This article analyzes and studies Australia's national innovation capabilities and its position in the world. It summarizes Australia's innovation characteristics from the aspects of industrial structure, traditional industries, higher education, enterprise innovation, etc., and also analyzes Australia's national innovation strategy and major strategic measures. It proposes policies to enhance China's innovation capabilities from five aspects: improving education quality, strengthening enterprise innovation, strengthening industry-university-research cooperation, accelerating the transformation of government functions, and cultivating innovation culture.
Australia is an important country in the Asia-Pacific region. It has a vast land area, a developed economy, a low population density, and a relatively single economic structure. However, its scientific and technological innovation capabilities and economic competitiveness cannot be underestimated. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the Australian economy has maintained sustained growth for 26 years against the backdrop of turbulent international political situation and weak global economic growth. Its economic growth mainly comes from two traditional industries: agriculture and mining. Despite the advantages of natural resource endowment, the success of these two sectors is inseparable from the efficiency improvement brought about by continuous innovation. In order to further promote the contribution of innovation to economic growth, the Australian Council on Innovation and Science (ISA) established in 2016, which specifically provides strategic recommendations on innovation, science and research for the Australian Government. In March 2017, the Australian Federal Government proposed the development goal of becoming one of the top innovative countries in the world by 2030. In early 2018, the Australian Council on Innovation and Science formulated and issued the innovation strategy of "Australia 2030 - Innovation Promoting Prosperity" (hereinafter referred to as "Australia Innovation 2030"). The report aims at the 2030 top Australian innovative countries construction goals and provides important support for the Australian government's decision-making.
1. Australia's overall innovation level and innovation characteristics
Australia's innovation level is in the ranks of catch-up countries
Australia is a developed Western country with a high level of economic development. In 2017, Australia's per capita GDP reached US$53,800, ranking 10th in the world. Australia is rich in natural resources and is a major exporter of minerals and agricultural products in the world, known as the "country sitting on the mine cart" and the "country riding on the back of a sheep". Traditional industries such as agriculture, animal husbandry, mining, etc. in Australia are well developed, and high-tech industries have also developed rapidly in recent years.
From the perspective of the ranking of major international reports, in terms of national comprehensive innovation capabilities, Australia ranks 20th in the world in the "Global Innovation Index 2018" released by the World Intellectual Property Organization, 18th in the "Bloomberg Innovation Index 2018" released by the US Bloomberg , and 21st in the "National Innovation Index Report 2018" released by the China Academy of Science and Technology Development Strategy. In terms of national comprehensive competitiveness, Australia ranked 19th in the "2018 World Competitiveness Yearbook" released by the International School of Management in Lausanne, Switzerland, and 14th in the "Global Competitiveness Report 2018" released by the World Economic Forum.
shows that Australia's comprehensive innovation capabilities ranks relatively high, and generally ranks around 20th in the world, with good performance. But compared with the world's leading innovation countries, it is still in the ranks of catching-up countries.
According to the national innovation characteristics of Australia
1. The industrial structure presents advanced characteristics.
Since the 1970s, the Australian economy has undergone major structural adjustments, and the tourism and service industries have developed rapidly, and their proportion in GDP has gradually increased. At present, Australia is mainly based on the tertiary industry, with the service industry accounting for more than 80% of the GDP, and its industrial structure is characterized by advanced characteristics. From a specific industry perspective, Australia has mature capabilities in 3D printing technology, artificial intelligence, automation, big data analysis, blockchain, cloud computing, network security, simulation technology, the Internet of Things and system integration, and has become a intensive source of global high-end technology. The latest statistics show that in 2016, the added value of Australia's knowledge-intensive service industry accounted for 18.8% of GDP, ranking 7th in the world. In 2017, the proportion of employed people in the service industry accounted for 78.3% of the total employed people.
2. Traditional industries have outstanding characteristics of innovation and development.
Australia focuses on the application of scientific and technological innovation in traditional industries and promotes the upgrading of traditional industries through scientific and technological innovation. Today, Australia's mining and animal husbandry are industrial sectors that have undergone high-tech transformation and are no longer traditional industries in the usual sense. Unmanned vehicles are widely used in the Australian mining industry, and unmanned mines have achieved remote control operations of more than 1,000 kilometers. For example, in 2016, Rio Tinto Group owned 69 unmanned vehicles in three mines in Australia, all of which were controlled by workers far away 1,200 kilometers through remote control.
