The evening of Tuesday, 14 May saw the Australian Government announce its Federal Budget for the 2025 Financial Year. Encouraging commitments have been made in the innovation space, including a $3.2 billion spend over the next decade to accelerate investment in renewable technologies as part of the Future Made in Australia initiative, with around half of that to be paid through an innovation fund to support commercialisation and rollout.
To provide further insight on what this means for innovation in Australia's cleantech space, Spruson & Ferguson Principal Dr Gareth Dixon and Griffith Hack Principal Karen Sinclair share their thoughts.
How do you foresee this significant government investment impacting the innovation landscape within the renewable energy sector?
Investments attract talent. Absent funding, there's little to get a graduate student interested in cleantech other than the "feelgood" factor. On the other hand, a fully sponsored PhD or post-doctoral fellowship has definite pull. The more high quality projects we punch out, the greater the chance of developing a unicorn - something with high efficacy that is also commercially viable - these are the R&D outputs that stand to make a difference and the more the innovation landscape is supported, the greater our chances of success.
What role do you believe government funding should play in driving innovation, particularly in emerging industries and technology such as renewables?
In a country such as Australia, where the innovation ecosystem suffers from very little private investment, government support is critical. Australia aims to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 - and we're not going to get there passively. The government has set the roadmap, but needs to take an active role in driving and supporting initiatives geared towards net zero.
What strategies or best practices would you recommend for companies and entrepreneurs seeking to leverage these funds to drive innovation and market adoption of renewable technologies?
I can't think of anything unique to renewables here, so it's pretty much the standard interplay between the commerciality of a new technology relative to the innovator's intellectual property position. Develop a business model, protect your invention, apply for funding, reduce to practice and commercialise. These five pillars sound like commonsense, but are mutually inclusive to the practical and commercial success of any new technology.
What opportunities do you envision for collaboration between government agencies, research institutions, and private sector innovators?
There’s always been opportunities for these sectors to collaborate – and one of the good things about Australia’s relatively small cleantech ecosystem is that it’s fairly intimate and you don’t have to cast the net too widely to identify a potential partner. The announcement of the budget, and the government’s firm financial commitment to renewables may perhaps promote the government as a key collaboration partner and a good example of this is the commitment of $470 million to build the world’s first “fault-tolerant” quantum computer in Brisbane, with an equivalent commitment coming from the Queensland State Government.
What challenges or opportunities do you foresee in effectively translating this investment into tangible advancements in renewable technology commercialisation and rollout?
In terms of challenges, it would be nice to think the government wouldn’t bury its own initiatives in piles of red tape. On the other hand the very notion of “the environment” calls for everything to be done responsibly and correctly as we only get one shot at this. In terms of opportunities, it’s really just reiterating what I said above: investment attracts talent. Australia has some of the best talent in the world, and with appropriate government support at each critical juncture, I’d certainly be backing Australia to make a sizeable dent in a global challenge.
How do you foresee this significant government investment impacting the innovation landscape within the renewable energy sector?
The investment leans into Australia’s historic economic strengths: bountiful natural resources and digging stuff from the ground. It goes an important step further though by matching them with another of Australia’s documented strengths: clever people. Rather than rely on export income from raw resources, the initiative seeks to rebuild sovereign manufacturing capabilities in technologies in which Australia ought to be able to excel. Together with the “single front door” for investment announced and the establishment of an Innovation visa, I hope that the overall package will encourage more young people to study physical sciences, and stay in Australia, with the collective outcome of an innovation boom in the renewable energy sector.
What role do you believe government funding should play in driving innovation, particularly in emerging industries and technologies such as renewables?
Right now, government funding is critical to accelerate innovation in priority industries, including renewables. Taking Australia to the world through the removal of trade and investment barriers has been important to give Australians a global perspective: I truly believe the innovation sector understands that it is the global stage upon which we must compete. But for a mid-size economy with some geographic challenges to easy market access, it makes economic sense for the government to support an end-to-end ecosystem which educates, trains, employs and leverages Australian smarts in industries in which we have natural advantages.
What strategies or best practices would you recommend for companies and entrepreneurs seeking to leverage these funds to drive innovation and market adoption of renewable technologies?
From an IP perspective, it’s critical that companies and entrepreneurs fully understand the technology and commercial landscape in which they are innovating and operating. Big data analysis of IP can reveal the least obstructed pathway to market, as well as provide a springboard to next generation innovation, all with a few skilled clicks of a mouse. Home grown IP is a platform for expansion protected from competition and as such opens doors to investment and market collaboration.
What opportunities do you envision for collaboration between government agencies, research institutions, and private sector innovators?
A study a few years back revealed that by a factor of almost 4:1, compared to other major industrialised nations, Australia relies more heavily on innovation from universities as compared to corporations to generate IP. Over many years the in part federally funded National Health and Medical Research Council has proven invaluable to leadership of Australian medical research on the global. The opportunity exists for collaboration between government, research institutions and private sector innovators to take the best of this model and apply it to other technology spaces.
What challenges or opportunities do you foresee in effectively translating this investment into tangible advancements in renewable technology commercialisation and rollout?
A sustainable vision which is apolitical in motivation and execution will be critical in translating the investment into long term outcomes. Together with continuing to educate and train young Australian in the best practices of not just entrepreneurship (which we do increasingly well) but also innovation management and industry development over the longer term. A broad-based science, engineering, and digital knowledge base couple with an understanding of the economic benefits that come from smart leverage of the intellectual property generated through wise investment in those spaces in which Australia has natural advantages.