Artificial intelligence is reshaping industries, yet its productivity impact remains elusive. This Innovation Insight argues that the real challenge lies in outdated models of measurement and policy. To navigate the AI era, governments need a new playbook—one that measures transformation, not just outcomes, and builds the adaptive capacity of national innovation systems.

Australia’s productivity woes stem from more than tax or regulatory inertia. As Emeritus Professor Roy Green argues, decades of industrial decline, underinvestment in research, and a failure to embrace strategic transformation have left the economy exposed to global shocks and wage stagnation. Green outlines a pragmatic agenda for industrial renewal—joining up policy, innovation, and workforce development—to secure Australia’s economic future.

Software is the invisible engine of Australia’s real economy. It silently powers everything from energy grids to medical diagnostics, mining automation to advanced manufacturing. Too often, software is left out of economic plans, policy settings, and capability strategies. It’s time to treat software as national infrastructure — a strategic enabler, not just commercial code. If we want productivity growth, energy transition, and sovereign control of critical systems, we need

For the first time in many years, there is a genuine opportunity to move beyond the oppositional politics that have hindered structural reform. This new parliamentary composition—more diverse but potentially less fractious—opens the door to building coalitions of the willing for major national reform. If we are to grasp this political moment, we must also confront the structural ambiguity that has long undermined innovation policy in this country.