Finding and filling the gaps in the Australian governments' innovation and entrepreneurship support spectra

A national innovation system is concerned with the full process of converting new knowledge into commercially viable results. Governments are policy-active in trying to create productive national innovation systems. This paper reviews ways of thinking about entrepreneurship as the commercialisation component of Australia’s innovation system. The paper explores the impact and relevance of selected existing Australian Commonwealth, and to a lesser extent State government, programs for the commercialisation channels so identified, using four frameworks for the analysis: financial, management/start-up, innovation and entrepreneurial. The analysis indicates program initiatives covering the later development and commercialization phases, but serious gaps in the support available for the entrepreneurship phase involving the act of new entry. This gap is covered by research provider business development people and to a limited extent by incubator and State government initiatives. A critical issue has been and is access to smaller amounts of seed finance. The critical human component is the education of public servants and politicians about the nature and operation of entrepreneurship.

Bringing innovation to centre stage : the rhetoric of commercialisation and cross-sector collaboration

As a key element in Australia's national innovation system, public sector organizations, such as universities and public-funded research agencies, have increasingly become involved in R&D collaborations with firms. Government policy has encouraged this cross-sector collaboration, and in the most recent policy "act" has focused on the commercialisation of research findings (through which R&D outputs are translated into marketable commodities) and has encouraged public sector organizations to become more directly involved in this activity. But while the policy rhetoric has contributed to a discourse of marketization, through which cultural change in the research performing organizations is both promoted and legitimised, there are other voices in the unfolding policy drama which point to the complex and multifaceted nature of commercialisation in national economies. These countervailing voices emphasise the multiple roles that public sector organizations play in national innovation systems, and this introduces organizational role ambiguity into the discourse leading to confusion among the research performing actors. It is concluded that, given the complex and subtle nature of innovation processes, the traditional dichotomy between applied (or commercially-focused) research and "public good" research is no longer tenable nor helpful in the policy debates.

Population driven development in the City of Casey: is it sustainable?

The City of Casey is the fourth fastest growing region in Australia. Thus far its success is population driven. This paper reviews the recent trend in regional development policies in Australia with particular reference to Casey. A new model based on the Regional Innovation System framework for the analysis of development in the region is constructed. Questions are raised about whether this region can have economically sustainable and innovation driven development in the future

The knowledge economy, the techno-preneur and the problematic future of the university

Knowledge economy policies are currently very powerful drivers of change in contemporary university approaches to research. They typically orientate universities to a national innovation system which both positions knowledge as the key factor of economic growth and sees the main purpose of knowledge as contributing to such growth. In this article, the authors explain the economic logic informing such policy interventions in university research and look at the conceptualisation of national innovation systems in various national and international policy sites around the world. Their interest is in what these particular sets of policies have in common, not in how they differ. They introduce three key themes of such systems and the academics they seek to produce. These themes are their techno-scientific orientation, network characteristics and commercial imperatives. The corresponding implied subjects are the techno-scientist, the knowledge networker and the entrepreneur. The authors make the case that evident in such constructions of the future of universities are some unacknowledged and under-acknowledged problems, one of which is a failure to recognise the power of the gift economies of academic culture.

Innovation in construction : experiences from a hypocaust system in Australia

Introducing new technologies poses a particular challenge to the players involved in a project. For a successful low energy building, a new design process is required and players must assume new and additional responsibilities. Hypocaust systems, where conditioned or non-conditioned air is passed through ducts within the concrete floor or ceiling of a building prior to its delivery to the rooms, are starting to appear in new buildings in Australia. This paper describes the lessons learned from the early experiences with a hypocaust system, installed in a new building in Melbourne. It concludes that a more cooperative process among all those involved in introducing and using a new 'technology' is essential if the problems described are to be avoided or at least minimized.

School innovation in science : change, culture, complexity

The School Innovation in Science (SIS) initiative has developed and evaluated a model to improve science teaching and learning across a school system. The model involves a framework for describing effective teaching and learning, and a strategy that allows schools flexibility to develop their practice to suit local conditions and to maintain ownership of the change process. SIS has proved successful in improving science teaching and learning in primary and secondary schools. Evidence of variations in the nature and extent of the change is used to argue that the process is essentially cultural in nature, and that change occurs at different levels within a school. Processes supporting change thus need to be flexible and responsive.

