Australia’s tech industry is falling behind, report finds
As the world’s top technologically driven nations continue to transform innovative concepts into a reality, Australia risks falling behind without an interest to invest in digital technology-based research, IT professionals, and workers.
That is according to a new report published by the Australian Academy of Science in collaboration with the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, which acted as a much-needed wake up call to the federal government to take a stand when it comes to ensuring digital technologies and innovation are a priority to the country.
The non-profit organization warned the government that Australia’s tech industry is edging closer to lagging behind global countries, noting that countries like Canada, France, the UK, and the U.S. have invested hefty resources into placing digital technologies as their main priority, a strategy that increased competitiveness and innovation.
“Australia’s digital innovation earnings relative to its GDP was almost four percentage points lower than the OECD average of 11.2 percent,” the organization explained.
To target the issue, the organization recommended a number of measures to be taken that can help elevate Australia’s tech industry in order to stay up to date with other nations.
For starters, the tech sector must be recognized by the Australian government as an independent growth sector, according to the report.
The organization also highlights how research and innovation in new digital technologies should be part of the federal government’s 2021 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap.
Utilizing artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and 5G are just some of the innovations the report dives into, suggesting examples of how these new tech innovations can benefit the country as seen by other nations who have prioritized research in the tech field.
Shazia Sadiq, Chair of the Australian Academy of Science’s national committee for information and communication told InnovationAus in an interview that while the Australian Government’s investment in digital tech – such as building a digital economy and creating advanced manufacturing strategies – was a good step to take, much more needs to be implemented.
“Our key message is that we need to be more than ‘smart users’ of emerging technologies,” Sadiq told InnovationAus.
Yet, what does that entail?
“It means that we need to have the scientific expertise, our sovereign capability, through which we can help and create and foster those opportunities that come from these emerging digital technologies, but also help with the vulnerabilities and limitations and dangers and do it at a national level,” she added.
Sadiq explained that the country needs to be able to ensure that the scientific experts in the science and engineering field should work in collaboration with technology professionals.
“The thinking is that these digital technologies have a very wide footprint that impacts almost all sectors,” Sadiq said.
Chris Connell, the managing director of the UK-based Kaspersky APAC, the world’s largest privately held vendor of endpoint protection solutions, is pushing forward security awareness and digital education as a method to help the Australian government achieve tech savviness among its public.
“We’re facing security challenges that put a strain on cybersecurity resources. Investing in cyber talent and promoting security awareness and digital education are the keys to success in building cyber resilient digital societies and economies,” Connell said.
“We need to move from the ‘needs’ to actually delivering on this, if we don’t, and the way the world is changing, there will be more and more risk moving forward.”
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