Monday 6 December 2010
Report: Commercialisation programs worth annual $60M to Queensland
A new report estimates that innovation services provided to business by the Australian Institute for Commercialisation (AIC) could be worth up to $60 million per year to the Queensland economy in terms of additional turnover, exports, and hundreds of new jobs.
The AIC, which commissioned the impact report from an independent economic consultancy, operates across Australia but is headquartered in Queensland where many of its initiatives are first implemented.
These benefits have recently convinced the Government to renew its support of the TechFast program, which has already helped 45 Queensland companies to grow.
The impact of TechFast alone is estimated to be worth up to $49m each year to the Queensland economy.
According to the AIC, the report shows the importance of having an efficient and affordable resource with deep knowledge of the innovation system available to local businesses, to help them when they simply do not know how to take the next step.
“It’s a truism but people and businesses don’t know what they don’t know,” Dr Rowan Gilmore, Chief Executive Officer of the AIC, said.
“The difference is that the smart ones recognise this and seek out organisations such as the AIC, when they don’t have the internal expertise to solve a problem, need a new kind of technology, or are not sure how to bring new products and services to their targets markets.
“We have the knowledge, networks and resources to help them, whether that’s introducing them to another business with which they could partner, sourcing university research, or assembling industry experts to solve challenges through facilitated workshops,” Dr Gilmore said.
“This report quantifies the value that the AIC’s activities add to the Queensland economy, and proves that well targeted initiatives, which actively assist organisations to innovate and take new products and services to market, have real and positive economic impact.”
The independent report specifically examined three flagship AIC programs: Ideas2Market, TechFast and TechClinic, which work with individual entrepreneurs, firms and industry sectors respectively.
Independent economic researchers interviewed participants about results they had already achieved, or expected to see in the future, and concluded that many businesses engaged in these programs would not have commercialised ideas or diversified product lines without the AIC’s assistance.
Others indicated that engagement with the AIC accelerated the entire innovative process by one or two years, just by connecting them with the right people and providing the mechanism to establish their innovation.
Three case studies, including two from Queensland, were selected to illustrate these flagship programs, which together have attracted more than 1600 participants over the past five years.
The inventor of ‘LifeHaler’, a medication device for asthmatics engaging in water activities, attended the AIC’s Ideas2Market workshop and masterclass. Queenslander Mikael Blanc reported making important business connections and receiving valuable advice on marketing and funding, helping him prepare his product for imminent market release. He has also started a blog on the process of transforming an idea into a marketable product.
Narangba-based green-tech company Biolytix turned to the AIC’s TechFast program to make its natural wastewater treatment system more suited to local market conditions. Although decentralised sewerage has huge performance and environmental advantages, regulators still lacked confidence in its reliability. To address this, the AIC investigated suitable monitoring and control technology and helped Biolytix develop low cost, high tech telemetry to meet its needs, resulting in increased sales, market share and exports.
The report used a Western Australian case study to illustrate the value of the AIC TechClinics, which bring together researchers, technology providers, potential end-users, regulators, investors and other parties to generate ideas about the future needs of a specific market. Altogether five TechClinics have taken place in Queensland over the last two years, on a range of subject areas including “Can value be created from coal seam gas water?” and “Can Queensland develop a viable fresh cut pineapple industry?”
Dr Gilmore said the economic assessment quantified the value of the AIC’s work in terms of jobs and sales, but the benefits could have an even wider impact “We are now in a “triple- bottom line” world, where sustainability and social responsibility take their rightful places alongside financial concerns,” Dr Gilmore said.
“We are very proud of the work the AIC has done since it was established in 2002, and with our achievements now quantified by independent economic modeling, are confident we can continue making a valuable contribution to Australia’s future economy and environment.”
The report also highlighted the importance of innovation and commercialisation to the Australian economy, stating “Achieving an innovative and a knowledge-based economy is one of the core pillars of economic development. Creation of a knowledge-based economy relies upon the innovation and then application of technologies in a commercial sense, to produce economic benefits and high value adding jobs…
“Australia is well known for its innovative efforts relative to the size of its economy, ranking twelfth in the world for research and development expenditure as a percentage of GDP. However, high-technology exports from Australia are significantly lower than most developed countries in the world (as a proportion of R&D expenditure), highlighting that although Australia is not underperforming in innovation, its slow rate of commercialisation is a key weakness in the development of a knowledge-based economy,” the report states.
Key points from the AECgroup report (this is only a snapshot, please refer to the full report):
The model used to identify the direct and flow on economic impacts of the AIC programs, used four measures:
1) Output: the gross value of goods and services transacted, including those used in the development and provision of the final product
2) Value added: the value of output after deducting the cost of goods and services inputs in the production process (net contribution).
3) Income: the level of wages and salaries paid to employees of the industry under consideration and to other beneficiaries
4) Employment: part and full time positions generated both directly and indirectly
The report only includes economic activity that would not have happened without AIC assistance.
It estimated that the TechFast program could generate a total annual benefit to Queensland of up to $49.7m (output), 171 new FTE positions, $20.1m in value-added and $12m in new incomes each year. This was the high scenario (increase in business turnover of 25%), a low scenario of 10% was also included in the report.
It estimated that the Ideas2Market program (which was only conducted in Queensland) could generate a total annual benefit of $9.4m (output), $4.3m (value-added), 46 new employees and $2.4m in additional incomes.
The TechClinic Program is still a relatively recent initiative but the report estimates that if its success is in line with that of TechFast and Ideas2Market, it could result in up to $9.6m of additional output per annum for the whole of Australia over the next five years on the basis of activities conducted to date.
A copy of the full report can be viewed here.
The video summary can be viewed here.
