Interoperability is emerging as the key to making Web 2.0 transferable to the corporate environment.

There have been countless discussions on how consumer expectations set by Web 2.0 are being transferred to the workplace. Based on working with Web 2.0, users increasingly expect to exert more control over their work experiences and to participate in them. They expect business applications to adjust to the way they work, rather than accept a suboptimal experience. This we know.

Ultimately, Web 2.0 is not really about the technology. It's about social networks and users' control of their experience. The way to achieve this movement of power to the end user in the enterprise is through a composite solution that meshes software, services and the web and considers the business user as well as the developer.

Composite applications are the business users' equivalent of Web 2.0 and mash-ups. They provide a mechanism for multiple technology vendors to participate in a solution that, in its simplest form, decouples information from line-of-business (LOB) applications like CRM or ERP and surfaces it in a more usable way.

Yes, process and entreprenurial innovation is crucial - but let's not forget the importance technical innovation.

It is always hazardous to make a distinction between technical and non-technical innovation, lest one be accused of favouring one over the other. As has been pointed out, technical innovation is still a critical area where Australia is falling behind the rest of the world.

Business spends only the equivalent of one per cent of GDP on R&D, half the OECD average and a third of that of the leaders - even Icelandic business does better. Our venture capital sector which might fund businesses to come from research is 0.1 per cent of GDP - again even Iceland manages more. Australia accounts for a mere one half of one per cent of global exports in technology-intensive industries.

The fact is there are few R&D driven business on the stock exchange other than the familiar, Cochlear, Resmed and CSL. Most of our top companies are banks or miners. Multi nationals from Ericcson to JDS Uniphase have voted with their feet and ceased large scale R&D in Australia while most global giants in pharmaceuticals and IT spend a fraction on R&D locally compared to overseas rates.

It's no secret the Federal government wants to reinvigorate Australian innovation policy.

In the last month alone, the government announced more than 630 submissions have been received towards its Review of the National Innovation System. It also launched a national program of festivals to increase innovation awareness in the wider community.

We know innovation is central to Australia's economic future, arresting the ‘brain drain' and ensuring we continue to build strong, non-resources led, alternative export industries, among other macroeconomic drivers. We also know that government policy provides a strong foundation for fostering and encouraging innovation.

But it's also up to industry and the businesses within them to make incisive judgements on how to best leverage the skills and resources they have to ensure Australia retains a reputation for innovation, particularly on the international stage.

Consider these examples. If we cast our eyes back to the contract manufacturing boom in the late '90s and early '00s, there was a call to action to Australian business to focus on the value-added areas where we are traditionally strong - engineering, design and R&D - rather than on trying to keep dwindling local production facilities open.

Innovation comes from entrepreneurs - and rarely from science.

There is a pervasive Australian myth that goes something like this: innovations come from brilliant scientists who pass on their discoveries to grateful businessmen and women and, eventually, the consumer. This linear progression does occur, but is a rarity compared to the real source of Australian innovation - the entrepreneur.

The world's stock of science and technology is increasing at a rapid rate and, in fact, there is already enough of it around to fuel a number of industrial revolutions. What is in short supply are the people who can assemble technologies and ideas into a coherent business plan, raise the finance and assemble the team that can turn all these inputs into something consumers value - in short, into an innovative product or service.