AQIS, EXDOC and the 'meaties' : an interpretivist case study of an Australian export documentation system implementation

EXDOC is an on-line export documentation system implemented by the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service [AQIS] and used currently by 90% of meat exporters. At a time when governments world-wide are increasingly committed to introducing electronic service delivery [ESD], this is a timely exemplar of innovative practice. In this paper, we consider the initial implementation of EXDOC in the meat export sector in order to identify the factors that led to the successful adoption of this system.

We consider these factors in the context of diffusion of innovation literature supplemented with Bijker’s social constructivist framework. The theoretical flexibility provided by this combination of approaches enabled us to draw out a number of implications from the data that bear on strategy formulation.

Factors found to have significant bearing on the early adoption of EXDOC included: (1) idiosyncratic factors precipitating the initial implementation (2) the constraints based on accommodating user capabilities (3) the organisational role taken by AQIS (4) diffusion as a self-reinforcing and value-adding effect.

A standard represents both a problem as a requirement of such a system and a problem solving strategy eliciting compliance to the system requirements. Over the period of shaping and stabilizing of the industry standard, AQIS was required to act as facilitator in the coordination of the actors.

The implementation of systems like EXDOC enables users to identify what they want from a system, specifying their preferences and tradeoffs. Such implementations offer opportunities for systems redesign within export business sectors with major strategic implications for the industry.

School innovation in science: improving science teaching and learning in Australian schools

School Innovation in Science is a major Victorian Government initiative that developed and validated a model whereby schools can improve their  science teaching and learning. The initiative was developed and rolled out to more than 400 schools over the period 2000-2004. A research team worked with 200+ primary and secondary schools over three years, supporting them in developing new initiatives in science, and monitoring the impact on school and classroom practice, and student outcomes. The research effort underpinning the development phase included the development and validation of a set of components describing effective teaching, the refinement of a school and teacher change strategy, the development of instruments to monitor teacher classroom practice and a variety of student outcomes, and the development of insights into the change process using questionnaires, observations, and interviews across four years. This paper describes the project and its major outcomes, and raises a number of issues concerning the nature of school and teacher change, pedagogy, school and community, and student learning, and the way these interact. A number of research issues are raised by the size and developmental nature of the project, the range of research methods, and the different audiences served by the research. The issue of sustainability of such system-wide change initiatives is discussed.

What drives technology innovation among the emerging Chinese enterprises?

In the light of rapid development of technology/knowledge intensive firms arising from the emerging economy of China in recent time, this paper is aimed at developing an analytical framework, based on the institutional theory and resource-based view, to evaluate the drivers and antecedents of technology innovation among Chinese emerging multinational enterprises (MNEs). Use of case study approach, the study examined two large Chinese enterprises in Wuhan and found that a linear sequential pattern of technology innovation did not apply. In contrast, two enterprises investigated tended to combine several types of innovation (strategic cost, organisational and operational innovation) to manage their internal capabilities and other organisational activities and routines to change, learn, adapt and create technology innovation. Our finding in this study also suggests that the key factor for Chinese firms to be innovative is more internally driven by several human resource management strategies that helped build technological capabilities effectively. Main implications of this study are that organisational human resource managers, technology and system designers should work together to design and develop enterprise management systems conducive to enhance both technology and human creativity for emerging Chinese multinational enterprises.

The challenges and risks of measuring performance in a social learning system

This submission draws attention to the challenges of modelling and measuring teacher performance and the risks associated with the measurement of student and teacher performance. The first premise of this submission is that all such performances are strongly contextual, and that therefore valid modelling and measurement must take the effective dimensions of this context into account. The second premise of this submission is that this performance-context nexus operates as a system and that one of the properties of such systems is continuous feedback looping. The submission draws attention as well to an important entailment of this argument, which is that invalid modelling and measurement may lead to a distortion of the productive functioning of learning systems. This submission accordingly urges the Commission to commit to developing an econometric model which reckons with the contextual determinants of student and teacher performance, and the pursuit of system-wide productivity increases on the basis of the school learning system as the basic unit of analysis. The Commission is also urged to investigate the suggestion that performance measurement regimes which take the basic units of measurement as individual student and teacher performance rather than the school pose a risk to the productivity of schools as learning systems and innovation in the Australian economy as a whole in the longer term.

