Innovation Policy ReportMay 2015

The Innovation Policy Report is produced by the Department of Industry and Science, and aims to highlight developments in the innovation policy area. It also includes reference to relevant innovation documents and events.

If you would like to subscribe to the Innovation Policy Report, please contact us.

Table of ContentsINNOVATION POLICY REPORT.............................................................................................1

Table of Contents..............................................................................................................................................2

Strategic policy initiatives and new developments..............................................................................5

Australia - Government 5

Industry Growth Centres Initiative 5

Launch of innovationXchange 6

Tax White Paper: Review of R&D Tax Incentive 6

Commonwealth Science Council – 2nd Meeting 6

Commonwealth Scienc Council – Science and Research Priorities 7

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) 8

Ningaloo Reef research 9

Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) – Research and Development Programme Round 2: Industry – Researcher Collaboration 9

NSW: Launch of Knowledge Hubs for FinTech and MedTech 9

SA: Opening of Tech Hub boosts innovation 10

SA: Establishment of Nanoscale BioPhotonics Centre 11

SA: Adelaide named Australia’s first ‘Lighthouse City’ for innovation 11

SA: Tonsley an international benchmark for innovation and collaboration 12

SA: Successful PACE discovery drilling proposals announced 13

SA: South Australian Micro Finance Fund (SAMFF) 13

SA: Ministerial visits 14

QLD: Advance Queensland 15

QLD: Innovation Hub 15

QLD: Business Development Fund 16

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QLD: The Queensland Government Customer Identity Management (QGCIDM) 16

Australia - Industry 18

Cisco Internet of Everything Innovation Centre 18

Communications Alliance ‘Internet of Things’ Think Tank 18

Institute for Digital Government 18

International 18

China: Major reform of China’s research funding 19

Jordan: Public service innovative ideas incubator 20

New Zealand: Business-Government accelerator 20

Singapore: Strategic Policy Unit 20

US: Department of Homeland Security Crowd-Sourced Prize Competition 20

US: Accelerator Growth Fund Competition 20

US: National Science Foundation Plan 21

Assessment of Innovation Performance................................................................................................22

Innovate and Prosper 22

Events and Conferences...............................................................................................................................23

The Australia-India Joint Science and Technology Committee and Joint Biotechnology Committee meeting – Sydney, 12 February 2015 23

Third Australia-Korea Joint Committee on Science and Technology meeting 23

Bilateral Science and Technology Meetings Planned for 2015 23

Defence Trade Controls 24

Great Ideas and Guts Tour 24

International symposium on Big Data Visual Analytics 25

Commissioning of antenna dish in NASA’s Deep Space Network 25

Conference Report: International Seminar on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Open Talent Policy25

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SA: Science Excellence Awards 25

SA: 2015 Community Excellence Awards in Mining and Energy 26

SA: 2014 Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition 26

SA: SIMTecT 2015 26

Publications and Articles.............................................................................................................................27

The Importance of Advanced Physical and Mathematical Sciences to the Australian Economy 27

Australian Intellectual Property Report 2015 27

UK Design Council: Innovation by Design 28

The Mortality of Companies 28

Making big companies more entrepreneurial 28

The Atlantic: Welfare Makes America More Entrepreneurial 28

Procurement and Innovation 29

A new operating model for government 29

OECD Review – Dominican Republic 29

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Strategic policy initiatives and new developmentsAustralia - Government

Industry Growth Centres Initiative

The $188.5 million Industry Growth Centres Initiative (the Initative) is a key element of the government’s new industry policy direction. Announced as part of the Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda, the Initiative is a sector based approach which will drive growth, productivity and competitiveness by concentrating our investment on key growth sectors.

On 17 February 2015, Minister for Industry and Science the Hon Ian Macfarlane MP announced Chairs for four of the Industry Growth Centres: Andrew Stevens (Advanced Manufacturing), Peter Schutz (Food and Agribusiness), Dr Bronwyn Evans (Medical Technologies and Pharmaceuticals), and Elizabeth Lewis-Gray (METS).

Minister Macfarlane also announced members of the Growth Centres Advisory Committee. This advisory group will provide strategic advice to him on the Industry Growth Centres Initiative. Mr John Grill AO will lead the Growth Centres Advisory Committee and will be joined by the Growth Centre Chairs and three other independent members: Ms Catherine Livingstone AO, Dr Andrew Liveris AO and Ms Carolyn Hewson AO.

Through a facilitated process, Industry Growth Centre Chairs are currently engaging with their sector to develop a Growth Centre proposal for the government’s consideration. Growth Centre proposals will include an outline of suggested activities for the Growth Centre including key activities that the Centres will undertake during their first year of operation. The proposals will also outline the governance arrangements, a sector engagement strategy and suggested key performance indicators. Each Chair will be conducting sector engagement activities, such as meetings and workshops, in various locations across Australia to inform the proposal’s development. Interested parties are strongly encouraged to get involved in these activities.

The Growth Centres Initiative provides an opportunity to coordinate activities in the growth sectors at a national scale. The involvement of state and territory governments will be fundamental to the success of the Growth Centres Initiative. Interested parties are strongly encouraged to get involved in these activities, including the proposals currently being developed for the Growth Centres. Details are available on the Initiative’s website at www.business.gov.au/industrygrowthcentres as they are confirmed.

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It is expected that the Advanced Manufacturing; Food and Agribusiness; and Mining Equipment, Technology and Services Growth Centres will start operating from the middle of the year.