Australian animal husbandry has achieved modernization, systematization and sustainable development of animal husbandry after more than 200 years of development. In terms of scientific research such as breeding, breeding of good varieties, quarantine monitoring, epidemic prevention and control, animal husbandry machinery, the Australian government attaches great importance to it and continuously strengthens its scientific research efforts, and has achieved many technical achievements. The self-cultivated alfalfa and ground clover in Australia can enhance the immunity of cattle and sheep and increase the yield of milk and wool; the highly-technical transformed shearing machinery can maintain a certain length of wool during shearing, eliminate low-quality wool, and improve wool yield and quality.
The technological innovation of these traditional industries big has greatly improved the labor productivity of workers in traditional Australian industries. Calculated at the current US dollar exchange rate, Australia's labor productivity in 2015 was US$113,000 per person, far higher than those of China (US$14,000 per person), South Korea (US$53,000 per person) and Japan (US$67,000 per person), and is equivalent to the United States (US$119,000 per person).
3. Higher education occupies an important position in R&D activities
Australia's scientific and technological innovation and development cannot be separated from advanced higher education. Australia has a complete higher education system, world-class educational standards and top basic research facilities, and its talent training and intellectual output results are remarkable. According to the World Bank, Australia's gross enrollment rate for higher education has reached 90.3%, ranking fourth in the world. According to the latest World University Academic Ranking (ARWU) released by Shanghai Jiaotong University , Australia has 6 universities in the world ranked among the top 100 in the world. In 2015, Australia's total R&D funding investment was US$23.4 billion, of which the R&D funding of higher education institutions accounted for about 4% of 30html, which ranks among the top among developed countries. Developed higher education provides sufficient talent reserves and fruitful knowledge innovation for scientific and technological innovation. According to Clarivial, in 2016, tens of thousands of RD researchers in Australia published an average of 6446, ranking second in the world, second only to Swiss (7235 articles).
4. Enterprises have not yet become the main body of innovation
In comparison, Australian enterprises have not had a prominent position in innovation system . In 2016, the proportion of RD researchers in Australian enterprises accounted for only 32.9% of the society, which is still a big gap compared with countries such as Japan (73.4%), the United States (71.1%) and China (61.9%). The degree of innovation coordination between enterprises and universities also needs to be improved. According to survey data from the World Economic Forum, the degree of research and development collaboration between enterprises and universities is 4.29 points (out of 7 points), and the industrial cluster development score is only 3.98 points (out of 7 points), which is a big gap with other developed countries such as the United States and Japan. Judging from the innovation output, there is also a certain gap between Australian enterprises' innovation capabilities and major innovation countries. In 2016, the average number of invention patents granted by tens of thousands of RD researchers in Australia was only 143, far lower than that of countries such as Japan (2414), China (1200) and the United States (1041).
2. Australia's national innovation strategy
Australia Government regards innovation as an important means to promote national prosperity and an important support for the construction of top ranks of innovative countries in 2030 in 4 years. In order to further leverage innovation advantages and solve the current and future challenges, the Australian Council on Innovation and Science released the "Australian Innovation 2030" strategy in early 2018 to comprehensively promote innovative development.
The significance of innovation for Australia's future development
1. Innovation will support the sustainable development of economy and society
With the decline of resource investment and the arrival of population aging, if Australia wants to maintain the current level of economic and social development, it needs to find new sources of growth and improve productivity. Knowledge-intensive enterprises are the most profitable, competitive and with the highest productivity, so Australia's biggest growth opportunities are currently derived from innovation and exports of knowledge-intensive enterprises. Once these companies solve the scale of global competition, they will bring stable support and contribution to the sustainable development of Australia's economy and society.
2. Innovation will fill the gap in the employment market
Innovation is equally important for the future Australian job market. Although there is currently fear of automated replacement employment, by 2030, the shortage of workers is a bigger problem than the shortage of jobs. Australia's population aging has grown dramatically at a rate of 20% since 2010, meaning a retirement wave is approaching. It is estimated that by 2030html, there will be a shortage of 6% of workers to maintain existing GDP growth. Innovation and the digital economy will fill Australia's future labor gap by increasing productivity and taking on some work tasks by machines.
