BOUNCING BACK BETTER COVID has removed our lethargy and reluctance to operationalise technology and accelerate its pervasiveness. What is most significant, however, is what happens next. By Ron Gauci
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he most obvious examples include our ability to work from home, turn our small bricks & mortar businesses into global online digital opportunities, the transformation of education and telehealth services, including digital prescriptions and the revolution of the contactless supply chain and cashless society are other industries that have been positively impacted. What has lingered as a possibility for over a decade, has thrust us towards adoption with hyper speed proportions in a matter of months. The possible is now inevitable and the resistance is now adoption. Our nation’s students are inspiring. At the Australian Information Industry Association’s iAwards in 2020, I was able to to see the application of AI, machine learning, data analytics, Internet of Things and coding capability addressing physical and hearing disabilities, mental health, solving medical and ethical issues. This is the next generation of Australians leading the way in providing hope, excitement and energy to innovation. We are a truly clever nation with very intelligent, innovative and entrepreneurial people. Our global peers recognise it, but I am not as convinced that
we recognise it ourselves. The opportunity for our country to invest in this capability and present it to the world is not limited by our ability to mine minerals, manufacture goods or cultivate our fields. It relies on our ingenuity, our resourcefulness and our capacity to do things differently in an innovative way through the practical use of technology. The technology industry is not dependent on size or geography. The incremental growth potential is at least $300bn in GDP value to the Australian economy. The innovation of a few can influence and positively impact so many. The digital capability that Australia now across so many different industries can be a global point of differentiation. It also has the potential to provide Australia with a sustainable self-sufficiency and independence that protects us against the exposure of global economic crises. There is an excitement that this brings with it, as there is a caution that hangs over it. As we debate matters of privacy, data protection, national security, sovereign capability, the ethics that must underpin AI, and trust in our Government and our corporate institutions, we must ensure that the debate does not become a roadblock or an undermining of our opportunity. The good news is that we are well advanced in the laying of sound foundations to address these questions of ethics, morality, good governance as well as the sensitive balance between the protection of privacy and the national security agenda. I am truly encouraged and excited by the potential for Australia’s wealth and prosperity that innovation technology presents in the shift from becoming consumers to commercial producers – not only for our recovery post COVID but for our growth and influence on a world stage. The evolution of technology to becoming a powerful enablement platform is how we realise that potential.
Ron Gauci is CEO for the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA).
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