Page 3341 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 22 September 2015
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the development of programs for young entrepreneurs, Indigenous entrepreneurs and for former public servants looking to establish their own businesses. In addition, there have been a significant number of events and activities to bring participants together to generate ideas and networks.
The network measures up well against world best practice for innovation spaces. Our direction is reflected in the recent report from the commonwealth government’s Office of the Chief Economist, Australian geography of innovation and entrepreneurship, which found:
… on a population-adjusted basis the ACT is the highest performing of all Australia’s States and Territories on both innovation and entrepreneurship.
We are the highest performing jurisdiction in Australia. Our strong showing is partly because research-intensive companies are based here to sell R&D intensive services to the Australian government, particularly the Department of Defence, and partly because, with the highest intensity higher education R&D expenditure in Australia, companies want to be close to organisations such as ANU, CSIRO, NICTA, UNSW Canberra and UC. These are the goals we need to be striving for, by working closely with the education and research experts based here in Canberra. We need to be taking on Australia and the world, by showing what universities, start-ups and governments can achieve working together.
Through our revised business development strategy, for example, we committed to work with the ANU and UNSW Canberra to develop, amongst others, the ACT Space Innovation Cluster. The space cluster is based on the combined strengths of UNSW Canberra, which has expertise in satellite launch technology and close relationships with the Department of Defence, and ANU, which is a partner in the giant Magellan telescope project and has invested $30 million in the Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre at Mount Stromlo. The space industry provides a major opportunity for Canberra to lead a national approach to the development of this industry, which is currently worth $314 billion per annum worldwide and is growing rapidly.
We have the universities and research institutions with expertise in this field, and we have the Department of Defence on our doorstep. We have international companies such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman working with these institutions to grow the sector. A great example of this relationship between business and research is the co-location of EOS Space Systems with ANU and the Cooperative Research Centre for Space Environment Management at Mount Stromlo.
As part of the ANU and UC’s ongoing hard work on collaboration, from 2016 final year Bachelor of Science students from the ANU will be able to study for a Master of Teaching from the University of Canberra at the same time, with final-year classes credited for both awards. This combined course will allow students to gain their science and teaching qualifications six months earlier than had they done the courses separately. This collaboration, which will position Canberra as a leader in the 21st century knowledge economy, is wonderful news for the ACT.
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