Archive for the ‘Innovation’ Category

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High Speed Rails

September 7th, 2010 by Steven Lau

There have been talks of developing a high-speed rail network in Australia for decades now, and it is finally back on the agenda again in this election by the Labor government. Should it, at long last, be developed in Australia? This high-speed rail network is currently in operation in Asia, Europe and the United States, and with the planned developments in both Africa and South America, Australia will be the only continent without any high-speed rail services in a few years’ time.

One advantage of developing the high-speed rails is the provision of an alternative and/or cheaper alternative mode of transport. It is suggested that it will have lower passenger costs as compared to travelling by automobiles or air. Take for example, the Sydney – Melbourne air route. It is the fourth busiest in the world, and the flight time is about 1.5 hours, with a distance of approximately 881km. According to Google Map, this takes approximately 10 hours if travelling by the cheaper alternative to air travel – the car. However, with the high-speed rails operating at an average speed ranging from 250km to 350km per hour, it would only take about 3 to 4 hours to travel between Sydney and Melbourne. This compares to the total amount of time taken to travel to/ from airport, check in and time to collect luggage if travelling by air, as it would work out to be almost the same.

The high-speed rails are also less environmentally damaging. With the world becoming more aware of global warming and the potential cost of carbon footprint to Australia, high-speed rails offer the alternative solution to automobile and air travel. It is found that the electrically-powered high speed rail reduces pollutant and greenhouse gas emission, and will save on carbon emission costs.

Other advantages of high speed rail over automobile and air travel include lower accident rates than automobile travel. Job creations are amongst the many benefits that high speed rails have to offer. For further information, a thorough study was done by the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Rail Innovation.

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Posted by Steven Lau Posted in infrastructure, Innovation | No Comments »


Sustainability: A high stakes game

September 16th, 2009 by Kaitlyn Scannell

There is risk involved in any new development, but it’s a matter of how much risk we are prepared to take.

Pracsys has done a lot of financial analysis to determine whether various sustainable technologies, such as recycled water, are viable compared with current methods, such as traditional scheme water, in the developments of the future.

There is no doubt we need to embrace alternative technology; the problem is the capital costs associated with these technologies are often very high.  Add the fact that current technology is so heavily subsidised and the comparative cost really starts to add up – and the stakes get higher.

In making investment decision does the developer risk short and medium returns in the knowledge that cashflows will be positive in the future? Alternatively do we sit on our hands, watch and wait and hope that such technologies become relatively more affordable once others pave the way and economies of scale are achieved?

No-one wants to be the first to jump, the one to pay a premium for taking that leap of faith. Particularly given that we’re talking about the basics that everyone should have access to – water, power, transport. If the end user doesnt percieve the full value of these technologies then the developer will need to subsidise the price to make it attractive to market.

If Government, for example, were to embrace sustainable alternatives, who would pay for it? Would it put the basics beyond the reach of lower income residents?

There are some advantages in being the first to take the leap, to set benchmarks for others to follow. Water is a scare resource in Perth; it’s a fact that we need a more sustainable method of water supply.

recycled water

The trick is to strike the right balance between the  risk and the benefits, both economic and environmental, of such action. And this means Governments making some hard decisions, working to sway public opinion on issues such as recycled water, and ultimately being convinced that they should take a chance, even if the figures don’t stack up in the here and now.

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Posted by Kaitlyn Scannell Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Feasibility, infrastructure, Innovation, News | 2 Comments »


Future jobs: What your kids will be doing

August 20th, 2009 by Michael

As cities have evolved, so have the jobs that go with them. Think for a minute about the sort of work your grandparents did. Now imagine what industry your son or daughter might be working in. Chances are it will be as foreign to you as it would be to your grandparents.

Your grandmother, if she worked outside the home at all, might have been in the typing pool or an old-fashioned secretary who made the tea and took shorthand for her male boss; your grandfather a loans clerk at a bank or a worker at a manufacturing plant.

They might have had six children, but certainly not fewer than four so they never wasted a thing; clothes were handed down; meals made out of the very basics.