3. Innovation will increase the demand for workers’ skills
Innovation will change the types of future jobs. Some physical and procedural work will be replaced by automation, such as drivers and clerks. New jobs brought by high-growth fields have higher requirements for workers' skills, such as professional technical work and technical service work. It is predicted that 92% of future jobs will require digital skills and 45% of jobs will need to be done using digital systems. In addition, innovation puts forward more skill requirements for future workers, such as interpersonal skills, entrepreneurship, and problem-solving ability based on assumptions. The five urgent tasks proposed by the
strategy
"Australia Innovation 2030" strategy is based on the vision of Australia's innovation and scientific performance in 2030, and has determined five urgent tasks that urgently need to be promoted by the government of , and proposed an action roadmap and monitoring plan for implementation.
1. Education: Training 2030 years of skills required to cope with changes in the nature of future work
Education determines the abilities of workers and entrepreneurs, and also determines the productivity and innovation capabilities of the economy. According to statistics, from 2005 to 2015, the average student-level government-level funding in Australia increased by 15%, but the results of the International Student Assessment Project (PISA) during the same period showed that Australian students' scientific literacy scores decreased by 3%, and their mathematical ability scores decreased by 5%. In order to ensure that Australia has a world-class education system that meets 2030 years of skills and knowledge needs in the future, measures should be taken from the following aspects.
First, improves the quality of in-service teachers' career development plans, supervises the registration standards for primary normal education, and strengthens the quality of middle school science, technology, engineering, and digital (STEM) teacher education. The second is that encourages middle school students to receive higher level of STEM subject education, provide students with amateur STEM qualification certification, and promote exchanges and cooperation between industrial departments and schools through STEM cooperation forums. is the minimum standard for to improve literacy and computing capabilities in national assessment projects, and to establish new standards at a higher level. 4: strengthens the evaluation of vocational education and training. 5 is to continue to carry out and expand vocational education and training.
2. Industry: stimulates high-growth enterprises, improves productivity, and ensures that Australia continues to flourish
Australia needs innovation-driven production to drive economic growth, especially innovative companies with strong profitability and productivity, as well as more competitive and innovative export companies. After the 2008 financial crisis, the proportion of R&D funds in Australian enterprises in GDP fell from 1.37% to 1.01% in 2015, among which mining and manufacturing industries were the sectors with the fastest decline in R&D funds. For 2030html, measures need to be implemented to promote Australian industrial innovation.
First, reverses the downward trend of corporate R&D investment. government 's support for corporate scientific research and innovation is no less than the medium-term average level of 0.63% (the average proportion of Australian government RD investment in GDP was 0.63% from 1992 to 2016), so that the average medium-term growth rate of corporate R&D investment is no less than the average level from 1999 to 2015. The second is that helps new and small and medium-sized enterprises to open up international markets, increase funding for export market development, and enhance international competitiveness. Third, strengthens support for the digital economy, prioritizes investment in artificial intelligence and machine learning, and develops the cyber physics economy. Fourth, the draft of is formulated to ensure orderly competition in knowledge-intensive industrial sectors. 5: improves the technical immigration rules, optimizes the market environment for adaptable talents, and establishes advantages in obtaining overseas talents.
3.Government : has become a catalyst for innovation and a global leader in providing innovative services
Australia Government Final consumption accounts for about 20% to 40% of its GDP, and the public sector provides about 1.9 million jobs, accounting for 16.2% of national employment. In the wave of globalization, enterprises have experienced a lot of changes in business models, service channels, etc., while the Australian government’s public service model is still stuck in the model of the 1980s. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the service capabilities of government to meet the needs of business and consumers in the 21st century.
