South Australia has made frontier technology like artificial intelligence and quantum sensing a key plank in its new trade and investment strategy aimed at increasing state exports into emerging global markets.
The emerging technologies now sit alongside renewables, defence and space, wine, agribusiness, tourism, resources, international education, and medical and health as South Australia’s priority export sectors under the new strategy.
The new strategy launched Wednesday with an export target of 18 per cent of its economic output by 2030, up from 15.4 per cent in 2024.
It is also targeting a larger portion of all foreign direct investment (FDI) that comes into Australia, with a goal of reaching 5 per cent from a greater diversity of investment sources.
Soft targets have also been set to increase the number of exporting businesses and increase the diversity of exporters across sectors.
Data in the new South Australia Trade and Investment Strategy to 2030 shows how reliant the state currently is on just three sectors for its exports — food, wine and agribusiness; international education; and energy and minerals.
| Export | Value (A$ billion) | Share of exports in FY2023/24 (4) |
| Food wine and agribusiness | 8.6 | 38% |
| International education | 3.2 | 14% |
| Energy and minerals | 5.09 | 22% |
| Confidential* | 2.45 | 11% |
| Tourism | 1.44 | 6% |
| Other goods and services | 1.19 | 5% |
| High-tech | 0.15 | 1% |
| Transport | 0.25 | 1% |
| Health and medical | 0.25 | 1% |
| Telecommunications, computer and information services | 0.10 | 0% |
| Creative industries | 0.02 | 0% |
| Defence and space | 0.006 | 0% |
Source: South Australia Trade and Investment Strategy. * The ABS compiles trade data from exporter declarations submitted to the Australian Border Force. Exporters—or the ABS itself—can classify commodity groups as confidential to protect sensitive details.
High tech exports account for only one per cent of South Australia’s export value. But the new strategy flags potential to grow because of the state’s world-leading research capabilities in AI, photonics and quantum sensing, as well as a mature cybersecurity and defence sectors.
The strategy signals the Malinauskas government’s ambition to compete in global growth sectors while deepening sovereign industrial capability, and commits it to a “whole-of-government approach to trade and investment facilitation and related industry policy.”
Minister for Trade and Investment, Joe Szakacs, said the state is “on the cusp of a generational opportunity to expand our economy”.
“To harness our strengths, we are launching the most comprehensive plan of its kind in the nation,” he said. “While global trade instability creates challenges, it also can create opportunities – but only if we choose to act quickly and decisively.”
The new strategy also places emphasis on deepening engagement in the emerging markets of India and Southeast Asia while continuing exports to markets in North America and Europe.
It comes just weeks after New South Wales released its own trade strategy, which is prioritising complexity and high-tech exports into new markets in the state’s post-coal economy.
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