Service, they will tell you, was more personal in their day. They knew their bank manager by name, their doctor regularly did house calls; if they needed anything fixed – from the radio to a car engine or office equipment – there would be a guy down the road who’d have it done in a jiffy; rare holidays would be planned with maps, brochures and trusted travel agents.

You, on the other hand, are likely to be working in mining, in IT, or be self-employed. The secretary is more likely to be a personal assistant who also has a degree and multi-skills in computers, office management and accounting.

You probably only have two children and they already have a plethora of “stuff” that you don’t understand and they certainly don’t need. If you want a loan, you apply online and hear back within a few days without ever having a conversation with anyone, let alone going into a bank; if something’s broken you’re far more likely to throw it away than have it fixed; and if you want to go on holidays you probably book the whole thing online.

So many jobs have either gone completely, are on the way out, or will undergo a complete transformation to adapt to a changing society.

In the past we bought more of life’s essentials; now we spend a lot more on things that are not necessary. With rising living standards comes increased consumption and more pressure on finite resources.

Sustainability, then, will be a big player in the workforce of your children’s future. As will the likes of genetic medicine and innovations in technology for the care of an ageing population.

Some of their job titles may sound like science fiction to you (and certainly to your grandparents) but as society’s priorities change so will the nature of their employment. Future jobs will include the likes of:

Telemedicine technician. Forget the traditional GP. These guys will act as support assistants who can diagnose conditions using state-of-the-art GPS medical systems; they won’t even need you to be in the same room.

Chief innovation officer. Someone paid to move the ideas along, to organise innovation efforts and find ways to commercialise them, to maximise entrepreneurial outcomes.

Corporate alumni director. If networks are knowledge capital, then places (ie cities) with a lot of knowledgeable alumni are very valuable resources indeed, resources that need fostering and careful managing.

Eco-relations manager. With a growing focus on green energy and sustainability there will be more and more green collar jobs, such as selling carbon credits or managing carbon allocation.

Retirement consultants. With an ageing population, jobs will change to provide greater services to cater for their needs. A wealthier, “younger” aged population will demand better services.

Whatever their jobs, your children will be adapting to changes in society, just as you, your parents and grandparents did before them. As always, developments will be about increasing efficiency, getting more output from the same input, no matter the science and technology behind those job changes.


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Posted by Michael Tags: , , ,
Posted in Innovation, News | 4 Comments »


The real value of culture

August 4th, 2009 by Brian Cole

Culture is not just something “nice” to have, an optional extra to make residents and visitors feel good.

Rather, it is an economic essential, a critical part of a modern, vibrant city.

What many of the world’s leading cities have in common is their status as an outstanding centre for arts and culture. The Royal Ballet in London, the Met in New York, La Scala in Milan… these cultural drawcards reasons to go to such cities in and of themselves.

And people who come for arts and culture come to spend. This economic reality shows even in Australian cities which still fall short of deserving the mantle “creative capitals”.

Half of all overseas visitors attend at least one cultural attraction while they are in town. If they come for a day, they spend $30 to $35 per head on arts and culture; if they stay overnight, their spend jumps to $120.

Residents, too, show their appreciation, with 65 percent of Australians attending at least one form of arts and culture in a year. This support is particularly evident in people aged over 30.

If, however, a city such as Perth is to grow and prosper it needs to do much more in this vital area. Nice beaches and good weather are all very well, but they do little for the bottom line.

To secure the kind of creative and thinking people who can take a city to another level of competitiveness, Perth needs to offer a lifestyle that this crucial knowledge sector finds attractive.

The presence of a vibrant arts and culture scene is a major drawcard. A city that takes its culture seriously has a major advantage over a competitor trying to secure the services of creative people.

Funding support for the arts varies wildly, with different models operating around the world. In the United States, support comes largely from private or philanthropic quarters. In Europe, where there are 20 times the number of opera houses in major cities than in their American counterparts, support is primarily from government.

In Australia, like Canada, there is a mixture of support from the private and public arenas. In uncertain economic times, sponsorship or direct funding of the arts is often cut back, seen as a optional extra – a spend with little, or no, return.

