We have to be honest about this at some stage. Are we doing the right things to rebuild the economy?

Or are we just ticking boxes?

Are we having an impact on the decline?

Growth centres. Industry growth program. We are using the right words (insert "growth" here)...but are they amounting to anything tangible?

And if not, what could we be doing instead?

Well, here are some possibilities.

Step 1. Knowledge Diffusion

“While novel, ‘new-to-the-world’, innovation is an important source of economic performance, it relates to only one to two per cent of Australian firms. The slow accretion of existing knowledge across the economy — diffusion — is often overlooked as a source of productivity. It has the scope to lift the performance of millions of businesses.”

Productivity Commission 2022.

Universities are the engine rooms for ideas and innovations, but they need to be shared.

Australia’s universities all post videos and webinars into their YouTube channels, some of which are valuable sources of inspiration, innovation and ideas.

We have gone through every university YouTube channel back 5 years and posted links. Updated every two months. Have a look.

rebrand.ly/MyRegion-Diffusion

Step 2. Study options for students, parents and teachers.  

What do I want to study and where should I study it? rebrand.ly/MyRegion-Study

The section presents videos that explain what Australian universities are researching across a wide range of subjects.

Subjects include space, ICT, AI and coding, smart manufacturing, materials, robots, drones, agriculture, biology and science, defence & security, health innovation, environment, circular economy, energy, mining and rehabilitation, reef and marine, transport, waste and water, art, design and creativity with video presentations on each subject from universities and elsewhere.

At the bottom of each page is a list of the universities that specialise in that subject and have an institute or centre. This makes it easy for students to choose universities in their area of interest.

The Study Options section of the platform can be accessed by students, teachers and parents for FREE.

Step 3. Export.

We need to sell what we make. We need to leverage our current “mineral advantage” and use our “brainpower advantage” more effectively. And brainpower is concentrated in our universities.

“Australia’s universities hold the levers to reignite national productivity…” Attila Brungs – VC UNSW.

That means letting the world know what we can do in Australia. Showcasing our best products and services to the world.

During COVID the myREGION.au platform presented Australian F&B exporters to Japanese buyers, and has since been expanded to include “shop windows” for many other products as well. Including Indigenous Arts and Culture. Defence industry. And more.

Most shops put their products on show in a window. The myREGION.au platform puts Australian products and services into multiple windows for the world to see.

We are now 105th in the world for economic complexity.  By this measure, Australia is rapidly regressing in technological and structural terms. We are becoming more similar to developing countries, rather than leading industrial economies.

Which is not what we want for ourselves, our children or grandchildren. Or we will be exporting our children and grandchildren in the same way we export other resources, because we have no industrial or economic capacity to employ them in Australia.

We must take steps to avoid this.

Let’s get moving.