Innovation policy: more cooperation required says IPA

WHILE the Government’s “inner revolutionary” approach shows positive signs to drive economic growth and productivity, cooperation across government, business and academic sectors will be critical, according to the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA).

“Our research tells us there is insufficient cooperative behaviour between Australian businesses, creating a barrier to the spread of existing innovations to a wider cross-section of firms; this represents a significant lost opportunity to the economy,” said IPA chief executive officer, Andrew Conway.

“Australia needs action to promote increased innovation across the Australian SME sector including more government support for research and development by small and medium-sized firms; and government support for firms to adopt existing technologies and innovation.

“We also believe there needs to be better linkages between cutting-edge research universities and industry.

“Firms should also be encouraged to adopt continuous improvement methodology to embed incremental innovation as this will generate large productivity improvements more quickly.

“To help facilitate this, the Government could provide tax breaks for companies acquiring new technologies not developed in-house, along with a tax allowance for companies investing in intellectual property protection in-house, and a tax allowance for companies that generate licensing income from in-house new technologies,” said Mr Conway.

www.publicaccountants.org.au

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