Australia's innovation policy faces a blind spot: the systematic neglect of common knowledge that enables breakthrough innovations to scale and endure. While current frameworks excel at measuring patents and R&D expenditures, they overlook the tacit expertise, institutional practices, and professional networks that serve as innovation's connective tissue. This Insight reveals how integrating common knowledge with proprietary systems can transform Australia's innovation perfor

I've been analysing Australia's innovation policy and discovered something striking: the Administrative Arrangements Order (which allocates government responsibilities) doesn't mention "innovation" anywhere. Departments are assigned responsibility for research, science, and technology, but no department is given responsibility for innovation itself. This helps explain why we keep cycling through reviews, Ministerial statements, and "renewed" strategies without delivering tran

How can innovation policy become both empirically rigorous and open to wisdom that cannot easily be measured? This new Innovation Insight examines the strengths of evidence-based policymaking in building accountability and transparency, while also questioning whether excessive reliance on measurable outcomes risks excluding critical interdisciplinary perspectives. As research and innovation challenges become more complex, the need for richer, integrative policymaking grows.

This policy insight evaluates the current state of innovation policy through a multidimensional lens that complements existing frameworks.

This is the first of a series on what makes good public policy. Further Insights will be published weekly on Tuesdays. Other Innovation...