tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513106021604110692.post812196760010450637..comments2022-04-17T12:03:10.836+10:00Comments on AADI DEFENCE: Bill Schofield’s Hargrave Memorial LecturePAUL BARRATThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447792285944889375noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1513106021604110692.post-7450457930330125642011-01-13T11:28:38.863+11:002011-01-13T11:28:38.863+11:00What a great story. Some great lessons in there, ...What a great story. Some great lessons in there, too, particularly how inventive people, like David, need champions like Tom Keeble otherwise they are lost at the first post.<br /><br />But, what do you think needs to change in the approach to Australian policy (whether for science or industry or both) to ensure we exploit it and, where appropriate, actually build industries around it? <br /><br />From my observation, there seems to be three issues:<br />1) Risk with public monies: Bureaucracies typically seek to remove risk around public expenditure, not manage risk.<br />2) Picking winners through to production: The Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research and the ARC pick up topics at the idea stage and invest in them. Are enough of these ideas getting beyond 'proof of concept'? It is vitally important to continue to pick winners from that batch and partner with industry to invest in Advanced Concept Development, Pre-production Engineering, and then production.<br />3) Culture / Competition Policy: We need a richer, living culture, for picking winners and investing in them throughout their life. Competition policy seems to 'get in the way' as it is over-used to mitigate the risk of some political and media fall-outs about the 'levelness of playing fields'. No competition needed for investment in production when industry and academia won a competitive race at the outset and remain in the "race" because of proven performance through the innovation cycle. IBM develops spin-off ideas in an offshoot company free from the bureaucracy of the firm, and it doesn't come back into the firm until it proves it must be part of the core. <br /><br />More as an aside, I have often wondered, why is it that Sweden, a country half our population for example, can point to so many global brands (beyond ABBA) when Australia struggles to name one export (beyond Murdoch)?<br /><br />Richard HodgeAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10663998623132651251noreply@blogger.com