Is Enterprise software Australia’s competitive advantage?

According to Kate Pounder, CEO of the Technology Council of Australia, one of Australia’s greatest strengths is its enterprise software industry.

Pounder spoke on a panel at the UTS Innovation Showcase last week and highlighted Atlassian, Culture Amp and Canva as success stories showcasing the value Australia has created in enterprise software over the last few decades. Pounder believes that that Australia can leverage its competitive advantage in enterprise software in order to develop competitiveness in emerging industries.

Pounder explains why she believes the industry is so successful, “…we had the right skills base, we had really good R&D basis in our universities. We have about seven universities in the top 100 for ICT in Australia. Because it was easy for us to produce locally.”

However, Panellist Petra Andren, head of innovation districts at the Greater Cities Commission asserted that while Australia’s digital ecosystem has become well-established since 2012, it’s lacking when it comes to the convergence of technologies.

She comments, ““The Atlassians, the Canvas – they fit into a service, it fits Australia, quite frankly. It’s a global digital supply chain – that fits right in. If we’re going to go into agrifood tech, if we want to get into these other emerging technologies, we’re going to have to back them. We’re going to have to have the capabilities.”

According to Andren, Australia’s technology readiness level is falling behind the rest of the world.

Read more here…