Good points. If anything, we should be picking up on some of the positive lessons from your example.
Too often we hear how we are tech surrender-monkeys but what you describe is actually a fairly important lesson for modern tech development. CSIRO went an got Patents on 'important' tech. In the US, and Europe but to a less degree, if you have a tech patent then it is pretty easy to go and raise money to fund the project. Americans believe in their own patent system and they aggressively challenge the patents of other countries. All the technology parks in Australia are closing or have been closed. If you look at ATP at Redfern (http://www.atp.com.au) you'll see that they've given up on their tech focus. They've got markets, talking about V8 racing, and are (as I can see) trying to sell off the land to make apartments. I'm guessing that they decided there was no tech worth trying to develop in Australia and gave up.. or are in the process of giving up. If I am wrong about this.. I don't mind. But I know that having worked in Government they collect intelligence on the Australian tech community from overseas sources. Overseas sources then interpret the information and feed it back to our Government in a form fit for their consumption. Our Government just do what is suggested 'based on the intelligence'. What that means is that all the decisions on the viability of our own tech are fed from overseas. It's the classic colonial system which hasn't changed for 200 years. The tech parks were a brave try. They lasted for about six years. They were a reproduction of a concept which works well in Europe and the USA. They were a sort of attempt to show the rest of the western world that the Government was 'serious' about developing 'tech' in Australia. But it was 'tech' on a very short leash.. as usual. The mood in Government has now changed. It has signed the FTA with the US and can no longer allow itself to favour local companies not that it ever did anyway. One of the most interesting things I noticed when I was working in Government was the lack of cohesiveness of Australian "Brands". They just don't make a very easy job for people like Austrade to do. So we have lots of challenges.. but as always there are still many opportunities and lots of Aussie Tech success stories that we just never hear about unless we talk about them ourselves. On Tue, Jan 11, 2011 at 10:21 AM, drllau <[email protected]> wrote: > Your other example of CSIRO and WiFi is closer to the traditional > model of government R&D leading to a contribution to society (much > like the US space program & cold war paranoia led to GPS). The > astrophysics community solved some really tricky problems in signal > reflection and attenuation. Now when the 802.11 standards were being > stoushed around (and I really mean some serious verbal bunfights here > as multi-billion dollar markets were at stake) CSIRO contributed their > IP to the standard disclosing (as was proper) ownership under the RAND > (reasonable and non-discriminatory) provisions. Certain commercial > companies in their rush to market overlooked their contribution > (remember patents are there to protect non-obvious inventions) and > CSIRO asserted their global rights, winning a slice of royalties from > the major equipment manufacturers. > > This shows the value of a proper IP portfolio. The downside is that > this strategy only works with well capitalised entities which > unfortuantely most startups do not. The negative aspect is that it's > lead to IP trolls, buying up vaguish IP claims with the expectations > of blackmailing successful commercialisation efforts. If anyone > remembers DSTC, this was the IT CRC out of Brisbane which was closed > down by gov (a shame since I hear now that PhD researchers are now > cafe owners) but some of their IP was bought out and may well be > commercialised. The traditional AU gov model of tech dev works well > for long-term projects (eg biomedical) but inadquate for fast-moving > targets. > > Proposition - relook at AU competition law. > Rational - its the deployment/uptake of technology not creation that > matters > > There are some issues... IPR is a government granted legal property > yet enforcement is a private activity. It costs close to 500k to > establish a global patent yet many software patents are obsolete > within years. Often the big players abuse their patents which is why > some developing countries have compulsary licensing (under certain > conditions). This is one area which the government can think more > critically about is the intersection of competition law and IT/ > communications law. (but judging from the levels of discourse on the > NationalBroadBan I wouldn't hold high expectations). Note that most of > the big waves of IT investment was when the US deregulated or in one > case broke up AT&T allowing more innovative firms to grab a slice of > the action. Centralising ownership of nodes amd fibre sounds like > recreating the conditions that led to british Crown granting monopoly > status to the printing press owners (Statute of Anne) to create a > chokepoint to monitor sedition. It is not well known but the 18th > century self-publishing industry was vibrant in Germany before > copyright came in so the economic argument is dubious. > > As always, my opinions are my own and not a insidious conspiracy of > the NZ population to overtake this sunburnt country with its "shared > solitude" [xref to Murdoch's 08 Boyer lecturer series] > > Lawrence > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach > Australia mailing list. > > Guidelines on discussion: > http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia/msg/351e183e1303508d?hl=en%3Fhl%3Den > > No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. > > To post to this group, send email to > [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<silicon-beach-australia%[email protected]> > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Guidelines on discussion: http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia/msg/351e183e1303508d?hl=en%3Fhl%3Den No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en