1: Australia Government should cooperate with states and regions to explore cross-jurisdictional regulatory reform models in specific fields and provide a more flexible regulatory environment for innovation. The second is that provides investors with a more complete policy environment. third is to improve the open use of government data and related regulations. Fourth is to establish procurement targets for small and medium-sized enterprises: by 2022, 33% of the government procurement contract will be given to small and medium-sized enterprises. 5 is to set up promotion, tracking, evaluation and other projects to promote, track, and evaluate the procurement activities of government departments that drive innovation, and optimize government behavior. 6 is to establish a mechanism for identifying, predicting, encouraging and evaluating spillover income, and to maximize the returns of important government projects. 7 is the guides digital transformation agency, and achieves 6% of the expenditure of government departments through digital services by 2022, and achieves the goal of saving 12% of the expenditure of government in 2026, while improving citizens' satisfaction with government services. 8 is that reviews government public service departments, and plays a greater role and capability in policy formulation, implementation and service delivery innovation.
4. R&D: Improve the transformation and commercialization capabilities of scientific research results, improve research and development efficiency
The Australian scientific research department has high R&D capabilities, but the cooperation between the scientific research department and the industrial department is not smooth. Only 5.1% of R&D expenditures in colleges and universities come from the industrial sector. Australia ranks 27th in the proportion of publications with industry sector collaborators. Australia has 15 Nobel winners in the 20th century, most of which come from the fields of medicine and physiology. However, Australia has not fully utilized its scientific research advantages. Many inventions such as black box flight recorders, pacemakers, photovoltaic cells, etc. are based on Australian research results, but are commercialized in other countries. In the future, Australia needs to take measures to promote close cooperation between scientific research institutions and industries.
First, introduces a reward mechanism to encourage cooperation between industry, academia and research, and the maximum bonus amount can reach 20% of the taxes to be paid. second is the research and evaluation industry department introduces higher degree talents in long-term supported, larger-scale research allocation programs. third is to evaluate the effectiveness of incentive cooperation policies in in 2022 and propose suggestions for future actions . Fourth, establishes new fund support for the transfer of results and improves the commercialization capabilities of research organizations. 5 is to formulate and publish the Australian Innovation Park description to support the construction of emerging innovation ecosystems in cities and regions. is provides safe and long-term financial support for national research infrastructure.7: maintains a long-term policy commitment, improves the gender diversity awareness of government projects, and enriches gender diversity in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. 8: The Australian Ministry of Innovation and Science should supervise the emerging high-growth sector in the economy and report the abundance of risk capital supply to the Australian government every year.
5. Culture and Ambition: cultivates a national innovation culture and establishes a national mission and ambition
Australia Government can accelerate innovation and encourage cooperation through the "national mission" to make it the healthiest country in the world. Currently, the average life expectancy of Australian residents is 82.5 years, ranking 6th in the world, while per capita medical expenditure is only US$4,493, ranking 14th in the world. Australia is confident that in the future, it will become the world with the longest life expectancy and the highest quality of life in its people.
First, establishes a national innovation mission project, and gradually invests in the national genomics and personalized precision medicine capabilities to integrate them into the medical research and healthcare system, helping Australia become the healthiest country on the planet. is the second one. establishes a mechanism to continue to identify and perform other national missions and tasks. The action roadmap and monitoring plan proposed in the
report
"Australia Innovation 2030" proposed an action roadmap, pointing out how the government can contribute to the effective operation of the Australian innovation system. The report recommends that the government investment development evaluation mechanism will conduct an efficient and timely assessment of Australia's innovation performance; develop a complete set of innovation indicators and methods, comprehensively understand innovation, and closely link it with economic, social and environmental benefits. Based on five urgent tasks, the
report has developed a system of indicators as a measure that can consolidate performance evaluations in each cycle and provide decision-making information for the most effective way to invest in Australian innovation, science and research systems in the coming years (see Table 1). The indicator system includes five aspects: education, industry, government, , government, , R&D, and cultural ambition. It involves 18 measurement indicators, listing the latest indicator values and indicator development trends, Australia's ranking among major countries in the world, and the average value of the top 5 national indicators.