Launch of innovationXchange

innovationXchange has been formally launched as the innovation hub of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The hub will test and drive new technologies, ideas and partnerships that can be embedded across the Department. Supported with $140 million over four years, particular attention will be given to leveraging new sources of financing to catalyse new approaches to development and enhance Australia’s impact on the economies of the Indo-Pacific region.

Tax White Paper: Review of R&D Tax Incentive

The Tax White Paper discussion paper, Re:think – Better tax, better Australia, was released for public consultation on 30 March 2015. The review of the R&D Tax Incentive will form part of the Tax White Paper, and the R&D Tax Incentive is consequently a feature of the discussion paper. Interested stakeholders are encouraged to provide submissions on the R&D Tax Incentive as it will be several more years before the next scheduled review. The discussion paper also invites feedback on the effectiveness of existing tax incentives for innovation, industry-funded research and collaboration with public research institutions more broadly.

Submissions and suggestions on the discussion paper can be made through the bettertax.gov.au website, by selecting the ‘Make a Submission’ icon at the top of the page. The due date for submissions is 1 June 2015.

Commonwealth Science Council – 2nd Meeting

The Government announced the new Commonwealth Science Council, as part of its Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda in October 2014. The Council is the pre-eminent source of advice to Government on science and technology issues facing Australia.

The Council is chaired by the Prime Minister, and includes the Ministers for Industry and Science, Education and Training, and Health, Australia’s Chief Scientist, five eminent scientists and five eminent business representatives.

The Council held its second meeting on 13 April 2015. Discussion items included:

Government actions in response to the Chief Scientist’s Science, technology, engineering and mathematics: Australia’s future report. The Minister for Industry and Science, working with the Minister for Education and the Chief

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Scientist will develop a discussion paper and consult on the implementation of the Government’s STEM policy

Science and Research Priorities and associated practical challenges developed through expert working groups were discussed, and capability mapping for each of these will now be undertaken through the National Science, Technology and Research Committee

Implementation of the Boosting the Commercial Returns from Research strategy

Progress of the Research Infrastructure Review.

The Council agreed a forward work programme, with key items for further consideration to include:

the formal Government actions to respond to the Chief Scientist’s report: Science, technology, engineering and mathematics: Australia’s future

implementation of the Science and Research Priorities, considering capability mapping for each of the practical challenges

progress of the Boosting the Commercial Returns from Research strategy the final report of the Research Infrastructure Review.

The Council will next meet in the second half of 2015.

Commonwealth Scienc Council – Science and Research Priorities

Members of the Commonwealth Science Council have recommended that the Government adopt the proposed science and research priorities and associated practical research challenges to ensure publicly-funded research addresses the most important questions facing Australia.

Following the first meeting of the Science Council, the Chief Scientist, assisted by the National Science, Technology and Research Committee (NSTRC), led further consultation on the priorities in order to develop a series of underpinning practical research challenges within each priority area.

Informed by evidence, working groups of experts from industry, research organisations and government identified practical challenges to direct research effort within each priority area. The challenges reflect the problems that need to be faced by the research and business communities as Australia shifts its capacity in each area from where it is to where it needs to be. The NSTRC will now assess existing research activity against the priorities and practical challenges. It will analyse current capabilities, capacity, investment and activities in order to provide an evidence base for each identified practical challenge. This process will help map the capacity of the system to address gaps or capitalise on opportunities.

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The Government is expected to finalise the Priorities and associated practical research challenges shortly.

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)

The Government is committed to taking a more coordinated approach to STEM, and ensuring Australia has the skills it needs to be a prosperous, competitive country. In October 2014, the Government announced $12 million for strategies and funding to improve the focus on STEM subjects in primary and secondary schools across the country. This includes:

$7.4 million to provide innovative mathematics resources for primary and

secondary school teachers and students

$3.5 million to provide greater exposure to computer coding across different

year levels in Australian schools to expand the pool of ICT-skilled workers

$500,000 for an innovation-focused ‘Pathways in Technology Early College

High School’ (P-TECH) pilot programme to help develop the next generation

of innovators and job-ready graduates

Increased student participation in the ‘Summer schools for STEM students’

programme, with a focus on girls, disadvantaged and Indigenous students and

those living in regional and remote areas. The Government will provide funds

to support travel and accommodation for participants.

Australia’s Chief Scientist, Professor Ian Chubb AC, also has a focus on improving STEM skills in Australia. He has prepared two important reports:

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics: Australia’s Future, which

calls for a coordinated approach to investing in STEM, and makes

recommendations about programmes and activities in which to invest

Benchmarking Australian STEM, which shows that Australia’s performance in

STEM is better than countries in the Asia-Pacific region but below comparator

countries in Western Europe and North America.

The National Science, Technology and Research Committee considered the recommendations of these reports at their inaugural meeting on 20 February 2015, and considered their feasibility for further development. Policies and proposed

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actions stemming from the report were considered by the Commonwealth Science Council at its meeting on 13 April 2015.

The Minister for Industry and Science, working with the Minister for Education and the Chief Scientist will develop a discussion paper and consult on the implementation of the Government’s STEM policy.

The Government’s formal response to the Chief Scientist’s report will be released in 2015.

Ningaloo Reef researchOn February 19th, Minister for Industry and Science Ian Macfarlane joined CSIRO Executive Director Environment Andrew Johnson and BHP Billiton Petroleum General Manager Doug Handyside to announce a new marine research partnership for the World Heritage Listed Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia.

