Episode 43 - 'What got us here, won't get us there!': Reflections on NIPF24 with Jane O'Dwyer

In this episode, I had the opportunity to reflect on the 2024 National Innovation Policy Forum with Jane O'Dwyer, CEO of Cooperative Research Australia.

Firstly, we reflect on the opportunity before the Australian innovation community to influence policy and bring innovation to the centre of economic policy, and not merely as an afterthought. We then hear some highlights from the remarks of Minister Ed Husic and Shadow Minister Paul Fletcher at NIPF24. These are important scene setters as they bring out issues of local innovation culture, the need for customers and investors, and to find the unique Australian business model that allows innovation to drive economic growth and productivity.

We took the opportunity to reflect on each of the three discussion sessions from NIPF24. Each of the sessions had recurring themes touching on culture, customers, investment and risk. In discussing risk, Anne-Marie Perret raised the challenges that boards face with director liabilities, pushing risk taking to the background and, in turn, missing opportunities for new ways to create value while serving customers. Glen Keys challenged the participants around leadership behaviours, consequences and the need for a national conversation around how we talk about risk. Lauren Stafford further reflected on risk, introducing the Linda Evangelista Paradox!

In the next session (2), the missing middle was discussed – a topic that emerged from NIPF23 – and explored the idea of government procurement as a market maker. Annette Schmiede exemplified the impact of procurement policy with examples from the health care sector. Elanor Huntington brought forward the notion that the economy should serve people, not people serving the economy, and highlighted the need for Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) to have its place alongside STEM in innovation and technology transfer. David Forman shared his recent experiences of reviewing federal government procurement policies and the misaligned incentives that exist favouring procurement from abroad, rather than domestic service providers.

The third and final session focused on the notion of a New Australian Business Model. Sally-Ann Williams described government procurement as bridging market uncertainty, addressing social challenges and stimulating demand. Sophia Hamblin Wang explained the canyon of death that faces organisations delivering profitability and emissions reduction through scaling production. Roy Green reflected on the 'burning platform' we are on nationally, highlighting that innovation drives productivity but the private sector needs the capabilities and capacity, commonly called absorptive capacity, to take up and scale innovation into profitable products.

Jane and I conclude our reflections on the need for elaborately transformed manufacturing to reassert itself, aligning with sovereign interests and contemporary geopolitical risks. Tying in the prequel remarks from Catherine Livingstone and David Thodey (from episode 40), and, on the day, from Kerstin Oberprieler, Jane poignantly points out that the current cost of living crisis and the long-term living standards of Australians cannot be resolved without innovation at the core of economic policy.