Winter Conference 2011

Sebel & Citigate King George Square, Brisbane

August 29-30, 2011

AIRG and AIC held a joint conference on Next Generation Networked R&D, Brisbane, August 2011. The overview of this can be seein in the AIRG AIC Winter Meeting 2011 Report.

AIRG members can view presentations here.

Meeting Topic

Over the past two decades, several clear trends in the management of industrially oriented R&D have emerged. In general terms, the goal of these initiatives was to move beyond the corporate technology and business unit technology group roles of the late C20th as,  primarily company internal drivers of technology outcomes for innovation, towards, initially, a broader, company or organization-wide alignment towards the achievement of growth through innovation and then, laterally, on to extensive global outreach to achieve innovation-driven corporate growth through external resourcing and outsourcing through what has become known as “open innovation”.  While these trends in R&D management approaches have enhanced our understanding of the complex game that is innovation management, have these initiatives fully captured the scope of what it takes to succeed in technology innovation in Australasia?

As the world works its way out of recessionary pressures, most businesses now are seeking sources of innovative concepts from all over the globe.  Increasingly, pre-competitive research for certain industries is even being organized globally.  The “Open Innovation” concept has challenged organisations to take a more networked approach.  In some cases this has been transformational for companies, although in other cases, it seems that it may have only resulted in reduced R&D capability and diminished innovation. 

In Australasia, at an aggregated level, Open Innovation does not appear to have made a major impact on BERD or GERD levels.  So has it helped to substantially change the way in which the public and private sectors interact?  What businesses are seeking from public sector and other external sources seems to depend on many factors – the industry sector, the size and maturity of the business concerned and the type of technology requirement (e.g., across the spectrum from breakthrough research to customer technical support).  

It appears that there may not be one model for success, nor might it be too linear a process.  Therefore, the AIC and AIRG designed a joint Winter Conference that seeked to understand how, across industrial and public sector organisations, primarily working within (or from) Australasia, networked R&D and technology is operating today and how that may develop into the future.  Comparisons with international trends and evolving best practices will be considered.

For full details on the topic and program, please see the AIRG AIC Winter Meeting 2011 Booklet.