The five-year, jointly-funded $5 million research program will include both deep and shallow reef research, turtle and shark tagging, a PhD scholarship scheme and opportunities to engage the local community, including BHP Billiton Petroleum employees, in Exmouth, WA.

Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) – Research and Development Programme Round 2: Industry – Researcher Collaboration

On 13 April 2015, ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht announced the opening of a new $20 million round to fund collaboration between industry and the research sector focused on innovative renewable energy technologies that integrate renewable energy into networks, buildings and industrial processes.

ARENA’s Research and Development Programme supports renewable energy technologies that will increase the commercial deployment of renewable energy technology in Australia.

Applications close on 19 June 2015.

Further details can be found at www.arena.gov.au.

NSW: Launch of Knowledge Hubs for FinTech and MedTech

The NSW Government announced, in March 2015 that it will support the establishment of industry-led Knowledge Hubs in FinTech and MedTech.

The FinTech Knowledge Hub was announced on 3 March 2015 and will be coordinated by the Committee For Sydney. NSW Government support for this

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Knowledge Hub will ensure the successful establishment of a new FinTech Accelerator, called Stone and Chalk, due to open in May 2015, which will provide financial technology start—ups with office space, mentoring, networking, export support and opportunities to access capital. Current contributors and sponsors include Westpac, Macquarie Bank, American Express, Woolworths Financial Services, KPMG and ACIL Allen Consulting. Former AMP chief executive Craig Dunn has been appointed chairman of the new hub.

Stone and Chalk will provide 150 seats for entrepreneurs, expanding to 250 seats within 3 years. The total establishment costs for the project are estimated to be around $2.26 million. The Hub is expected to become self-funded in its second or third year of operation through charges for memberships, tenancies, events and conferences.

The Government announced on 9 March 2015,that it will support the establishment of an industry led MedTech Knowledge Hub, to be coordinated by the Medical Technology Association of Australia. This Knowledge Hub will pursue three main projects:

Design of a national strategy to build an optimal environment for

manufacturers and distributors of medical technologies

Undertaking a comprehensive skills study of the medtech industry

Design of programs for mentoring and information sharing.

These are the third and fourth of five industry-led Knowledge Hubs to be launched in NSW, following earlier launches of Knowledge Hubs for Digital Creative and Energy Innovation. A further Transport and Logistics Knowledge Hub is to be launched shortly. Total funding of $1.7 million over two years will support projects across the five Hubs.

SA: Opening of Tech Hub boosts innovation

In October 2014 BioSA’s second business incubation facility was launched in Thebarton. Tech Hub is the newest component of South Australia’s world-class biotechnology industry and the work here will complement the development of the largest biomedical precinct of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, located in Adelaide west end.

BioSA has already helped numerous entrepreneurs and start-ups to establish companies and start developing research and products that have gained national and international attention. It is this growing demand for work space for small to medium-sized technology companies has led to the opening of Tech Hub today.

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More than 1700 people now work in the bioscience sector in South Australia - more than double the number who did in 2001. In that time Bio SA has helped in the creation of more than 75 companies.

The BioSA Business Incubator has five tenants and Tech Hub currently has four, including CPR Pharma, which has migrated to the larger Tech Hub facility in order to continue its rapid expansion in Adelaide and Asia. BioSA reports that for every job created through high technology, between three and five other jobs are created in the wider economy.

SA: Establishment of Nanoscale BioPhotonics Centre

The Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics research centre was launched in November 2014 at the University of Adelaide. The $38 million centre allows researchers to use light and optical fibres to see inside human cells. The new centre will develop the tools for seeing inside the human body at the cellular level, allowing the nation’s best researchers to tackle health issues in a completely new way.

The Centre brings together physicists, biologists and chemists to use light as a tool inside biological systems in a process called biophotonics. Led by the University of Adelaide, the Centre brings together leading researchers from University of Adelaide, Macquarie University and RMIT University with a number of key international and industry partners.

Along with the health and research precinct emerging on North Terrace around the new RAH, this Centre of Excellence provides a research hub for developing embryos, to understand the basis of pain and explore cardiovascular disease and blood vessel failure.

SA: Adelaide named Australia’s first ‘Lighthouse City’ for innovation

In January 2015 Cisco declared Adelaide as the first smart and connected ‘Lighthouse City’ in Australia. The Lighthouse City status is a boon allows access to Cisco’s huge global network, and South Australia will be primed to benefit from the economic and social transformation set to occur as the next phase of the internet rapidly takes shape.

Late last year Adelaide launched Australia’s first ‘Internet of Things (IoT) Innovation Hub’ in partnership with Adelaide City Council and Cisco. Adelaide now joins other major cities including Barcelona, Chicago, Hamburg and Dubai as leading places to showcase IoT ‘Internet of Things’ innovations. Cisco has predicted that the ‘Internet of Everything’ (IoE) will generate an astounding $19 trillion globally over the next decade, including $4.6 trillion from the public sector, which will open the door to new jobs and industries.

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Adelaide City Council has set aside $250,000 this year for two smart city trials that will focus on parking and lighting. Both projects will be about making the city safer, easier to get around and more welcoming for our visitors and residents alike, with the ultimate aim of being able to generate a return on investment for our ratepayers that can be put back into other services.

