We're waiting for the Rudd government's 10 year innovation White Paper which will be delivered in early 2009. Although there is speculation that it will be provided in final form, we are hopeful that there will be a concrete foundation for innovation investment that addresses systemic failings that exist at the moment.
By way of parallel, Finland also completed an innovation review last year. The result, released in December 2008, is a bold plan to stimulate the economy, and an increase in funding to help take the country's R&D funding to 4% of GDP by 2011. In other words, the current economic crisis has actually triggered an increase in innovation investment as an economic stimulus.
This is something Australia needs to consider carefully as the terms of trade change, workforce productivity slows and the air coming out of the consumption-driven balloon spins the economy all over the place.
What do you think?
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