Extending the paramedic role in rural Australia : a story of flexibility and innovation

Introduction: This article identifies trends in the evolving practice of rural paramedics and describes key characteristics, roles and expected outcomes for a Rural Expanded Scope of Practice (RESP) model.

Methods: A multiple case study methodology was employed to examine the evolution of rural paramedic practice. Paramedics, volunteer ambulance officers and other health professionals were interviewed in four rural regions of south-eastern Australia where innovative models of rural paramedic practice were claimed to exist. The research team collected and thematically analysed the data using the filter of a sociological framework throughout 2005 and 2006.

Results: The study found that paramedics are increasingly becoming first line primary healthcare providers in small rural communities and developing additional professional responsibilities throughout the cycle of care.

Conclusions: Adoption of the RESP model would mean that paramedics undertake four broad activities as core components of their new role: (1) rural community engagement; (2) emergency response; (3) situated practice; and (4) primary health care. The model’s key feature is a capacity to integrate existing paramedic models with other health agencies and health professionals to ensure that paramedic care is part of a seamless system that provides patients with well-organized and high quality care. This expansion of paramedics’ scope of practice offers the potential to improve patient care and the general health of rural communities.

Frank Will - Backyard innovation

Frank Will has invented the OVER7 system to reduce fuel consumption in common family cars.

Learning and concurrent engineering in the development of a high technology product/service system

This paper explores project management techniques that can support the development of novel product-service systems. Some observations from the development of an airborne earth properties measurement system are provided. The intellectual property and the data this system could potentially deliver was more important than the potential commercial value of the product itself. What was sought was a complete business service solution. A concurrent engineering approach was implemented linking both product development and survey data/analysis services. The blend of product and service was integrated using a function modeling technique. It was observed that the implementation of some functions required radical innovation whilst others could be implemented through incremental improvements to current practice. It is suggested in the paper that adapting production learning curve concepts that reflect the relative degrees of uncertainty involved in individual subsystems can enhance project management forecasting practice © 2013 The Authors and IOS Press.

Building allied health workforce capacity: a strategic approach to workforce innovation

Objective The aim of the present study was to identify areas where allied health assistants (AHAs) are not working to their full scope of practice in order to improve the effectiveness of the allied health workforce.

Methods Qualitative data collected via focus groups identified suitable AHA tasks and a quantitative survey with allied health professionals (AHPs) measured the magnitude of work the current AHP workforce spends undertaking these tasks.

Results Quantification survey results indicate that Victoria’s AHP workforce spends up to 17% of time undertaking tasks that could be delegated to an AHA who has relevant training and adequate supervision. Over half this time is spent on clinical tasks.

Conclusions The skills of AHAs are not being optimally utilised. Significant opportunity exists to reform the current allied health workforce. Such reform should result in increased capacity of the workforce to meet future demands.

What is known about the topic? Increasing skill shortages across Australia’s health workforce necessitates that the capabilities of all healthcare team members should be used optimally. AHA roles are an important and growing response to current health workforce needs. Increasing workforce capacity will ensure the right health workers are matched to the right task by skill, experience and expertise.

What does this paper add? This paper presents a model that assists services to identify tasks suitable for delegation to an AHA by an AHP. The model is unique because it describes a process that quantifies the need for AHAs and it has been successfully implemented in rural, regional and metropolitan health services in Victoria.

What are the implications for practitioners? Working collaboratively, with executive support, will lead to a sustainable and integrated approach to support workforce capacity building. Altering the skill mix of healthcare teams through increasing the role of AHAs has benefits for AHPs, patients and the healthcare system.