SA: Tonsley an international benchmark for innovation and collaboration

The former Mitsubishi plant at Tonsley in Adelaide’s south has become a world-leading centre for innovation and collaboration, just three years into a major 20-year transformation project. The 61-hectare Tonsley site is located 10 kilometres from Adelaide’s CBD is projected to provide 6,300 jobs during the life of the project and annually accommodate 8,500 students.

The next phase of the project is underway, with the State Government working to achieve land sales and leasing arrangements that could generate $1 billion of investment during the 20-year life of the project.

Call for proposals to develop solar power installation on the roof of the old Mitsubishi plant at Tonsley took place in December 2014. The 25,000 square metres of available roof space at the Main Assembly Building has the capacity to generate the equivalent of electricity required to power up to 770 homes a year and save annually about 2430 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. The rooftop solar project at Tonsley aligns with the Government’s announcement to increase South Australia’s renewable energy target to 50% of power generation by 2025, further adding to examples of sustainability and innovation in urban renewal.

Tonsley has already attracted significant investment from TAFE SA, Flinders University, Siemens, Hills Innovation Centres - which will develop new health and medical devices - medical device company Signostics, innovative data service provider Tier5, and smart energy company ZEN Energy Systems. This is n addition to the construction of the new $32.2 million Drill Core Reference Library located at Tonsley.

An onshore Petroleum Centre of Excellence training facility was opened at Tonsley in February 2015 to train hundreds of industry workers in simulated oil and gas production environment. Collaboration with industry partners such as Santos, Beach Energy and Senex Energy who have committed funds, valuable equipment and expertise to new training centre.

Tonsley’s potential as an innovation hub was further ignited in March 2015

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with the opening of Flinders at Tonsley – bringing vital research, development

and academic expertise to the precinct. The impressive $120 million six-

storey, 16,000 square metre structure – set to teach 2000 students per year –

is a prominent feature on the rapidly developing site.

The Flinders at Tonsley building will house the University’s School of

Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics, the Medical Device

Research Institute, the Centre for NanoScale Science and Technology,

Flinders Partners and the New Venture Institute.

In February 2015, Tonsley’s clean technology and urban innovation

credentials received a boost, with a new partnership with a leading US

cleantech organisation. A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed

between the State Government, Flinders University, and California-based

Prospect Silicon Valley. The agreement sets a framework that will help

entrepreneurs in both Adelaide and San Jose to commercialise their

innovations and bring them to global customers.

The University’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Colin Stirling said the agreement

harnesses the University’s clean technology knowledge and research skills

with the commercialisation capabilities of Prospect Silicon Valley.

“Our strength in this area was underscored by the establishment in 2013 of a

$1 million Clean Technology Laboratory dedicated to developing products and

processes in a cleaner, greener way, and ongoing collaborations in China

exploring the sustainable development of new products and materials,”

Professor Stirling said.

SA: Successful PACE discovery drilling proposals announced

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis announced that 27 resource exploration projects will share $2 million in grants as part of the Plan for Accelerating Exploration (PACE) Discovery Drilling 2015 at the opening of the South Australian Resources and Energy Conference at the Adelaide Convention Centre in April 2015.

The PACE initiative will co-fund 27 drilling projects from exploration companies to stimulate the next crop of greenfield discoveries and help share in the financial and technical risk of exploration. The value of government investment is multiplied when considering the industry

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contribution, so $2 million in co-funding grants will draw an estimated additional investment of $4.9 million from these explorers.

While the complementary PACE Mineral Systems Drilling program is strongly focused on unraveling the complexity of the Gawler Craton, the PACE Discovery Drilling 2015 supports new exploration projects all over South Australia. This current round is planned to close in May 2016 with all the drilling data, assays and reporting released shortly after.

SA: South Australian Micro Finance Fund (SAMFF)

In March 2015 the State Government created the South Australian Micro Finance Fund (SAMFF), which is making $1.7 million available during the next three years to help entrepreneurs develop their ideas into high-value businesses.

Funding is available to encourage entrepreneurial activity in South Australia to help achieve Growth through Innovation as one of the State Government’s key economic priorities.

This funding is available for anyone local, around Australia, or throughout the world who has a great idea. They can apply for a grant, so long as the intellectual property is created, developed, and commercialised in South Australia. This provides an opportunity for an individual or a company that wants to develop a prototype, test the feasibility of their idea, conduct market research, or to develop an intellectual property strategy to apply for State Government financial support.

The SAMFF is funded through the State Government’s $60 million Our Jobs Plan.

SA: Ministerial visits

Following a Ministerial visit to Singapore in July 2014, the linkage of education and models of cooperative partnerships has been adopted between all three SA Universities with educational entities in Singapore in both the public and private sectors. Public and private investment coordination focused on the strategic advantages of food quality (seafood, meat/proftein grains/malt, fruit and wine etc) were promoted in terms of ‘clean-green’ and ‘health and nutrition’ benefits. Strategic advantages linked tourism, education at all levels, manufacturing and food processing and packaging, exports, applied research and industrial links (biomedical health, agrifoods, nutritional food benefits and healthy ageing).

China is South Australia’s largest and most significant two way trading partner, making up nearly a third of the state’s total exports ($3.35 billion in the 12 months to July 2014). South Australia has a wealth of mineral reserves, agricultural produce, seafood, wine, cleantech, advanced manufacturing and service sector skills; and is in

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an advantageous geographical position to support China’s industrial growth and urbanisation.