This is a very short-sighted approach. Arts and culture doesn’t just provide the social return we all acknowledge makes for a better society; it provides real return in areas vital to long-term growth. It is a significant employer – 35 percent of the population either works or volunteers in the area. It encourages people, visitors and residents, to tip money into the economy by attending arts and culture events. And, crucially, it attracts the kind of people we need to develop a city into a major player.

For Australian cities to be in with a fighting chance, it is essential for government at every level to hold firm, to recognise the real and intrinsic value of arts and culture, and lift its support. Culture doesn’t just make us feel good; it makes good economic sense.

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Posted by Brian Cole Tags: , ,
Posted in Innovation, News | 1 Comment »


Smart City Radio: Innovative Entrepreneur

July 31st, 2009 by OM4

Ron Kitchens is the CEO of Southwest Michigan First, a non-profit organization dedicated to being a catalyst for success in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Ron talks about incubating new companies in this economy and how smaller businesses can thrive when large corporations fail.

Eric Mathews is the founder of Launch Memphis, an organisation that nurtures technology startups in Memphis. Eric talks about how technology can help seed an entrepreneurial community and be used to bring entrepreneurs together.
Click here to view this podcast.

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Posted in Feasibility, Innovation, News | No Comments »


Innovation 101: Lessons from Texas to Spain

July 29th, 2009 by Michael

These recent articles from The Economist offer many salient points for discussion, as well as valuable lessons for Australia’s future.

The first, In Search of A New Economy, looks at the changing economy in Spain, where public spending on research and development has tripled, but the private sector has barely budged. The country’s new Minister for Science and Innovation argues that change is needed throughout the economy.

The second, Beyond Oil, analyses the state of Texas and just how well placed, or otherwise, this behemoth is for life after the oil dries up. Energy is still high on the agenda, but from some unexpected sources.

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Breaking the data deadlock

July 9th, 2009 by Georgia Moore

There is a lot of money being thrown at infrastructure around the country to move the economy along. But is it the right infrastructure in the right areas for the right reasons?

One of the biggest problems in determining the answer is a lack of data – and the lack of a consistent and transparent way of measuring available data to make evidence-based decisions. 

Without standardisation it is difficult to compare, benchmark or integrate information. People just aren’t speaking the same language or are reluctant to learn how to communicate.

A conference in Melbourne recently, State of the Cities: Unlocking the Data, highlighted how critical good research data is to the success of cities. Data is not merely facts and figures, used properly it can enable improvements in three key areas:

  • Productivity
  • Liveability
  • Sustainability

But what is being done to ensure that an evidence-based system for collecting, compiling and sharing essential data is adopted across the board?

Government departments have in the past been opposed to giving out information, stating privacy issues or concerns that the data would be used inaccurately.

However, the more information is publicly accessible the greater the opportunity to be efficient and proactive; the greater the opportunity for collaboration and innovation. 

This is particularly important for long-term sustainability. To get an accurate and holistic picture of the sustainability of everything from housing and employment to the environment (and how they interact), you need a better understanding of indicators, how they should be measured and compared.

It is all very well, for example, to proclaim Perth or Melbourne as one of the world’s most liveable cities, but why is it so? Such statements regularly grab the headlines but there is little if any discussion of how the researchers reached that conclusion. What measures did they use? What does the data really say? Is it an accurate assessment?

There are many different people and bodies gathering data but no real central governance of the issue that is so critical to our future. Infrastructure Australia, the Federal Government’s new national approach to the development and implementation of infrastructure, is a step in the right direction. Funding for the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRC-SI) will be another important step. 

But it is vital that everyone comes on board, and understands the value of quality, timely data – to make good decisions and to measure society’s progress.

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Posted by Georgia Moore Posted in infrastructure, Innovation | No Comments »


Design critical to new ideas

April 23rd, 2009 by Shawn Day

Innovation and creativity are widely researched topics in contemporary urban economic literature.  

Less evident is research on the role of cities as stimulators of design, a critical ingredient in the causal chain linking creativity on one hand and innovation, productivity and business performance on the other.  

To understand the role of cities in design, it is helpful to understand the role of design in the creativity – innovation –productivity continuum.   Two reviews of creativity, design and business performance in the UK conducted by the Cox Commission (2005) and the Dept of Trade & Industry (2005) provide a useful framework for thinking about design.  

