• Solutions Architect
• Senior Desktop...
• IT - Junior Analyst / Developer...
• Support Analyst
• NATIONAL SALES MANAGER -...

Seeking a 10-year ICT plan for Australia

Dennis Furini, Information Age

18/10/2006 21:45:18

This year marks the 50th anniversary of computing in Australia and it is worth reflecting that, 50 years ago, Australia was one of the world leaders in computing. CSIRAC was one of the first three computers in the world and it was developed in Australia with Australian ICT innovation.

Sadly, this has all changed and while we remain a strong producer of innovative ICT products and services, our global competitive advantage is reducing. Compared to other OECD countries, Australia is less successful in producing, commercialising and marketing its ICT innovations.

Our ICT sector needs a boost. It needs prominence and priority from our governments along with development of the necessary regulatory environment and infrastructure to encourage exploitation of the new technologies that are going to emerge over the next 10 to 15 years.

We need a national overarching, strategic framework to provide direction and stimulate strong long-term growth within our ICT sector and to drive future productivity improvements in the economy.

The ACS has, for some time now, been lobbying the Federal Government to implement just such an overarching framework, in the form of a national ICT strategy.

Countries that have identified and pursued national ICT strategies, such as Ireland, India, Singapore, India, Korea and Taiwan to name a few, have been demonstrably successful in establishing thriving ICT sectors that have spawned innovative products and services, numerous commercial global brands and achieved strong flow on effects across all other sectors in their economies.

Australia needs to respond to the ICT initiatives being put into place by its trading partners if we aren't to be relegated to simply being a product distribution hub for the region.

The ACS vision for a national ICT strategy for Australia came a little closer to reality in the past few months.

At the inspiration and instigation of the ACS, the Australian ICT sector, under the aegis of National ICT Industry Alliance (NICTIA), has put its collective weight behind developing a national ICT strategy for Australia that can be adopted by the Federal Government.

NICTIA comprises 22 separate industry associations and represents a substantial section of the Australian ICT industry sector.

This is a considerable achievement for the ACS. It is the first occasion, at least in recent times, where the whole of the Australian ICT sector has cooperated to get behind an initiative to present a united front to government. Such is the strength of feeling within our ICT sector on the need for a national strategy.

The strategy, "Energising Australian Innovation", puts forward a series of 10 vision statements for adoption by the federal government, that are considered fundamental to enhancing ICT innovation and productivity in Australia. These statements are of necessity high level and it is not our intention to tell the government how they should be achieved. Rather, to nominate the key policy areas that the ICT sector believe the government must take action in collaboration with industry stakeholders.

The 10 statements cover:

• the preparation of a long-term ICT strategy for Australia; • development of an international marketing and branding campaign for Australian innovation and technology products and services; • stimulating private sector investment and development of large private sector product commercialisation centres; • revamping public sector procurement practices to reduce perceived risk for local innovation; • improve skill foresighting and enhancing skills development; • a proactive approach to identifying international opportunities for Australian ICT businesses • accredited business intermediary services to assist SMEs in accessing markets, venture capital and commercialising innovations; • improving entrepreneurial skills of Australian businesses; • delivering a national high-speed broadband infrastructure and complimentary e security framework; and • improving the ICT literacy of our society.

One of the most important areas of the NICTIA 10-year strategy is the development of a consistent, reliable, high speed national broadband infrastructure for Australia. Broadband is going to be the key to delivering growth in the Australian economy over the next decade.

Australia is currently lagging in the global broadband race. Singapore, for example, recently announced as part of its IN2015 manifesto that every household in Singapore would receive fee of charge from the Government a 30 gigabits per second Internet connection. Such is the appreciation of the extent to which broadband infrastructure is conducive to innovation and technological proficiency.

In the emerging era of ubiquitous computing and the new information economy, communications is the enabler and must be seen in the same light as other essential infrastructure in terms of its necessity for future industry development.

The NICTIA 10-year ICT strategy proposes that all homes and businesses should have access to high speed Internet connectivity at reasonable prices, and by high speed we mean not less than 1 and, ideally, not less than 30, gigabits per second bandwidth.

Australia's economic prosperity for the foreseeable future is going to be critically dependent on productivity gains underpinned by innovation. This occurs in two major areas; first where the general population adopts and makes innovative use of existing technology, and second, where industry creates new technology.

The NICTIA vision for a national ICT strategy for Australia is designed to nurture and enhance both these areas.

The draft 10-year strategy is currently under active consideration by members of NICTIA who are in turn, seeking wide input from their individual membership bases. It is expected to be finalised and formally presented to the Federal Government by the end of the year.