Australia as the clever country

AGRICULTURE TAKING ON GREATER NEED FOR TECHNOLOGY... A farmer compares his crop. Photo: Supplied

Australia has the opportunity to be well positioned for its priority industries to become globally competitive exporters by leveraging the innovation assets that the technology industry has to offer.

Through almost 80 detailed recommendations in its latest white paper, the Australian Information Industry Association is urging the Federal Government to accelerate the digitisation of Australian industry or run the real risk of going from producers to consumers in some of our key industry sectors.

Failing to do so will also result in Australia not meeting The Prime Minister’s 2030 targets to become a leading digital economy.

Political leaders are looking at ways to improve our manufacturing capabilities and less dependence on imports but as we move forward, society is going to become increasingly dependent on the development of new technology. We don’t know what we don’t know at this point in time.

Agriculture Technology for instance is set to become Australia’s next $100B industry by 2030, yet only low-level investment in this area is reflected in the 2021- 2022 Federal Budget and is almost completely missing from the Agriculture Strategy 2030.

Australia must invest in its core and strategic industries to remain competitive.

As we look at the advance in the use of solar power, Australia was once an early technical leader in this field yet the lack of government support at that stage saw the technology move off-shore and we now import almost all components required for it.

Recognising that digitising the economy is critical to our national success there are steps the Government needs to take now to ensure we remain a producer and not simply a consumer.

AGRICULTURE TAKING ON GREATER NEED FOR TECHNOLOGY… A farmer compares his crop. Photo: Supplied