Labor’s jobs package provides its future direction for industry for the first time; but can it deliver, and more importantly, will it survive political opposition?
AAP
Labor has finally delivered the detail of its much-awaited vision for shaping Australian industry beyond the mining boom.
But will it deliver? In a two part series, UWA Professor Tim Mazzarol examines…
The Gillard government’s Industry and Innovation Statement aims to revive an ailing manufacturing sector and address Australia’s flagging productivity.
AAP
While its launch in the heat of election battle was hardly propitious, the federal government’s new Industry and Innovation Statement, A Plan for Australian Jobs, is the long-awaited result of a serious…
The great stagnation: does faltering innovation spell the end for economic growth?
Image from www.shutterstock.com
The economic profession lacks a unified theory of economic growth. Textbooks and academic journals contain a plethora of models and paradigms which generate different (and sometimes contradictory) predictions…
China’s growing investment in research and development could leave Australia by the wayside.
AAP
When it comes to innovation, China is not renowned for being cutting-edge; it is better known for adapting existing technology rather than creating its own.
Yet, as Xi Jinping stated in his first speech…
The closure of BlueScope’s no 6 Blast Furnace at Port Kembla was an acknowledgement that Australia simply cannot compete with our cheaper Asian rivals.
The $1 billion dollar annual loss announced by BlueScope Steel confirmed what is common knowledge: the Australian steel industry is in crisis and fighting for survival. The latest statistics show that…
Manufacturing has a future in Australia – but only if it can reposition itself up the global value chain.
Can anything new be said about the future of manufacturing in Australia?
Yesterday’s report, Smarter Manufacturing for a Smarter Australia submitted yesterday to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, is a detailed…
Cuts to the R&D tax incentives for Australian businesses – as proposed by the Business Tax Working Group – have significant implications for our future economic wellbeing.
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The Business Tax Working Group discussion paper’s suggestion to reduce the R&D tax incentive reveals a clear-cut attitude to policy aimed at Australia’s economic development: “It’s all about the tax…
Ingenious innovation of the ancient world does not cease to amaze.
Tilemahos Efthimiadis
Modern humans may think they are clever, and each generation typically thinks it’s more intelligent than those that came before. Hence, it can be a shock to discover civilisations existing thousands of…
If we’re going to hit our innovation targets, we need to harness growth.
nyoin
In part 14 of our multi-disciplinary Millennium Project series, Stephen McGrail argues that boosting innovation requires us to change our thinking as much as our technology.
Global challenge 14: How…
The future health of Australian manufacturing depends on bridging the gap between research organisations and business.
AAP
As we are only too aware, manufacturing in Australia is currently under a great deal of pressure, operating in a relatively high cost environment, facing significant international competition and taking…
Orchestra of nature: artist Bartholomäus Traubeck has converted pieces of trees into music.
Eric C Bryan
What is the music of trees? German artist Bartholomäus Traubeck spun slices of logs on turntables that translate their textures and annual rings into music. Traubeck calls the result Years, and I played…
In the UK, innovation and research has been at the forefront of the government’s economic policy agenda.
bisgovuk
After decades in the wilderness, industry policy is back centrally on the economic agenda in the UK. What is striking is how the policy is being driven by strong evidence on what works from years of accumulated…
Unveiled: from the fanfare of the new Camry model last year, Toyota has axed 350 jobs this week.
AAP
A week after Toyota announced redundancies at its Altona plant in Melbourne, Holden confirmed the loss of 100 casual jobs at its manufacturing plant in Adelaide. Holden chief Mike Devereux said the cuts…
