Do you remember when Australia needed teachers (late 70s early 80s I think) and we opened the doors (and provided assistance) to US teachers who came here in droves to bolster that sector. Most of them stayed.
The ICT sector needs global marketing and sales skills. Innovative ideas are in abundance in Australia but so few are ever commercialized because we don't understand marketing at a global level. The thinking of an Australian entrepreneur is formed in an environment of 20 million people contributing to 2% of the world economy. Appropriate if that is your target market. Not appropriate if you are attempting to build a global venture. The government could take a parrallel approach to this problem; 1. Educate our university students to be global marketeers and entrepreneurs (not employees) to address the future, and 2. Develop a government funded program to recruit experienced, global marketeers and entrepreneurs to work with early-stage Australian companies at the commercialization stage of their venture. The elephant in the room that I haven't mentioned is the lack of a venture capital industry in Australia to fund innovative ICT (and other) ventures. Why? Because experienced entrepreneurs will find a way to fund their venture. The program I have suggested in point 2. above will cost the government a fraction of the funds previously allocated to the Commercial Ready program. I congratulate you in reaching out to this group and would welcome the opportunity to discuss this further. Viki Forrest CEO, ANZA Technology Network On May 19, 8:14 pm, Pia Waugh <gre...@pipka.org> wrote: > Hi all, > > Firstly just to be upfront, I have recently started as the ICT policy > advisor to Senator Kate Lundy. Some of you may know Kate, she has had > a deep interest in ICT issues and policy for almost 14 years. My > personal background includes almost 10 years of working in the > industry, largely around Open Source technologies, and industry and > community development. > > Anyway, the thread about the budget and it's impact on the local ICT > industry was brought to my attention. I meant to join this list months > ago, so apologies I didn't see it myself. > > I brought up some of the concerns raised with the Senator and we are > both very interested in identifying blockers and new potential policy > directions to help with local ICT industry development, and would like > to get perspectives from this group, not just around the budget but > generally. Kate went to the US in 1999 and at the time wanted to > identify how the US was different to Australia in terms of policy > towards ICT industry development, but of course now she is in a better > position with more resources to tackle the question :) > > We recently launched a new initiative for public engagement on > government policy and directions called Public Spheres > (http://www.katelundy.com.au/2009/04/29/public-sphere-1-high-bandwidth-for-au...), > and the first Public Sphere was around high speed internet access and > the opportunties and issues therein. We are planning in collaboration > with the Wollonging ICTI Cluster (launching > tonighthttp://www.icti.org.au/events) > to run a Public Sphere specifically around local ICT industry growth > and development, which would result in a briefing paper that we (Kate > and I) can push through appropriate channels in Government, as well as > hopefully more informed policy makers and parliamentarians from the > process. This Public Sphere isn't announced yet (and we are planning > one around "Open Government" also to be announced soon) but we would > like to run this Public Sphere workshop in late July or August. > > It would be good for this list to discuss what Government can actually > do to help local ICT industry both to get a clear list of what is > needed, and to prepare for the ICT industry development Public Sphere > which itself will hopefully flush out more ideas. We would anticipate > having a few portfolios represented (likely by advisors and other > staff) at the Public Sphere. > > Please find more information by Senator Lundy on her website > athttp://www.katelundy.com.au/and it would be great to get your > comments on the budget on her most recent post which discusses ICT in > the budget (http://www.katelundy.com.au/2009/05/18/whats-in-the-2009- > budget-for-ict/). > > Thanks, and I look forward to speaking more to you all on this and > other ICT related topics. > > Cheers, > Pia Waugh > > Mobile: 0400 966 453 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself: http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia/browse_thread/thread/99938a0fbc691eeb To post to this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
