Mitchell Bingemann | August 05, 2008
THE IT industry's contribution to innovation will be considered a "national priority" in the national innovation review according to its author, CSIRO director Dr Terry Cutler.
The review, chaired by Dr Cutler, is designed to develop a set of national innovation priorities to complement national research priorities.
It is also tasked with identifying regulatory barriers to innovation.
The review was expected to be delivered to Innovation Minister Kim Carr on July 31, but Dr Cutler requested an extension because of the large number of public submissions received.
In total, Dr Cutler and his panel of experts received more than 700 submissions from a wide range of applicants, including government, research bodies and industry.
Of those 700 submissions, Dr Cutler said, about half came from industry, with the IT sector making a strong contribution.
Many of the submissions were a result of the Rudd Government's emphasis on sustainability, in particular in the area of climate change, Dr Cutler said.
Despite this emphasis, Dr Cutler said, the review would not recommend funding green issues at the expense of investment in the IT sector.
"One of our terms of reference is to propose a set of national innovation priorities to lead funding through government programs - and for us the IT sector is one of our priorities," he said.
"Clearly IT innovation is going to crucial in addressing a lot of the challenges we are facing, such as climate change."
The report from Dr Cutler and his expert panel will not reach Mr Carr until the end of August.
Dr Cutler said the delay was necessary to ensure the best outcomes of the review would be achieved.
"None of us expected the huge level of public response to the review - the number and range of submissions," Dr Cutler said.
"It was more important to get this right than to rush something through to the original timeline, and Mr Carr was in full support of that."
Dr Cutler's review will be followed by a white paper response from the Government before the end of the year.