The Morrison Government is investing almost $1.2 billion in Australia’s digital future through the Digital Economy Strategy, as part of this year’s federal budget. The strategy outlines the policies and actions the Government is taking to grow Australia’s future as a modern and leading digital economy by 2030.

This is of primary importance because the recently released updated Emissions Projections data by the Federal Government of Australia has shown that Australia might not be on track to comply with its 2030 emissions reduction target of 26 to 28 percent emissions reduction. According to the data, greenhouse gas pollution levels are likely to continue to increase over the next decade.

The speakers at the Chief Innovation Officer Summit include: Anjali Saraf, Head of Enterprise Innovation at Twilio; Michael Vormittag, Head of Innovation & Partnerships at Mercedes-Benz; Natalie Silverstein, SVP and Head of Innovation at Collectively Inc.; Chloe Mackie, Chief Product Officer at Doozy; Heather James, Event Director at Innovation Alliance; Scott Weiss, Presidential Innovation Fellow at the White House; Tara Stevens, Head of Innovation & Growth at Just Group; Deepak Jose, Head of Business Strategy & Analytics at Mars; Markus Schreyer, SVP, The Americas & Business Innovation at Design Hotels; Ori Carmel, Chief Innovation Officer at Kings College London; and more.

In a typical business environment, an organisation may wish to develop a solution that will help them overcome a business challenge. However, the vast majority of organisations have finite resources to allocate to this type of problem-solving, and some challenges may even prove to be completely outside their area of expertise. Rather than see a project or an opportunity stagnate, EarlyBirds work with their customers to take a more proactive approach to solving strategic and operational business challenges.

Online platform EarlyBirds recently published an ebook that aims to explore how public sector organisations can meet the staggering requirements of citizens who live in an increasingly digital world. Their team believes that building a network of both experts as well as material resources can be mutually beneficial to such organisations, especially since they may otherwise be forced to redundantly solve the same problems. EarlyBirds is committed to developing a future where innovation is driven by open cooperation for the common good, and many public sector services play a crucial role in this future. Their eBook can be downloaded through their website.

Digital technology is not new to operations and maintenance. However, in recent years the rate and scope of change has skyrocketed due to disruptive technologies. Those in the industry face greater competition and users expect much more. As a result, many companies find they must recreate how they operate, service, and maintain equipment and manage facilities.

According to a recent CSIROScope blog post referencing the Australia’s Biosecurity Future report says “the system won’t cope with the increasing threat and complexity of disease, pest and weed incursions over the next decade. Growing levels of trade and travel, urbanisation, climate change, biodiversity loss, and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) are all creating new challenges. And our current biosecurity system isn’t designed to meet them”.

The problem with trying to innovate in-house solutions to solve business challenges is that the organisation will need to sacrifice time, money and manpower that should be spent on other critical operations. Also, once a business challenge is defined and the search commences to identify a suitable solution the number of options available globally can be overwhelming. However, amongst this large pool of innovative solution there will be options that could transform your business. The business dilemma is knowing how to balance competing priorities for finite scarce and understanding how to navigate the complexities of identifying innovative solutions.  

Human activity has been a threat to the planet’s wildlife for a while, as humans have used nature and wildlife for their advantage for centuries. The planet's wildlife has been under threat from various kinds of human activities. This has caused environmental damage, which includes habitat destruction, illegal wildlife trade, the spread of invasive species and diseases and the impact on these interferences on the Earth's climate. However, with advanced and innovative technology, humanity is now working to preserve and rebuild the environment in innovative ways. EarlyBirds is working towards bringing together innovative minds who are redefining the use of technology in conservation efforts.

The technology may have to do with highly customised applications for operations and maintenance that address B2B transactions designed for specific needs. This may have service-based and highly specialised solution-oriented software components, systems, and digital tools to assist in making faster and better decisions.

Startups and scaleups have the technology, speed, talent, and enthusiasm often missing in large or established businesses. Businesses who partner with startups and scaleups are able to create synergies between the previously mentioned advantages of these relatively new companies. They come with the domain expertise, brand, assets, and the resources of established companies that can result into real innovation, that in turn brings more revenue.

Product Managers can stimulate company-wide innovation in a number of ways. First, they can encourage employees throughout the organisation to come up with innovative ideas and make the sharing of such ideas a fun activity. Second, they can share what they are currently working on to the entire company. This can encourage various employees to come up with creative ideas on how to further improve the product or offer a solution to a particular problem. Third, they can encourage creative thinking in the whole organisation. Fourth, they can foster a company-wide focus on the organisation’s vision. And lastly, they can promote cross-functional collaboration through the establishment of innovation teams.