Many of us are concerned with two key questions that will impact the lives of our children and grandchildren.
- From where is the next wave of innovation is going to emerge?
- How can we put Australia in front of that wave, so we can reap the benefits?
The challenge in this country to the generation of real innovation, the creation of new value, is that we do not invest sufficiently to be in the game. In addition, we spread it around, compromising the depth of research in any one domain we can undertake.
This insufficiency comes from the politicisation of science, its underfunding, and the fragmentation across public and private sectors, as well as regionally by state.
With a few notable exceptions, Australian owned enterprises do not have the scale to fund the depth of research required, little culture of philanthropy that funds science elsewhere in the world, and multinationals that do have the scale generally are not interested in Australia. This has resulted in a brain drain, and we suffer from a tendency to look backwards and extrapolate to make the bets that will shape the future.
As any innovator knows, constraint is often the best catalyst for original thinking. This has been exemplified over the last few years by the rapid development of covid mRNA vaccines from research labs into available vaccines in record time.
Enough of the problems, what are the trends driving the shape of the future wave onto which we can hitch a ride?
Medical science.
Australia punches above its weight in medical science, despite the constraints. CSL and Cochlear are international leaders, Moderna has announced an mRNA development lab in Victoria. Australian expertise goes all the way back to Sir MacFarlane Burnett, and past successes from the vaccine for the papilloma virus, innovative cancer treatments, and Fiona Wood who pioneered artificial skin are considerable. We may have sequenced our DNA, but the function of the vast majority of the 3.2 billion base pairs we all carry is unknown, a vast trove of potential knowledge to be gained!
Quantum computing.
The Quantum unit at University of NSW led by Professor Michelle Simmons is a world leading research institute. The potential of Quantum physics to drive development across a range of fields, including those listed here is agreed by the experts, of which I am not one, to be immense.
Materials science.
Australia is uniquely situated as a stable democracy blessed with an abundance of raw materials from the traditional minerals, to rare earth minerals, and an overabundance of sun and wind. The materials that will drive the emerging world will come from those sources, powered by advanced computing and materials science.
In short, we do not need to spend piles of money trying to reproduce the Australian version of Silicon Valley. We need to find our own way based on the unique position we are in, and the potential for that position to be leveraged by intelligent and focussed public and private investment.
We have the opportunity to define emerging fields of science that will deliver over the long term the innovative products and services that will reshape our economy. I wonder if we will have the will and foresight to grasp that opportunity, or as has happened in the past, we pass on it and go to the beach.
Header credit: Irina Blok at www.irinablok.com
