COAST PERFECT AS HUB FOR INNOVATION: CSIRO BOSS
THE chair of Australia’s peak science and research organisation says the Gold Coast has an “enormous opportunity” to become a centre for innovative companies.
David Thodey, who was appointed as chair of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) for a five-year term in 2015, was speaking after he addressed the Bond Business Leaders Forum yesterday at Bond University.
Mr Thodey spoke on how organisations needed to respond to technology disruption and the importance of research and science to drive innovation.
He said the strength of the Australian corporate sector, in particular mining, had in a sense been detrimental to innovation.
“Because we have had such great economic growth there has not been the need to put more money into risky enterprises,” he said.
“But we will see more entrepreneurship coming through. Recently a few billion dollars has been put into the innovation sector through venture capital.”
Mr Thodey said Australia was ranked highly by the OECD in science and research but lagged when it came to collaboration and commercialisation.
But, he said he had great faith in the resourcefulness of Australian entrepreneurs.
“Australians are very innovative and very creative. Sometimes people say Australians are risk averse but I do not think that is true.”
The former Telstra chief executive said four key principles should define how businesses responded to the innovation challenge. They were: customer orientation; a clearly defined organisational culture; full participation of leaders; and ensuring attitudes towards innovation and reinvention are focused on “always doing things better”. He cited biotechnology company CSL, ear implant manufacturer Cochlear and Qantas as leading examples.
He said the Gold Coast was well positioned to take advantage in the growth in innovation.
“Especially with technology because you can do it from anywhere as long as you have access to the internet. The Gold Coast is a great place to relocate to because of the weather, the infrastructure, and its proximity to Brisbane,” he said.