3. The enlightenment of Australia's innovation and development to China
In 2017, the Australian government government proposed the innovative vision of becoming one of the top innovative countries in the world by 2030. Its development goals include internationally leading scientific research capabilities and innovative achievements in commercialization, internationally leading the innovation capabilities and competitiveness of important industries, and globally leading residents' living standards. At present, my country is implementing the innovation-driven development strategy in depth. The report of the 19th National Congress clearly states that my country should be among the forefront of innovative countries by 2035. On the road of innovative development, China and Australia face similar problems and challenges, so they need to learn from each other.
attaches importance to the quality of education and increases labor skills training
The essence of innovation-driven is talent-driven. High-quality education level and a large number of skilled talents are important foundations for achieving innovative development. Australia will improve its education level with STEM as the core and strengthen talent training. Although Chinese students rank among the top in the world in STEM scores, they still need to improve the quality of education for future economic and social development. First, should consolidate the level of basic education and strive to improve the enrollment rate of higher education; Second, should improve the quality of higher education and increase educational evaluation; Third, should strengthen professional skills training and improve the labor skills level of practitioners.
Strengthen the innovation capabilities of enterprises and improve labor productivity
Enterprises are the main body of innovation, and the innovation capabilities of enterprises are directly related to the improvement of economic development level and the competitiveness of a country. Australia takes traditional industries such as mining, animal husbandry, and manufacturing as the core to stimulate corporate innovation, guide the development of new enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises, and increase support for the digital economy. At present, the R&D investment of Chinese enterprises accounts for more than 75% of the total R&D investment in the whole society. In the future, Chinese enterprises should focus on improving their R&D level and innovation capabilities.First of all, under the current complex and changing trade situation, enterprises must strengthen their independent research and development efforts, form a number of core independent intellectual property rights, and ensure the stable and long-term development of enterprises. Secondly, as Huawei and other companies enter the "technology no-man's land", enterprises need to effectively strengthen their basic and applied research capabilities, explore new technological fields, and explore new development space. Finally, in the digital economy era, enterprises should take the lead in using advanced technologies such as automation to organize production activities and improve labor productivity.
Accelerate the transformation of government functions and improve the innovation policy environment
government As a provider of innovation services, it is an indispensable part of the innovation system. Australia has proposed to make government a catalyst for innovation and a global leader in providing innovative services. China is undergoing a transformation of the functions of government , streamlining administration and delegating power, and improving operational efficiency, from a management-oriented government to a service-oriented government . In the stage of implementing the innovation-driven development strategy in depth, on the one hand, , , should continue to strengthen the support of the central government and local governments for scientific and technological innovation, improve the investment policy environment, support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, and strengthen the implementation of policies such as the additional deduction of pre-tax deductions for R&D investment; on the other hand, , , government itself should strengthen the construction of informationization, strive to realize digital services, improve the efficiency of public service departments, and strengthen the construction of the evaluation mechanism of government services.
Strengthen cooperation in industry, academia and research, and improve the level of transformation of scientific and technological achievements
Only when scientific and technological achievements are transformed into real productivity can they serve economic and social development. For a long time, scientific research results have been shelved and cannot be used by the market, which is a problem that China needs to solve urgently. Some of Australia's scientific research results are still transformed in other countries. In comparison, what China needs to solve more is the problem of how scientific research results are in line with market demand. First, should open up channels for industry-university-research cooperation, realize information sharing, strengthen the construction of a docking platform between technology suppliers and technology demanders, better match knowledge production and knowledge application, and improve the level of transformation of knowledge results; Second, should allocate special funds to support R&D cooperation with enterprise needs as the core, ensure that the results of industry-university-research cooperation are finally implemented, truly solve corporate problems, meet enterprise needs, and thus stimulate the competitive vitality of market entities.
cultivates an innovation culture and promotes open innovation
An open innovation culture is an important driving force for promoting scientific and technological innovation and achieving comprehensive innovation. In order to promote the cultivation and enhancement of innovation, science and research systems, Australia proposes to make full use of international knowledge, talents and capital, and strive to obtain the best benefits from international knowledge, talents, capital flows and global value chains. In comparison, China still has a lot of room for improvement in cultivating an innovative culture and opening up innovation. First, should optimize the domestic innovation environment, attract high-level international talents and foreign capital, and strengthen international exchanges and cooperation; Second, actively participates in international scientific engineering projects to form a group of influential international academic communities and international societies; Third, seizes the opportunities of the "Belt and Road" and encourages enterprises to go global and improve their competitiveness in international competition.
Reprinted from丨Kiqing Think Tank
Author丨Sun Yunjie, Xuan Zhaohui
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