Innovation in australia (1 Viewer)

[jm1234567890]

Noun: innovation
1. A creation (a new device or process) resulting from study and experimentation
2. The creation of something in the mind
3. The act of starting something for the first time; introducing something new

[WordWeb.info]

Why is there so little innovation in australia??
Why can't australia create products and sell them??

I think the budget should have focused on driving innovation
so that australia will acctually be able to use its natural resources
to advance the economy rather than selling it overseas.

agree?

 

[santaslayer]

Yes, agree with innovation, but we must consider the feasibility of 'innovation' taking place within Australia. I think we just 'sit back' and allow more 'advanced' economies to innovate simply because we do not have enough resources to fund such immense projects. eg. Japan and USA.
Second thing I would like to point out is the budget is primarily used as a political device rather than anything you would like it to 'achieve'. It is more of a knee jerk reaction in which resources are allocated specifically to win votes.

 

[Ziff]

In the budget a lot of money was allocated to research which has "commericial applications" and a lot of money was diverted away from research which didn't have said applications. It's not going to result in any innovation though. Easier to leech off someone else

 

[Enlightened_One]

Yeah, but food for thought, we are considered a pretty innovative society. We have had our share of inventions. On the whole we are known for making up quick things to save time, but not many major things.

Of course, it was an Australian woman who stared enyo, that cleaning thing.
I mean if you take a walk through say, Agquip, you'll see some neat little Aussie innovations people have made themselves and are trying to market.


But really, you're talking government funded major projects. The biggest problem is the fact that our government is in the mind set to let the others lead, and we buy there stuff. There are many projects we could undertake, but the government isn't really interested.

 

[santaslayer]

Just exactly what innovations have Aussies come up with? Please jog my memory oh Enlightened One!

 

[George W. Bush]

Originally posted by jm1234567890
I think the budget should have focused on driving innovation
so that australia will acctually be able to use its natural resources
to advance the economy rather than selling it overseas.

Firstly, Australia makes a lot of stuff, so I'm not really sure you know what you're talking about.

Secondly, with a population of only 20 million or so (and a labour force of ~9million), Australia can't mine our resources, develop those resources, make products out of those resources, research further technologies as well as providing services to support the country.

 

[santaslayer]

Also, we did install the fastest laser ever did we not John?

http://media.uow.edu.au/news/2004/0511a/index.html

Is that not innovation?

UOW installs Australias fastest laser
May 11, 2004

Imagine a device that enables you to count wads of money in the blink of an eye, or detect dangerous substances such as anthrax in a sealed envelope.Welcome to the world of terahertz radiation or T-rays for short. T-ray technology has important implications in a range of applications from medical technology to security to chemical analysis.

The University of Wollongong is building its own T-ray Factory starting with the installation of the worlds fastest commercially-available laser, made by the Vienna-based company Femtolasers. It is a first for Australia and will add important research capacity to UOWs Institute of Superconducting and Electronic Materials, which pioneers world-class research in science and technology.

The laser is worth more than $150,000 and was purchased through an Australian Research Council (ARC) grant. It will be used by a team of research scientists from UOW, the Australian National University (ANU), the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) and the University of NSW (UNSW).

The Head of UOWs School of Engineering Physics Associate Professor Roger Lewis said the new laser produces ultrashort pulses of light lasting less than 12 femtoseconds. (A femtosecond is a millionth of a billionth of a second!) The previous fastest lasers in use in Australia have pulses of around 100 femtoseconds.

The T-ray factory will be used first to determine the properties of semiconductor materials. This will lead better semiconductor devices for data collection and communications.

"T-rays can pick up details that X-rays or radiowaves would miss," Prof Lewis said.

 

[CM_Tutor]

On lasers, remember that it was originally an Australian invention - Australians are extremely innovative, but we are pretty crap at commercialising inventions.

 

[Ziff]

The hills hoist was always a good one.

Check out 'The New Inventors' on ABC at 8.00pm on Wednesdays.

 

[Nick]

yeah and those guys that developed a fuel injection system for trucks, or something like that, which i thinks going to be/has been bought by the US army and postal service among others

that was pretty cool

 

[Xayma]

I believe Australians also developed the black box for aircraft and was a major contributor to solar panels.

 

[jm1234567890]

Originally posted by CM_Tutor
On lasers, remember that it was originally an Australian invention - Australians are extremely innovative, but we are pretty crap at commercialising inventions.

yeah, thats exactly my point....

We may invent something but it usually goes overseas to be commecialised.

I challenge you to name one major thing that is manufactured in australia by australian company.

EDIT: there is the cochlear implant, and that is all...

 

[santaslayer]

Just out of curiosity, was the bbq an aussie invention?

 

[neo o]

Australians also invented

- scuba equipment
- the Chochlea ear implant

etc etc..

 

[Enlightened_One]

I didn't say major scale, so let me think.
Some guy figured out how to make an underwater windmill to make hydroelectricity. It was on the news a few months abck and is still being trialled.
I mentioned that woman who came up with the cleaning thing, enyo. She's a millionare now.

Some bloke, this was in a land paper I think, made a helmet in the form of an akubra hat. It could be worn like a comfortable hat, and protected you from the sun and it held up the weight of his one tonne ute.

I'm still thinking, I know they are more, though some not as large scale as others.

check out this website. Not what I was exactly thinking, but check all the links, some of them are relevant:
http://www.ats.business.gov.au/index/australian_innovation.htm

 

[Nick]

the bbq is hardly an invention

u get fire, and cook stuff by putting it over the fire

 

[santaslayer]

Yes it is. Better cooking techniques (against an open fire) can only be achieved through a BBQ !

 

[jm1234567890]

Originally posted by Enlightened_One
I didn't say major scale, so let me think.
Some guy figured out how to make an underwater windmill to make hydroelectricity. It was on the news a few months abck and is still being trialled.
I mentioned that woman who came up with the cleaning thing, enyo. She's a millionare now.

Some bloke, this was in a land paper I think, made a helmet in the form of an akubra hat. It could be worn like a comfortable hat, and protected you from the sun and it held up the weight of his one tonne ute.

I'm still thinking, I know they are more, though some not as large scale as others.

check out this website. Not what I was exactly thinking, but check all the links, some of them are relevant:
http://www.ats.business.gov.au/index/australian_innovation.htm

that hat has hardly been exported around the world and he will be luck to sell a thousand of them....

I'm talking big things!!! stuff that will acctually give australia a manufacturing sector (rather than just BHP).

eg. the sprinter starting foot rest thingy was invented by australian, but couldn't get funding from govenment to make it so it ended up being made in the USA....

 

[santaslayer]

Originally posted by jm1234567890
eg. the sprinter starting foot rest thingy was invented by australian, but couldn't get funding from govenment to make it so it ended up being made in the USA....

OMFG, that is so gay!

 

[cayte]

I think a big part of the problem is that we just don't have the economy to support the marketing of some of these major inventions/innovations. It's often more financially feasible for an australian company to sell their idea or go into partnership with a company in the US. It would be nice to see more money flow to our innovators, but I don't know that we have the money to compete. We do have quite a strong medical innovation sector. neo mentioned the cochlear; an aussie company is leading research and running trials on a heart valve pump, alternative to transplants; a device called a gene shear, used for genetic engineering has been developed. We're responsible for a lot good innovations but as has already been mentioned, we don't market them.

Did you know: Australia is responsible for such internationally adopted everday items as the ready-mix concrete trucks and the humble goon sack? Who'da thunk it.