The Strategic Examination of Research and Development, released 17 March 2026, is the latest review diagnosing Australia's innovation system and proposing reform. The panel's 20 recommendations are analytically sound and deliberately integrated. But the real test is implementation. Systemic reform must navigate sequential budgets, entrenched institutional resistance, and competing fiscal priorities, including defence, health, and cost-of-living measures.

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.