Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Following the government's launch of the National Innovation and Science Agenda, which is a blueprint for a more entrepreneurial Australia, I held an innovators forum. At that forum, our first 'baker's dozen' of local innovators networked with export advisers, regional development advisers and business growth mentors. It was a perfect mix of fantastic ideas, information on developmental potholes and requests for further workshops on patent registration, funding and export readiness.

Our local innovators will help transform Australia into a leading innovation nation and position us to seize the next wave of economic prosperity. I believe each of us realises that we are living in a time of rapid change. Technology and science are evolving faster than ever, and the internet is disrupting traditional jobs and industries. The coalition government is fostering innovation by introducing $1.1 billion over four years to energise Australia into being an innovation pacesetter.

Australians have no shortage of smart ideas. You only have to look at great discoveries and inventions like Wi-Fi, the Cochlear implant and the vaccine for ovarian cancer. But Australians who want to turn their brilliant ideas into great businesses can find it hard to get the money to start, and often have to go offshore. We are aligning our tax system and business laws with the culture of entrepreneurship and innovation that we are seeking to create. We are providing new tax incentives to remove the bias against businesses that innovate, and co-investing to commercialise promising ideas, through a CSIRO Innovation Fund and a new Biomedical Translation Fund. Australians are naturally creative and enterprising, but we have a poor record of turning our best ideas into commercial realities. Often, there are barriers too hard for these individuals to overcome, so clever ideas are so often blocked by bureaucracy.

The ideas boom will be fuelled by universities, start-up industries and agriculture, embracing risk and working together like never before. We are reforming funding incentives so more university funding is directed to research done in partnership with industry, providing funding certainty for world-leading research infrastructure, and investing in the future of IT.

The inaugural Gilmore innovators forum featured the talents of Dr Pia Winberg, Director and Chief Scientist at Venus Shell Systems. Pia has been undertaking work in both industry innovations in the fields of fisheries and in sustainable aquaculture systems in coastal and estuarine ecology. She is the driving force behind the pioneering development and production of Australia's unique seaweed biomass and extracts industry.

Also present was Simon Church of DSYNC, which is a small, Australian based systems integration company with offices in Shell Cove. It was recently included in the National Retail Federation's list of 24 leading tech start-ups—the only Australian company to join the exclusive position as one of the top 24 worldwide companies to disrupt US retail in 2016! DSYNC is a unique solution, as well as a unique and innovative company, which at this time has the capacity to revolutionise the market for low-cost integration of data.

Also present were Paul Timbs from South Coast Dairy, a premium and boutique dairy industry, and other dairy industry representatives who are developing their products and strategies to capitalise on the three free trade agreements. They employ a large number of people. We are hoping to get more dairy into China, Japan and Korea.

Then we heard from Laurie Koster from Global Defence Solutions, a company at the forefront of nanotechnology applications, creating a technology for an ultra-thin layer to prevent moisture from being drawn into devices like smartphones and tablets.

Mark Freeman from Blackwater Treatments is developing a state-of-the-art tertiary blackwater treatment system that could be portable and available for disaster areas, in rapid distribution. Mark Allen has a number of innovations and now, following this forum, has initiated discussions with University of Wollongong to develop his alternative Hebel block, a material that has greater thermal qualities than existing materials, and they are already showing in the preliminary tests. Finally, there were Jay Mcilquham and Jack Twist, who have invented and built a prototype to enhance dust extraction and sludge from coalmining residue.

I thank Megan Cleary, Fiona Hatcher, Peter Masterson and Rory McAllister for their expertise and help in drawing other government services to the notice of our innovators. Gilmore is seriously blessed with innovators and entrepreneurs and I will be encouraging more attendees at future forums to turn this potential innovator energy to kinetic innovation growth, industry and ultimately jobs.