Tassie has opportunity to grab bright future in hi-tech sector
INNOVATION in Tasmania is alive and well.
We are powering a great lift in economic activity in Tasmania and across the nation, with ideas and our capacity to commercialise digital creativity.
Our capacity to innovate has never been greater. From infrastructure work on NBN, to network design, advanced manufacturing technology, big data solutions, through to our education curriculum and our creative community — Tasmanians are leading the way, here and overseas.
At each layer of our digital
Madeleine Ogilvie
economy there is work to be done, and jobs to be created.
Tech expertise is in short supply and we have done nowhere near enough to bring women in the mix. This gap is a strategic disadvantage.
I’ve been consulting in our tech sector. Among many, I’ve met the School of Engineering at UTAS and encouraged a refocus on communications engineering. We have capacity to be a national leader in electronic and communication engineering. Our engineering school can drive this. Like the Silicon Valley grew from a uni push in the 1970s into tech research, we can do the same. The strategy remains sound.
NBN is here to stay, but the technology mix has changed. The promised fibre-to-thepremises plan has been dropped for the copper network. It is not ideal as we were promised fibre-to-the- premises, but the horse has bolted and I have turned my mind to finding opportunities for Tasmania in the new mix, particularly how I can help address youth unemployment.
Until now, Tasmanians wanting to work on copper technology had to train interstate. We didn’t have local certificate-level training so we missed out. Interstate workers took the jobs.
Lack of copper networking skills is a risk to the NBN project as the old-fashioned copper network becomes a critical piece of the solution. This creates opportunity for local training. I have met with TAFE and encouraged establishment of a copper networking certificate. They were already a fair way down the path with a strong vision for technology and science training. TAFE wanted to establish industry links and I was able to bring NBN Co to the table. All well, Tasmanians will be trained in copper and hired locally, with national work opportunities.
Telecommunications infrastructure players such as Visionstream can be key players ensuring our kids get work in the tech sector. Recent news of job losses underlines how important it is to attract business to our shores.
Many see Tasmania as a leader in communications technology, and the SubPartners cable proposal must be diligently considered.
Don’t forget the role tech equipment vendors play. Inventions become products, and in the tech sector they are some of our favourite things, from your iPhone, tablet and iPods, through to high-end electronics like switching gear for communication networks.
Electronics has become very cool and very profitable.
As part of the Tasmanian digital growth strategy, I want to attract a communication technology manufacturers to Tasmania, and bring research and development capacity here. I have taken up the invitation of the Australia China Business Council to join a delegation to Shenzen to tour the facilities of Huawei, a Chinese multinational telecom equipment and services firm. Huawei is the largest telecommunications equipment producer in the world and is on a growth trajectory. In 2013 it invested $5 billion in global R&D.
China’s internet and digital commerce industry is booming, with growth nearing 60 per cent last year. At the heart of their strategy is to encourage links between traditional sectors and the digital economy. This is exactly what we need in Tasmania.
Let’s also think about internet players, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Social media has changed the way we interact and caused a rethink of media engagement.
Let’s bring parts of those big players here. Intellectual property management groups can be based here, a physical presence that will give our local sector access to global organisations.
We have experts in commercialisation and content creation in Tasmania. Legal expertise in intellectual property management and licensing is already helping to prime the sector. NBN gives us our digital bridge to the mainland over which our innovation can be exported.
Our schools are pumping with digital technology, and Shadow Communications Minister Jason Clare’s plan to ramp up technology skills in schools is a masterstroke. The new national curriculum will help, but it has to be funded.
We can continue as we have been by focusing on traditional (and great) industries, or we can grasp the nettle, and drive our economy in a new direction that will provide growth and careers for the future.