The Business Council of Australia today welcomed the release of the Final Report of the National Innovation Summit Implementation Group.

Executive Director Mr David Buckingham said today: “It is essential to Australia’s future that we create an ideas culture in Australia which encourages and supports R&D and innovation. Australia has clearly been falling behind the rest of the OECD countries in our efforts to innovate. This needs to be remedied.”

Mr Buckingham emphasised that “Today’s report is an important step along the path towards developing a national Innovation Action Plan. The Implementation Group has developed specific recommendations from the work done at the National Innovation Summit, which the Business Council of Australia co-sponsored, in February. David Miles, and his team, is to be congratulated on transforming the output of the summit into a set of concrete, prioritised proposals.”

“The Business Council especially welcomes the moves to accelerate commercial innovation by rethinking the R&D tax concession, to increase the effectiveness of university research, and to assist entrepreneurs to bring new ideas to market. The Report’s broader suggestions to raise community awareness of the importance of an innovation culture are also welcome. Our children need to be made more aware, and young researchers need to consider the commercialisation of their work. The proposals in this report should help move Australia in that direction.”

Mr Buckingham added that: ”The BCA is very supportive of the process by which the National Innovation Action Plan is being established. The interaction of the Australian research community, business, and government in shaping innovation policy, provides an unparalleled opportunity for real progress in this vital area. Some aspects of the next stage are likely to be difficult but the BCA will continue to participate enthusiastically with the finalisation of the plan.”