Minister Gail Gago visited China for a week in October 2014 to promote higher education and technological exchanges with Shandong province. The government is keen to establish South Australia as a leading higher education destination for Chinese students. The state is already a popular destination for Chinese students – 40 per cent of international students in 2013 came from China.

The government has been involved in several visits during the last year to India to build on relationships with the new government and raise South Australia’s profile as an investment and trade destination. The South Australia-India Engagement Strategy seeks to leverage the following commonalities - defense and aerospace, resources and energy, clean technologies and education have been analysed to identify further opportunities.

An international education mission visited Vietnam in April 2015. They are meeting with a number of senior officials in education in Hanoi, Danang and Hue. International education is South Australia’s largest service sector export, the second biggest overall export earner and accounts for more than 6500 local jobs. Overseas students spent $925 million (in tuition fees and living expenses) in South Australia in 2010-11, according to ABS, with student numbers and revenue increasing in recent years.

QLD: Advance Queensland

The $50 million Advance Queensland initiative aims to harness the opportunities that are available in science and innovation to build Queensland’s reputation and capacity within the knowledge-based economy and to nurture the knowledge-based jobs of the future.

This initiative will deliver a range of programs to enable individuals and industry to pursue innovation that delivers new products and services, establish industries around new innovations and the service economy, and attract and retain the brightest minds within the knowledge-based sectors. The Advance Queensland initiative includes:

Research Fellowships (innovation, women, regional and Indigenous)

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships Program which will enable Small Medium

Enterprises to access grants to improve their business by working with a

university and a newly qualified graduate, facilitating collaboration between

university researchers and industry representatives.

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QLD: Innovation Hub

The Innovation Hub pilot project provides a new way to solve complex public sector issues through innovative approaches while using government procurement spend to fuel demand for innovation and build the innovative capability of business.

The Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation is running the pilot in conjunction with the Open Innovation Team from Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

The Innovation Hub brings together people from diverse backgrounds – scientists, research organisations, startups and teams from large multinational organisations – all trying to find new ways to look at and solve old problems.

The pilot project comprises two rounds of problem solving, round one is complete and acceleration of round two challenges is nearing completion.

From round one, the solution developed for the Department of Transport and Main Roads’ Graffiti challenge has been purchased from the Queensland based business, GIS People, with negotiations for the other solutions ongoing.

Round two - two of the challenges have progressed to the solution acceleration stage, namely:

the Queensland’s Emergency Management Data team working with Cloud

Sherpas

the Road Safety team working with the Queensland University of Technology

Smart Transport Research Centre.

Acceleration was expected to complete in late April 2015.

For more information visit:   http://www.openinnovation.com.au/events/queensland-government-innovation-hub-pilot-project-round-2-4331abfc-0cf5-4874-ad00-d2166e2ddb7c

QLD: Business Development Fund

Through the Government’s election commitments outlined in the Working Queensland plan, the establishment of the $40million Business Development Fund, will complement the Government’s Advance Queensland strategy, to turn brilliant ideas into commercial realities.

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This will ensure that Queensland businesses have access to the start-up capital they need in order to create new opportunities and productivity capacity, including manufacturing capacity, in new emerging niche markets.

QLD: The Queensland Government Customer Identity Management (QGCIDM)

In December 2014 the Queensland Government launched the first stage of an identity management project to enable customers to transact with the Queensland Government through online personal accounts. QGCIDM is a best practice identity verification and authentication application that offers customers a uniform experience across government services. The customer only needs to register once to access multiple Queensland Government online services. The customer gets a single log-in, but may be asked to provide additional identity information as necessary to access more secure services. It provides Queensland Government departments with a secure authentication mechanism.

Customers control their own account and consent to sharing private information with departments. QGCIDM will enable customers to use existing credentials to create a Queensland Government identity. Currently Google, Microsoft, Australian Business Account and AusKey are approved third party credential providers. QGCIDM integrates with the Document Verification System (DVS) developed by the Commonwealth Government to provide online identity verification. Work is underway to enable customers to also use the Australian Government's MyGov account as a credential.

The product currently offers level 1 authentication for services where evidence of identity (EOI) is not required. The introduction of online EOI and DVS is currently scheduled for June 2015, and planning is underway to enable an ‘at-counter’ application to facilitate identity proofing . For further information, please email the One-Stop Shop Strategy and Implementation Office at onestopshop@dsitia.qld.gov.au.

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Australia - Industry

Cisco Internet of Everything Innovation Centre

Cisco has announced investment in a Cisco Internet of Everything (IoE) Innovation Centre in Australia. The new Centre in Australia will be one of eight globally including Rio de Janeiro, Toronto, Songdo, Berlin, Barcelona, Tokyo and London. The official opening of the Centre is planned for 2015 and will include locations in Sydney at Sirca, and in Perth at Curtin University. Cisco intends to invest US $15 million over five years into the Centre.

Communications Alliance ‘Internet of Things’ Think Tank

The Communications Alliance has announced a Think Tank through which industry heavyweights and other expert parties will work with the Communications Alliance to focus on:

Identifying and addressing regulatory and other enablers and inhibitors, to

help create an environment that allows the full potential of Internet of Things

services and their cross-sectoral benefits to be realised in Australia

the opportunity for Australian companies to be early beneficiaries of new

business models through IoT and for Australia to become a significant

exporter of business solutions enabled by the Internet of Things.

