The New South Wales government says its innovation blueprint will encourage start-ups, greater innovation, and investment into the state. It comes after the Labor government’s first budget slashed funding to the Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade (DEIT) and its grants program.
Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology, Anoulack Chanthivong, said the government’s focus was on rebuilding essential services so, “there was no room in the budget for spending that might not be delivering for the people of New South Wales”.
DEIT’s budget was more than halved, cut from $3.165 billion in 2022-23 to $1.534 billion in 2023-24.
Its grants and subsidy budget was cut from $2.55 billion to $1.13 billion, although in 2022-23, $764 billion of the allocation had not been spent.
Before the budget, Chanthivong said nearly $190 million of “secret” program cuts by the previous Coalition government before the March election caused more than a dozen grant programs to have funding cut or cancelled altogether.
Chanthivong said that according to the NSW Innovation and Productivity Council, NSW’s performances in university-industry collaboration and commercialisation outcomes haven’t moved in years and R&D intensity is in freefall.
The Innovation Blueprint will be prepared in consultation with sector leaders and experts from universities and business, to attract new investment, ideas, industries and talent, the government said.
Chanthivong will lead roundtables on venture capital, non-monetary government support, how to best encourage start-up growth, industry adoption of innovation, and attraction of skills and talent.
The goal is to “jump start innovation in new sectors and in important enabling technologies like quantum computing, artificial intelligence, data, cyber, sensors and robotics across sectors like energy, advanced manufacturing, healthcare and agrifood”.
“Getting this right will help us foster a strong innovation sector, create the industries that will fuel the jobs of the future, and attract talent,” he said.