Creativity and design are overlapping concepts and so it is helpful to think about the articulation between them.  Borrowing from the Cox Commission (p2), the concepts of creativity, design and innovation can be defined in economic terms as follows:

  • Creativity is the generation of new ideas – either new ways of looking at existing problems, or of seeing new opportunities, perhaps by exploiting emerging technologies or changes in markets.
  • Innovation is the successful exploitation of new ideas.  It is the process that carries them through to new products, new services, and new ways of running the business or even new ways of doing business.
  • Design is what links creativity and innovation.  It shapes ideas to become practical and attractive propositions for users and customers.  Design may be described as creativity deployed to a specific end.

Borrowing from the DTI (p3), creativity and design can be linked to business performance through:

  • The ‘traditional’ R&D channel, where improvements in productivity and business performance stem from innovation through advances in scientific knowledge or new technology.  This is particularly evident in the higher tech, hard science sectors of the economy.
  • The design channel, where improvements in productivity and business performance can come about from advancements delivered through process design, branding and marketing.  This is more evident in sectors without substantive R&D.  
  • The ‘less-traditional’ creative climate channel, where advances in business performance can occur as a result of environmental factors like organisational culture.  

Conceptually these channels can be mapped as follows (see Figure 1 below, quoted in DTI, p 3, 2005).  

picture-1

If the activity of design is thus defined as shaping new ideas (generated by creativity) into practical and attractive propositions to be successfully exploited (as innovation), it logically leads the urban analyst to explore where the practice of design occurs within the urban employment and economic structure.  

Again, borrowing from DTI, at one end of the spectrum, design is evident in the production of goods and services with a high content of expression and symbolism, associated with industries such as graphics and fashion which have a strong artistic base.  At the other end, design is evident in the production of goods and services that are more obviously functional and material, such as engineering and component manufacturing, which have a strong scientific base.  

Within this spectrum lie a number of industry sectors which the Queensland Smart State Council has attempted to define in a recent submission to the Queensland Government.

References: Cox Review of Creativity in Business: Building on the UK’s strengths, Nov 2005; DTI Economics Paper No. 15: Creativity, Design and Business Perfomance, Nov 2005; Smart State Council (2008) Smart State = Design State, prepared by a working group of the Smart State Council

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Posted by Shawn Day Tags: , , ,
Posted in Innovation | 1 Comment »


Future demands we think big

April 15th, 2009 by Jason McFarlane

There is a tendency to knee-jerk reaction whenever major pieces of infrastructure are announced.

We saw it again only recently with the Federal Government’s new $43 billion National Broadband Network, described by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as the biggest infrastructure project since the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The brickbats came thick and fast, with opponents immediately claiming it was not commercially viable and amounted to little more than reckless spending from a Prime Minister in search of  headlines.

Of course the network requires rigorous examination – $43 billion is no small change – but the naysayers have lost sight of the big picture.  Assessment of the long term economic costs/benefits of infrastructure cannot be accurately assessed by input/output modelling without taking into account the economic activation benefits that will be derived from having the infrastructure in place.  The nature of infrastructure (in particular knowledge infrastructure) is that it will be used for a long time, by many, in ways that have not even been thought of yet.  Conversation should centre around whether the benefits that such an investment will bring in terms of economic,  social and community sector development are worth the overall cost to the taxpayer.

For an example of the importance and longegivity of strategic infrastrcture look no further than Western Australia’s  Kalgoorlie freshwater pipeline.

When John Forrest introduced a Bill into State Parliament in July 1896 to raise the €2.5 million to fund a pipeline to carry water more than 500km from Perth to the burgeoning Goldfields, the cost was more than the annual state budget at the time. 

It was met with seemingly insurmountable opposition, with visionary engineer CY O’Connor, in particular, subjected to virulent press and constant political pointscoring. 

With the benefit of hindsight, few would argue the outcome was not worth every cent. The pipeline kept the Goldfields mining and allowed it to flourish.  This critical piece of infrastructure has been a key component in supporting economic development in the state for over a century (and tipping a fair swag back into the state coffers in the process).