Institute for Digital Government

SAP has announced that it is investing $150 million to establish an Institute for Digital Government (SIDG) in Canberra. The SIDG will support digital innovation in the Australian public sector. It will also be partnering with universities to develop and commercialise new citizen services for Australia and public services organisations around the world.

International

Developing data standards for sharing spatial and sensor data

CSIRO’s Dr Kerry Taylor is jointly leading an international working group to develop linked data standards for sharing spatial and sensor data on the Web. The group will validate, update and formally standardise two ontologies that are already widely used as de facto standards, including the Semantic Sensor Networks Ontology.

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The working group will also examine and recommend best practice for publishing and linking spatial data, dealing with the complex issues of place, space, geometry and identity in a way that transcends individual web sites. Finally, the group will explore and recommend ways to publish earth observation data as linked data, so that it too can be seamlessly shared and reused.

Australia-China research collaboration for environmentally friendly metal production

CSIRO has signed a major agreement to demonstrate dry slag granulation (DSG) technology at an industrial scale with Beijing MCC Equipment Research and Design Corporation Ltd.

The agreement for DSG industrial-scale demonstration is a landmark for Australia-China research collaboration and for environmentally friendly metal production.The technology, fitted onto a blast furnace, is comprised of a spinning disc and granulation chamber that separates molten slag into droplets under centrifugal forces, using air to quench and solidify the droplets, and extract a granulated slag product, as well as heated air.

The ‘glassy’ slag product is ideal for cement manufacture, and has significantly lower associated greenhouse gas emissions than cement produced by conventional methods. The recovered heat can then be used for drying, pre-heating or steam generation. The process saves water and eliminates underground water pollution that can be associated with alternative wet granulation processes.

China: Major reform of China’s research funding

Chinese expenditure on research and development rose to 2.08 per cent of GDP in 2013, higher than the European Union both in Purchasing Power Parity terms and as a percentage of GDP, and is on track to meet the government’s target of 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2020. But the country’s research funding system is experiencing growing pains, with poor coordination amongst the some 30 central government agencies that disbursed RMB 273 billion (AUD 56 billion) in research funding in 2013 and recent corruption cases exposing the inadequacy of financial controls.

China’s central government has announced plans for major reform to national funding systems, to be phased in over three years to 2017. While much of the detail is still to be announced, early indications suggest a major consolidation of existing funding mechanisms, including large and longstanding efforts such as the 863 (strategic R&D) and 973 (basic research) programmes, and that government ministries will step back from the day-to-day management of research funding in favour of specialist agencies like the Natural Science Foundation of China.

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This review may have an impact on timing of the next Joint Research Centre funding round under the Australia-China Science and Research Fund.

Jordan: Public service innovative ideas incubator

The Jordanian Public Sector Development Ministry has officially launched an “innovative ideas incubator”, which will receive, assess and implement creative ideas that seek to improve public sector performance. The ministry has asked public institutions to invite their employees to provide their ideas via www.mopsd.gov.jo before the end of June.

New Zealand: Business-Government accelerator

New Zealand’s first accelerator process for government projects has been launched by Better for Business and Wellington business incubator Creative HQ. The process will partner private sector entrepreneurs, developers and mentors with public sector staff on projects that could solve major pain points for New Zealand businesses. The 12 week process aims to present government and private sector decision makers with fundable projects that will significantly improve business-to-government interactions in New Zealand. Further information is available from Built in Wellington.

Singapore: Strategic Policy Unit

“The Singapore Government has announced a new Strategic Policy Unit to consider cross-government problems and bring agencies together to tackle them. The unit will be manned by elite civil servants, the Deputy Prime Minister announced, and will consider solutions on a timescale of three, five and ten years.” Further information is available from FutureGov Asia Pacific.

US: Department of Homeland Security Crowd-Sourced Prize Competition

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science & Technology Directorate (S&T) has run its first crowd-sourced prize competition for supporting First Responders. The Indoor Tracking of the Next Generation First Responder competition sough innovative ideas to solve the challenges of real-time, accurate indoor tracking of First Responders during an incident. The competition has a first prize of $20,000 and a second prize of $5,000. Winning submissions may be chosen for development and operational use.

US: Accelerator Growth Fund Competition

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The Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced that in 2015 it will again run its Growth Accelerator Fund Competition, aimed at engaging with and supporting organizations whose sole purpose is to help start-ups grow, become commercially viable and have a real and sustained economic impact. The Growth Accelerator Fund Competition was launched in 2014 with US$2.5 million awarded to 50 winners drawn from over 800 applications. In 2015, SBA is awarding $4 million to accelerators in order to continue building the support structure needed to help start ups become commercially viable and create jobs more quickly.

US: National Science Foundation Plan

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released a plan for increasing public access to the results of research NSF funds. More information is provided in Today’s Data, Tomorrow’s Discoveries: Increasing Access to the Results of Research Funded by the National Science Foundation.

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Assessment of Innovation PerformanceInnovate and Prosper

Commissioned by the Australian Industry Group and the Australian Technology Network, the Innovate and Prosper: Ensuring Australia’s Competitiveness through University-Industry Collaboration report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers finds that Australia ranks 29th out of 30 in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in terms of the proportion of large businesses and small to medium enterprises (SMEs) collaborating with higher education and public research institutions on innovation.

The report’s puts five recommendations forward for discussion to establish stronger connections between the business and research sectors:

1. Rebalance the national research agenda to underpin Australia's economy and

future prosperity

2. Create incentives for university-industry collaboration

3. Train researchers for diverse careers

4. Enhance career mobility between industry, academia and government

5. Provide incentives for co-investment in research infrastructure between

universities, industry and state and federal government.

