Open Source Industry Australia

This submission to the Expert Panel conducting a Review of the National Innovation System for the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research was made by Brendan Scott on 30 April, 2008.

Introduction:

In our view, "innovation" is not an end in itself.

Innovation is means to an end, that end being a better life for Australians. An undue focus on innovation preferences the means over the end – an issue foreshadowed in the discussion of the Triple Bottom Line in the call for submissions.

The triple bottom line of innovation:

• industry challenges, and market-oriented changes to increase productivity and improve competitiveness;
• innovations and changes in public policies and service delivery around the production of public goods; and
• innovations and changes to address societal and environmental aspirations and challenges, and the mobilisation of private and public sector capabilities around these challenges.
  [ http://www.innovation.gov.au/innovationreview/Documents/Innovation_What_it_is_and_Why_it_Matters.pdf]

A system which produces a massive amount of innovation which no one is permitted to use is a poorer system than one which produces a smaller amount of innovation which is widely implemented. Both of these are poorer systems to one which produces a massive amount of innovation and those innovations are widely implemented. It is this last system that the recommendations in this submission are aimed at achieving. In this submission we use the term "institutional progress" to describe the end of which innovation is a means.

Followed by a number of reccomendations and discussion points.

The full OSIA submission is available for download below.

All submissions to the review panel are available online