Mobile Edition
Print
Get the Mag
Weekly UpdatesPreface
Innovation is a major source of competitiveness for firms and nations around the world. The challenge is not just to be innovative, but to lead innovation. To develop strategic advantage from innovation, Australian firms need to be ahead of the game when it comes to developing new products and services, using new organisational arrangements and incentives, and building new business relationships.
The summit provided an opportunity to bring together multiple perspectives on these critical questions. Its objectives were to build a community of interested parties to share knowledge on what we know and don't know about innovation in Australia. Its intention was to produce a clear statement on the significance of, and responses needed to, the challenges of developing an innovative Australia.
The Melbourne summit was preceded by invitation-only working forums in Brisbane and Sydney. The Brisbane forum in October (2006) looked at policy frameworks for innovation, while the November (2006) Sydney roundtable examined a variety of corporate perspectives on approaches to innovation.
Overall, about 250 key people from governments, industry associations, individual firms, research agencies and universities contributed to the dialogue.
From the active dialogue at this and preceding summits in Brisbane and Melbourne, a working statement has been drawn together summarising:
1. Areas of broad consensus
2. The challenges Australia faces
3. Issues we need to address
4. Leadership priorities
5. Open issues and matters for further attention.
The proceedings of the Melbourne Forum were structured as follows:
* Morning keynote presentations and discussion as thought starters and to set the scene;
* Working lunch table discussions about possible leadership priorities;
* Early afternoon panel sessions to crystallise views on the leadership challenges; and
* Closing sessions on setting a forward looking national agenda.
This record of the proceedings mirrors the programme for the day.
Going into 2007 the Innovation Leadership Forum will continue with a further series of roundtable meetings to address the open issues and the matters we have identified for further attention. We hope that this process will further broaden the emerging coalition of people committed to promoting an innovative Australia.
We thank the organisations and individuals who have generously sponsored and supported this series of forums, Brendan Lewis who organised the Melbourne event, and the staff from the University of Queensland Business School. It has been a truly collaborative exercise.
Terry Cutler and Mark Dodgson Co-convenors
Summary of proceedings from the Melbourne forum
Contents
SPEAKERS AT THE FORUM
The convenors of the Innovation Leadership Forum
Terry Cutler Cutler & Company and MindSharing
Terry has had a long involvement with technology planning and policy in Australia. He has also been involved in many facets of innovation practice, from chairing the IR&D Board, a CRC, being on the Board of CSIRO, as well as working with numerous startups. Terry has recently established MindSharing as a non-aligned forum for examining and exploring major public issues and challenges.
Mark Dodgson Director of the Technology and Innovation Management Centre at University of Queensland's School of Business
Mark has researched innovation for many years in more than 35 countries. He has written widely and advised governments and firms on innovation policy and strategy.
Mark is a Director of the Think, Play, Do Group, an innovation advisory company working with companies like Shell in the Hague and the London Olympic Development Authority.
Tom Bentley
Executive Director, Policy and Cabinet, Department of Premier and Cabinet, and Director of the Australian and New Zealand School of Government, responsible for applied learning and innovative programmes. He was Director of Demos from 1999-2006, a leading independent 'think tank' located in London. Prior to that he was a special adviser to David Blunkett MP, then Secretary of State for Education and Employment, United Kingdom, where he worked on issues including school curriculum reform, social inclusion and creativity.
John Bessant
John is Professor of Innovation Management at Imperial College London. He is Director of the UK's Innovation and Productivity Grand Challenge, and a Senior Fellow of the Advanced Institute of Management Research. A prolific researcher and author, John has written over 20 books on innovation.
Geoffrey Blainey
Emeritus Professor, University Of Melbourne. Professor Blainey is Australia's pre-eminent economic historian and written widely about the role of technology and innovation in Australia's economic development. He has written over thirty books, including The Tyranny of Distance, A Shorter History of Australia, and A Shorter History of the World. His History of Victoria has just been published.
The Hon John Brumby, MP
John Brumby is the senior economic Minister in the Victorian Government holding the offices of Treasurer, Minister for State and Regional Development and Minister for Innovation.
In February 2002, John was appointed as Victoria's first Minister for Innovation. John actively promotes innovative, creative and knowledge-intensive industries such as biotechnology, environmental technologies and advanced manufacturing. A key part of this exciting vision is the development of the $206 million Australian Synchrotron at Monash University's Clayton campus, which is set to revolutionise scientific R&D in Australia.
John was elected to the Victorian Parliament in 1993. He was Leader of the Opposition for almost six years. Between 1983 and 1990 he was the Federal Member for Bendigo during the Hawke Government and served as Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Employment, Education and Training.
Leslie Butterfield
Leslie is Chief Executive Officer of McLachlan Lister, strategy advisors and project managers in the business, property and infrastructure sectors. A civil engineer, she started out on site in the construction industry and spent many years delivering property projects of all sizes. Working with large and small businesses both in Australia and overseas, she specialized in project management, business development and strategic planning. She then moved into corporate advisory and corporate finance work, with a focus on technology and advanced manufacturing-based businesses. She has been the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive for start-ups in both the regional telco and clustered computing environments.
Leslie has served on many advisory panels and Boards, including the Industry Research and Development Board. Leslie was the Inaugural NSW President and National Vice President for the National Association of Women in Construction. She is currently on the Boards of the Queensland Microtechnology Centre and the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation.
Roy Green
Professor Roy Green is Dean of Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM). During the 1990s, Professor Green was Director of the Employment Studies Centre (ESC) at the University of Newcastle. Most recently, he was Dean of the Faculty of Commerce at the National University of Ireland, Galway, where he attracted competitive funding for a national and European centre of excellence, the Centre for Innovation & Structural Change (CISC), and a private endowment to establish the J E Cairnes Graduate School of Business & Public Policy. Professor Green has published widely in the areas of innovation, industry policy, regional development and workplace analysis. He has also served on public bodies and undertaken projects with industry and organisations such as the OECD, European Commission and Enterprise Ireland. He is now a member of the NSW Manufacturing Council and a Business Council of Australia (BCA) working group on innovation policy.
John Howard
John is Managing Director of Howard Partners, a Canberra based public policy research and management consulting firm. The firm has an established and successful track record in program evaluation, performance review and management and organisation analysis. John's particular research interests are in the areas of knowledge transfer and engagement between universities, industry and the community. He also has a keen interest in management capacity building for innovation in public and private sector organisations.
Alan Hughes
Professor Alan Hughes is Director of the Centre for Business Research (CBR), Margaret Thatcher Professor of Enterprise Studies at the Judge Business School, and a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge. Professor Hughes has been invited to provide policy advice and evidence based consultancy by amongst others HM Treasury, the DTI, the Bank of England and the World Bank. In 2004 he was appointed by the Prime Minister to membership of the Council for Science and Technology, the UK's senior advisory body in this area.
Grant Kearney
Grant Kearney is the founder and Chief Executive of the InnovationXchange Network which spun out from the Australian Industry Group on 1 July 2006 to become IXC Australia. With extensive experience in marketing and development, Grant Kearney combines a track record of success in private enterprise with a commitment to the not-for-profit sector. He has also served as Director of Marketing and Communication for The Cancer Council (NSW) and Director of Public Affairs and Development at the University of New South Wales. He has established several successful businesses and his work has been recognised with a number of professional awards.
FEED