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Events and Conferences The Australia-India Joint Science and Technology Committee and Joint Biotechnology Committee meeting – Sydney, 12 February 2015

The Australia-India Joint Science and Technology Committee and Joint Biotechnology Committee meeting was held in Sydney on 12 February 2015. The Indian delegation was led by Dr Renu Swarup, Senior Advisor, Department of Biotechnology and included delegates from government, industry and academia.

The meeting is the major bilateral forum for discussions on Australia’s science and technology relationship with India, and this meeting focused on strengthening research-industry linkages.

The meeting provided an opportunity to formally agree on the 10 collaborative research projects (Australian grants worth $1.86 million) that will be supported by the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF) under the eighth competitive funding round. The Hon Karen Andrews MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Science, announced the outcomes of this round on 18 February 2015. The Parliamentary Secretary’s media release is at http://www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/andrews/media-releases/australia-india-research-helps-tackle-major-challenges.

Third Australia-Korea Joint Committee on Science and Technology meeting

The third meeting of the Australia-Korea Joint Committee on Science and Technology (JCST) is scheduled to be held in South Korea on 28 May 2015. The focus of the meeting will be on industry research linkages. The JCST is the primary mechanism for dialogue on key bilateral science and technology issues between the two countries.

Bilateral Science and Technology Meetings Planned for 2015

Planning is underway for further bilateral science and technology cooperation meetings and strategic dialogues with several partners in 2015. Timings remain to be confirmed, with a current schedule of:

South Korea (28 May)

Japan (September/October)

New Zealand (in conjunction with CSTACI meetings)

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USA (November)

Vietnam (December)

Singapore (TBC).

Defence Trade Controls

The Defence Trade Controls Amendment Bill 2015 (the Bill) was passed by the Parliament on 18 March 2015. This Bill addresses a number of concerns with the original Defence Trade Controls Act which will regulate the intangible supply (e.g. by email), publication and brokering of sensitive military and dual-use technologies. The university and research sectors raised a number of concerns with the potential impacts of the original legislation on research and international collaboration. To address these concerns, implementation of the Act is being overseen by the Strengthened Export Controls Steering Group, which is chaired by Australia’s Chief Scientist, Professor Ian Chubb AC.

In addition to rectifying some of the issues with the original legislation, the Bill also provides a further delay to the introduction of offence provisions until 2 April 2016. This will provide universities, research organisations and industry sufficient time to implement compliance arrangements for the new regulations. The Department of Industry and Science will support the Department of Defence throughout the implementation phase.

The Department of Defence has undertaken to work closely with stakeholders to ensure they are aware of their responsibilities under the legislation, and will roll out a series of tools and outreach activities to assist stakeholders establish compliance arrangements before offence provisions take effect.

More information on the work of the steering group is available through its website, https://exportcontrols.govspace.gov.au/.

Great Ideas and Guts Tour

CSIRO’s SME Engagement Centre has kicked off its 2015 ‘Great Ideas and Guts Tour’. The tour aims to stimulate, inform and provoke local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) about what is over the horizon.

The SME Engagement Centre re-launched the Great Ideas and Guts Tour with 280 people attending an event at the Australian Synchrotron in Victoria on 24 th February. Attendees heard internationally respected finance expert Satyajit Das address the issue of how slower than usual economic growth will affect industry and SMEs, as

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well as how businesses should respond to this likely downward shift in income and demand from their customers.

International symposium on Big Data Visual AnalyticsThe first international symposium on Big Data Visual Analytics (BDVA) will be held at CSIRO’s Hobart harbour site on 22nd – 25th September 2015. Visual analytics is the enabling science for effective exploration of big data through meaningful visualisations and interactive user interfaces.

The symposium will host an exciting program with internationally renowned keynote speakers, special sessions, and a day of complimentary hands-on workshops. The symposium is now calling for authors to submit original and unpublished papers of up to eight pages.

Commissioning of antenna dish in NASA’s Deep Space NetworkFive years to the day from its original ground-breaking ceremony in 2010, Deep Space Station 35 was officially commissioned on 25 February 2015, at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC).

Deep Space Station 35 incorporates the latest in Beam Waveguide technology increasing the sensitivity and capacity for tracking, commanding and receiving data from spacecraft located across the Solar System.

NASA has invested $55 million in the first of the new antennas and is currently investing an equal amount in a second dish – Deep Space Station 36 – due to come online in late 2016.

Conference Report: International Seminar on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Open Talent Policy

This report summarizes the findings of the International Seminar on Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Open Talent Policies, which was organized by the Chinese Academy of Personnel Science, Southwest Jiaotong University, and the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. Held in Chengdu, China in November 2014, the conference provided the opportunity for Canadian, Chinese and other international participants to discuss best practices and theories on the implementation of innovation-driven development strategies and open talent policies, and the importance of innovative talent. During the course of the discussions, experts had the opportunity to share different national experiences with innovation strategies, the construction of national innovation systems, and ways to foster talent.

SA: Science Excellence Awards

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The event showcase the critical importance of science and research to the development of industry and our society. This year’s conference is taking place on 13 August 2015. Nominations closed on 4 May and judging will take place with finalists announced at the end of May.

