The report finds that the innovation economy could provide a $6bn boost, but not unless the country fixes its fragmented workforce.

Tech giant Microsoft’s Joined-Up Innovation report, published this week, outlines seven steps the Australian government needs to take if it wants to boost its fragmented innovation workforce. The report includes findings from PricewaterhouseCoopers which demonstrate how equipping the country’s small and medium-sized enterprises with greater tech skills could increase GDP by nearly $6bn, or 0.4%, increase real wages by 0.5% and raise revenue in the economy by $11bn. 

The paper’s recommendations include improving relationships between individuals and organisations across the innovation value chain, reinventing the way people work and operate by moving from slow, linear innovation processes to more collaborative models, transforming the country’s culture which has become too risk averse, improving knowledge and information sharing, cultivating a wide range of skills, and making it easier for talented individuals to move around within the ecosystem.

The report warns that the country needs to “look beyond start-ups”, as innovation needs to transcent early-stage companies. It is the recommendation that the country needs to transform its culture which seems to be the most pertinent one, especially as start-ups have been campaigning about for years. The country has a low acceptance for business failures, which makes people reluctant to be more entrepreneurial. This fear of failure emerges early, with the flow from university into start-ups as a pressure point.

The report was framed around a roundtable discussion of over 15 innovation experts, including CEOs and academics, as well as Pip Marlow, Microsoft Australia Managing Director, who said: “Australia has amazing strengths. These range from our wealth of natural resources to our location in the fast-growing Asian region, our economic and political stability, cultural diversity and smart population. But if we want to maintain – and preferably improve – our competitive position, we need to reinvent our innovation ecosystem for the information age rather than sticking with models developed in the industrial age.”