Australia’s next wave of innovation will depend on how clearly policy separates generic data centres from high‑performance computing (HPC). Bundling them into one “digital infrastructure” bucket directs capital to cloud‑style capacity while underinvesting in leadership‑class HPC needed for frontier AI, climate modelling, defence and advanced industry. The piece argues for explicit “AI‑ready HPC” and “AI‑capable cloud” tracks in national strategy, funding and governance.

The productivity lag from AI reveals competing logics: automation that replaces labour to cut costs versus augmentation that expands capability to create value. For innovation ecosystems, this choice is existential. Strict safety regulations risk creating moats favouring large incumbents, while unrestricted deployment threatens research quality. The narrow path requires public interest AI infrastructure, risk-weighted governance, and incentives rewarding high-impact discovery

Australia’s innovation system contains multiple intermediary models, including consultants, brokers, mediators and resource providers. Each model contributes value, yet none resolves the persistent difficulty firms face when adopting external knowledge. This Insight argues that the absence of a dedicated technology transfer agent function is a major structural weakness. TTAs work inside firms, aggregate capability across institutions, and build adoption pathways.

RMIT University’s Enabling Impact Platforms (EIPs) connect researchers, industry, and government to accelerate research translation and deliver outcomes that matter. Covering advanced manufacturing, health, sustainability, and more, the EIPs act as system integrators—breaking down silos, seeding collaborations, and aligning research with national and global priorities.

New research examining 80+ international innovation districts reveals what drives success. From MIT's Kendall Square to Singapore's One North, thriving ecosystems integrate placemaking, economics, business development and governance. Success comes from institutional capabilities and relationships, not impressive buildings. Australian policymakers can learn from global best practices whilst avoiding common pitfalls like property-led development models

Australia’s search for an industrial policy has been long and contested. Centralised models drawn from small unitary states do not fit the realities of a vast federation with diverse regional economies. This Insight argues that the way forward is mission-oriented and place-based: the Commonwealth defines national missions and platforms, while States and regions adapt and deliver through their own specialisations, building resilience, competitiveness, and innovation.

Research analysing 26,000+ startups globally reveals founder personalities predict success with 82.5% accuracy. Teams combining diverse personality types are twice as likely to achieve successful exits. Six distinct founder personalities identified, from technical "Fighters" to business-focused "Leaders." For Australian innovation policy, this suggests moving beyond supporting individual entrepreneurs to fostering personality-diverse founding teams through redesigned policies

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.

Successful innovation districts achieve integration across four critical domains: placemaking that treats public spaces as economic infrastructure, economic development based on systems thinking, commercial frameworks that align public and private interests, and governance institutions with clear mandates and adequate resources. Cities should treat innovation district development as a complex system requiring integration across multiple domains and timeframes.

Australia’s Rural R&D Corporations are rightly celebrated, but the system around them needs to evolve. This Innovation Insight reframes agricultural policy not in terms of who holds power—but what functions the system must perform to meet today's national challenges. A future-focused rethink from CSIRO’s Food System Horizons.

At a time when the language of innovation is everywhere yet the architecture for delivering it is so often absent, the need for honest, grounded, and practical thinking is urgent. The goal of this book is not to predict the future, but to inform and provoke those with the responsibility and agency to shape it.

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

The tectonic shifts in the global economy—from manufacturing to services, from tangible goods to intangible assets—demand more than incremental adjustments to our statistical and analytical frameworks, Australia, a nation increasingly powered by services and innovation, risks undermining its competitiveness by clinging to an outdated framework. The case for adopting modern, flexible, and globally aligned industry classification systems has never been more compelling.

Australia’s economic future depends on lifting productivity through deliberate, coordinated innovation efforts. This demands more than tax breaks or start-up hype. We need systemic clarity about innovation; mature ecosystems that enable diffusion, PMI-oriented public intervention, regional governance, and outcome-based metrics. Only then can Australia boost competitiveness, inclusivity, and resilience beyond legacy sectors and cyclical growth.

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. 

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

Since 1963, Australia’s federal industry portfolio has been restructured more than 20 times. This extraordinary level of administrative churn exposes a deeper crisis: a persistent uncertainty about the purpose, priorities, and pathways of industrial policy. This Innovation Insight calls for a reevaluation of institutional maturity—one that strikes a balance between executive flexibility and enduring strategic direction.

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

Australia's Future Made in Australia strategy risks building the factories of tomorrow while outsourcing their digital brains. This new Innovation Insight argues that Computer and Information Services (CIS)—including software, AI, and cloud platforms—must be recognised as essential infrastructure, not an afterthought. This Insight proposes a dedicated Digital Enablement stream into the FiMA National Interest Framework. Without this, we risk building yesterday’s industries wit

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