SA: 2015 Community Excellence Awards in Mining and Energy

This event recognises that the sector is not only a major employer and contributor to the economy but a sector that contributes to wellbeing of communities, workplace diversity and social inclusion. The awards produced winners in three categories:

Excellence in Social Inclusion – Heathgate Resources Pty Ltd

Excellence in Supporting Communities – Kalari Transport Pty Ltd & Iluka

Resources

Excellence in leadership – Women in Resources – Oz Minerals

SA: 2014 Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition

This event was held for three days in Adelaide in October. The conference is run by the Society of Petroleum Engineers who have a global membership of over 124,000 members and it bought key engineers, technologists, managers, business leaders and government officials to Adelaide to unlock full potential of South Australia’s resources, energy and renewable assets.

SA: SIMTecT 2015

The simulation industry’s premier conference will be held in conjunction with SimHealth 2015 at the Adelaide Convention Centre from 17 to 25 August 2015. The conference attracts a cross disciplinary gathering of industries, users, developers, decision makers and researchers.

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Publications and ArticlesThe Importance of Advanced Physical and Mathematical Sciences to the Australian Economy

On 25 March 2015, the report The Importance of Advanced Physical and Mathematical Sciences to the Australian Economy was released. The report was commissioned by the Office of the Chief Scientist and the Australian Academy of Science and produced by the Centre for International Economics (CIE).

The report combines the expertise of Australia’s scientific community with that of business and industry. The aim has been to produce an economic framework that can use the available statistics and economic modelling techniques to provide a timely reminder of how much of our national economic activity depends on the advanced physical and mathematical sciences (the APM sciences). The APM sciences comprise physics, chemistry, the earth sciences and the mathematical sciences, where ‘advanced’ means science undertaken and applied in the past 20 years. Biology and the life sciences were not covered in the report.

The direct contribution of the APM sciences is estimated to be 11% (or about $145 billion per year of the Australian economy). The contribution in additional and flow-on benefits equals another 11%, bringing the total benefits to 22% or around $292 billion per year.

Australian Intellectual Property Report 2015

On Friday 17 April 2015, the Hon. Karen Andrews launched the Australian IP Report 2015. The IP Report is an annual publication that promotes awareness of IP rights and developments.

The report showed that demand for filings varied across all registered intellectual property (IP) rights. Applications for plant breeder’s rights and trade marks increased from 2013, while applications for patents and designs decreased.

An interesting story also emerged regarding wholesale traders, who have been identified as the third largest industry filing patents in Australia. Patenting activity by wholesale traders suggest that, in addition to purchasing and selling on goods, wholesalers undertake research and development, and invest in IP.

To coincide with the release of the Australian Intellectual Property Report 2015, the IP Government Open Data has also been updated to include all data from 2014. The data is matched to individual firms along with information about their size, technology and geographic location.

The report and a range of interactive tools are now available via www.ipaustralia.gov.au/economics .

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UK Design Council: Innovation by Design

Research from the UK’s Design Council found that design support accelerates research commercialisation and increases value.

Innovation by Design found that design commercialisation projects provide:

A greater ability to secure further development funding

Clearer communication of new technology to potential investors

Improved prototyping, fundraising pitches and market entry strategies.

The report also includes evidence that design support can provide multiple benefits to technology transfer organisations.

The Mortality of Companies

New research from the Santa Fe Institute reviews a comprehensive database of more than 25 000 publicly traded North American companies, from 1950 to 2009. The findings include that publicly traded companies die off at the same rate, regardless of the firm's age or what sector it's in. The researchers also found that most (US) firms live about 10 years and the most common reason a company disappears is due to a merger or acquisition.

Making big companies more entrepreneurial

Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup, suggests that large firms can be more entrepreneurial through mechanisms such as:

Including productive failure on performance reviews

Ensuring that entrepreneurship is a function, like sales, marketing and finance

Ensuring that workers are not expected to multitask between business-as-

usual and entrepreneurial projects

Encourage engineers to be managers.

The Atlantic: Welfare Makes America More Entrepreneurial

Walter Frick reviews recent academic studies looking at the relationship between welfare and entrepreneurialism and suggests that “When governments provide citizens with economic security, they embolden them to take more risks. Properly deployed, a robust social safety net encourages more Americans to attempt the high-wire act of entrepreneurship.”

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Procurement and Innovation

Tom Symons from Nesta has written about six theories of why procurement by government has struggled to drive innovation. The theories relate to:

Separtation of design and implementation stages

Gulf between theory and reality

Lack of join up between policy-makers and procurers

A lack of incentives for innovation

Overly restrictive and complicated regulations

Lack of procurement skills across government.

Nesta is to conduct a project on innovation and procurement to investigate these and other issues further.

A new operating model for government

Paul Maltby from the UK Cabinet Office writes about trends in how government works, including government as a platform and the next generation regulation. Looking forward, he asks “Why do we expect government to be immune from the more radical impacts, just because we don’t have the luxury of going out of business? It is not just a case of feeding modern digital tools into our existing policy processes (though that too), it is about recognising that these technologies have the potential to allow or even require a different operating model for government.”

OECD Review – Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic: Human Resource Management for Innovation in Government report provides a detailed diagnosis of public employment management and pragmatic solutions for improving it. The recommendations are based on assessments in the following priority areas: the use of strategic workforce planning and management, the state's ability to acquire and retain workforce competencies and enhancing government's core values, performance management and leadership, HRM reforms and the capacity to implement innovative approaches for a more efficient and effective public administration leading to better service delivery.

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