The Federal Government has announced a $1.1 billion, four year “innovation package”, which includes 24 measures that are hoped will kickstart a national “innovation culture”.
The National Innovation and Science Agenda will foster innovation in the areas of tax, research infrastructure, and education in the STEM subjects of science, technology, engineering and maths.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says the agenda will focus on commercialising research, raising capital and enabling risk, making the government a model example for innovation, and boosting talent and skills.
Australian businesses look to be major winners from the agenda, with the introduction of tax breaks for early stage investors, who, based on their investment, will receive a 20% tax offset and be exempt from capital gains tax.
Early stage venture capital investment will also get a 10% tax offset.
The initiative will also encourage responsible financial risk-taking, and aim to reduce the stigma around business failure. Changes are set to be made to insolvency laws, which will see the reduction of the default bankruptcy period from three years to one and the introduction of a ‘safe harbour’ for directors from personal liability for insolvent trading if they appoint a professional restructuring adviser.
The Government says the changes will strike a better balance between encouraging entrepreneurship and protecting creditors.
The CSIRO, a major loser in the 2014 budget, is set to benefit from a $200 million, ten year CSIRO Innovation Fund.
The agenda also takes steps to secure the future pipeline of STEM-qualified individuals.
Foreign students who gain their STEM-related degrees in Australia are set to score more credit points, allowing them to stay in Australia after they have completed their study.
Former Engineers Australia President Dr Marlene Kanga points to a recent report by PwC, which indicates that 44% of Australian jobs are at risk from new technologies and 75 per cent of new jobs will require STEM skills.
To help address the lack of gender diversity in STEM, $13 million will be invested over five years, to encourage women to study and remain in STEM disciplines.
More than $50 million will be provided for online computing challenges for Year 5s and 7s to learn coding, online learning activities for teachers and targeted ICT and STEM programs like ICT summer schools for Year 9 and 10s.
If Australia is to have enough STEM-qualified workers to meet the demands of a knowledge-driven future economy, Kanga believes it is vital the process is begun at an early age.
“Australia has had declining numbers of boys and girls studying mathematics and science, the enabling subjects for careers in science, technology and mathematics,” she says.
“It is important for students to have a strong foundation in these subjects at school. This in turn will increase the numbers successfully studying engineering at university and therefore the supply into the workforce.”
In addition, $15 million will be invested to create a new digital marketplace, to make it easier for startups and small and medium businesses to sell to and work with government.
The Digital Transformation Office (DTO) will develop the Digital Marketplace – an online directory of digital and ICT services from which government agencies will procure – to improve competition and promote innovation across government.
IPWEA CEO Robert Fuller applauds the Federal Government’s initiative, and says it “could not come soon enough”.
"Australia has been falling behind other nations when we should be ahead: Australia sits at just 17 on the 2015 Global Innovation Index, behind top-ranked Sweden, and 15th ranked New Zealand," he says.
“This new, national innovation agenda is an acknowledgement that, with the mining boom petering out, Australia’s future prosperity lies in a knowledge-based economy. We hope the benefits of this decision will flow to all sectors of the engineering and public works sector.
“I applaud the Government’s decision to foster greater participation of women in STEM fields – this is a vital step forward in achieving greater gender diversity in our workplaces.”
More information can be found on the National Innovation and Science Agenda website.