When we think about innovation there is a temptation to focus on the bright, the shiny, and the new. Startups fascinate us because they go boldly where no-one has gone before.
But disruptive innovation affects every enterprise, all sectors, every industry association and all professions. It impacts regulators, policy-makers, ethicists and unions, academics and artists.
Today, InnovationAus.com launches a new series from veteran Australian journalist Beverley Head that explores how innovation impacts us all, viewed from the perspectives of some of the most powerful establishment stakeholders from across the economy.
Beverley kicks off the series with an interview with the outgoing chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Greg Medcraft, who reveals what he considers the innovation blindspot that Australia now faces.
Called “The Establishment”, this interview series will be published each week through the remainder of the year and into 2018 to provide some fresh insight and perspective on the impact that innovation and the march of disruptive technology is having across Australia’s economy and our broader society.
In the coming weeks we will publish interviews with the AI Group chief executive Innes Willox; Australian Institute of Company Directors chief Elizabeth Proust; Australian Medical Association CEO Anne Trimmer. And, as the countdown to Amazon’s local arrival continues, learn what Australian Retailers Association boss Russell Zimmermann predicts for the nation’s 140,000 retailers.
Over the coming months, The Establishment will build into a substantial body of work. Its aim is to build a better understanding of the different views across the economy of how the nation should address innovation strategy and technology change.
“I’ve been writing about technology since 1983, and witnessed the profound impact it has already had on finance, healthcare, education, retail, manufacturing, agriculture and the business of government,” Ms Head said.
“The pace of change is still accelerating and startups continue to disrupt and transform the economic landscape.
“With this series however I wanted to talk to what might loosely be described as ‘The Establishment’– the people who regulate and guide investment and investors, the professions, the unions, peak industry associations – and learn how they perceive and address both the risk and the reward of innovation,” she said.
“Hopefully this series adds a fresh perspective to Australia’s continuing innovation conversation.”
InnovationAus.com publisher Corrie McLeod said The Establishment was a landmark project, bringing together a collection of powerful voices from across the economy into a discussion about the most fundamental questions about Australia’s policy future.
“InnovationAus.com was established as a forum for ideas. We have worked hard to provide a platform where innovation policy ideas and issues are discussed openly,” Ms McLeod said.
“We are incredibly proud to be working with Beverley Head on this project. As a senior journalist covering the march of technology as a specialist over three decades, Beverley commands enormous respect – as is evidenced by the extraordinary access she has been granted by interview subjects for this series.”
“There is a lot of work to do in Australia to prepare our industries and our workforce to take advantage of the opportunities of the new technologies of the fourth industrial revolution, and we hope The Establishment series makes a contribution to that discussion,” Ms McLeod said.