Certainly, there were cheaper options at the time, but none that offered the same long term benefits. Major infrastructure projects require foresight, planning and no small measure of resolve to see them through.

And so it is with the broadband network. Australia is still very much in the business of raw produce, be it growing, extracting or processing. If we want to be competitive in the future, we have to look beyond simply what we can dig out of the ground and get on board the knowledge train.

The knowledge economy is rapidly globalising and we’re not even at the station. Australia ranks 16th in the world in the take-up of broadband and the 9th fastest advertised connection speeds of OECD countries.

We need this major piece of infrastructure to give us a kickstart. It is impossible to imagine just how important this technology will be to our future.

But we do know that without it, we may as well be using the telegraph while the rest of the world communicates via mobile.

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Posted by Jason McFarlane Posted in Innovation | 1 Comment »


We must weave better networks

January 27th, 2009 by Michael

Innovation requires an ability to grasp the need for change.

How do you ensure that the right people are brought together to generate innovative solutions to major problems?

Policy makers recognise the need for knowledge precincts; to develop technology parks and put them near universities or hospitals, to offer subsidised rents and generally create conditions that facilitate knowledge transfers.

But knowledge creation requires people who have the potential to find solutions to be deliberately put in each other’s way. It’s not enough for planners to build smart buildings, put in nice park benches and places for various boffins to eat. Planners must physically intervene in networks of people to help form knowledge hubs.

Knowledge hubs are intersections of pieces of the network that have similar enough interests but different technical backgrounds.

The traditional planning approach has been to build the physical infrastructure required for a development and to then let the market take care of itself.

That is like saying we want a really high yield wheat crop and we know we need a nice field, a tractor, some rain and some seeds. So we’ll go and get all of them and we’ll put them all in the field, the sack of seeds next to the tractor and make sure it rains and we’ll have great crops. Well, of course, you won’t. All you’re going to end up with is a wet tractor and a bag of rotten seeds.

Networking weaving is about putting all the ingredients together in the right combination so they can produce the right outcome.

The work Pracsys has been doing with the Brisbane Knowledge Corridor and the redevelopment of Tonsley Park in south Adelaide addresses the need for policy makers to be aware of the part they must play in network weaving.

In the case of Tonsley Park, if it had been left up to the market, as is the traditional thinking, big retail and fast food chains would have simply moved in because the site is on a highway with good visibility and great exposure.

But the State Government said, “no, with the Mitsubishi plant closing we’re losing all these export jobs and we know that heavy manufacturing is marginal because we don’t have a comparative advantage with the cost of labour in Australia. So what can we put there?”

When Pracsys was first brought in, the comment was “right, we want to build a knowledge precinct, what buildings should we build?”

Our goal was to get them thinking beyond the physical infrastructure to the sort of knowledge activities that would ensure a viable precinct. Buildings won’t attract the right people. Knowledge activity requires a different kind of planning.

This is where the network weaving conversation comes in. The South Australian Government wanted to turn Tonsley Park into a knowledge precinct focused on renewable energy.  So a series of questions needed to be asked and answered: Where are the existing activities in the state? How do you bring them together? What pieces are missing? Do you need to pay a subsidy to get the missing elements to relocate?

We went through the mechanics of what it would cost to weave a network that would in effect give them a knowledge precinct, apart from the physical buildings.

Once you’ve got those people together, they can talk until the cows come home about the equipment and buildings required to do their jobs properly. That’s the easy part. The hard part is network weaving.

Network weaving demands that all the collaboration mechanisms be brought together and all the barriers to innovative solutions be taken away.

Policy makers don’t yet grasp the need to formally facilitate these network hubs and that’s the thinking we need to change.

What governments do is they try to re-invent the wheel. We need renewable energy so let’s invent the new solar technology.  Well, no, you don’t need to invent the new solar technology… it’s already there. Instead we should be going wherever the technology is and saying, “we’ve got a real interest in this, we’ve got all these researchers, what would it take for you to come over and help us out and how can we help you? And if we can’t get you to physically move can we at least meet with you and share information?”.

It’s all about building the right networks.

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