edge research in data analytics and cyber security, Data61 can help develop
new technology-based industries and transform existing ones. Data61 will work with universities to
expand its PhD programme where students work directly with industry to solve problems and develop new
products, processes and services.
THE GOVERNMENT WILL LEAD BY EXAMPLE BY EMBRACING
INNOVATION AND AGILITY IN THE WAY WE DO BUSINESS
Appendix of measures
Culture and capital 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 Total
Tax incentives for angel investors $0m $3m $51m $51m $106m
New arrangements for venture capital investment $0m $0m * * *
Access to company losses $0m * * * *
Intangible asset depreciation $0m $0m $20m $60m $80m
CSIRO Innovation Fund** $0m $5m $5m $5m $15m
Biomedical Translation Fund ** $2m $6m $1m $1m $10m
Incubator Support Programme $0m $3m $3m $3m $8m
Improve bankruptcy and insolvency laws $0m $0m $0m $0m $0m
Employee Share Schemes $0m $0m $0m $0m $0m
Collaboration 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 Total
Critical research infrastructure $0m $15m $198m $245m $459m
Sharper incentives for engagement $0m $25m $51m $52m $127m
Global Innovation Strategy $0m $7m $9m $10m $26m
Cyber Security Growth Centre $0m $4m $7m $11m $22m
Innovation Connections programme $0m $3m $7m $8m $18m
Quantum computing $0m $5m $5m $5m $15m
Measuring impact and engagement in university
research
$2m $3m $2m $2m $9m
ARC Linkage Projects Scheme $0m $0m $0m $0m $0m
Government as an exemplar 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 Total
Data61 $0m $25m $25m $25m $75m
Business Research and Innovation Initiative $0m $4m $10m $5m $19m
Digital marketplace $3m $5m $4m $4m $15m
Innovation and Science Australia $1m $2m $3m $2m $8m
Public data strategy $0m $0m $0m $0m $0m
Talent and skills 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 Total
Inspiring all Australians in digital literacy and STEM $0m $26m $25m $33m $84m
Support for innovation through visas $1m $1m $0m $0m $1m
Total 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 Total
National Innovation and Science Agenda $9m $143m $424m $521m $1,097m
* Unquantifable
** The $70m investment component of the CSIRO Innovation Fund and the $250m investment in the Biomedical Translation Fund do not directly impact on
the underlying cash balance.
Note: Totals may not add due to rounding. The funding in the table covers the forward estimates only but most measures have funding implications beyond
the forward estimates, such as Critical research infrastructure (totalling $2.3b over the next decade), Inspiring all Australians in digital literacy and STEM
(totalling $112m to 2019-20), Cyber Security Growth Centre (totalling $30m to 2019-20), Quantum computing (totalling $26m in funding to 2021-22) and
Global Innovation Strategy (totalling $36m to 2019-20).
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