A history of innovation

A new book by Andrew Leigh maps the drivers of history’s big breakthroughs and why they still matter in an age when AI threatens to rewrite the rule book of human progress, and perhaps replace it altogether.

The human past and artificial future of innovation

AI has consumed the sum of human creativity without recompense or permission and the tech moguls who control it explicitly aim to drive human creators from their jobs, so can AI really be a tool to aid human innovation, or will it destroy it?

A mandate for innovation

Sovereign capability is no longer just a function of industry planning or academic excellence; it is a national security requirement.

Rethinking risk in innovation

Innovation policy is often built around optimism. But in a world of live contest across the economy, the environment and the broader geostrategic landscape, progress cannot afford to wait for perfection.

Innovate or die

Australia’s long-standing “innovation gap” threatens our national safety as well as economic prosperity.

Australia should be Brave1

Australian defence innovators are held back by legacy procurement models, limited risk appetite, and policy uncertainty. Ukraine offers an example of how to change that, if we’re bold enough to act.

Making innovation work

The effective testing of new ideas requires a systematic and structured approach from their initial evaluation through to the final product release

The long road from innovation to commercial reality

We may punch above our weight when it comes to research, but we certainly don’t in realising the commercial impact from it.

Red tape ties up university innovation

Australian public universities tout themselves as bastions of innovation and driving forces behind economic growth, but their in-built cultures are getting in the way.

The keyless key to cyber-security

A cutting-edge collaboration between tech startup Tide Foundation and RMIT University is translating ground-breaking research into homegrown cybersecurity capability.

Australia’s capabilities accelerator

The launch of the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator within the Defence Department puts Australia in the race to develop the technology, skills and finance we need to compete in the global strategy arena.

Shaking up Australia’s ‘state vs state’ innovation

Australian states need to cooperate, rather than compete, to develop new technologies and applications, expand the national economy, and build the resilience the nation will need in the future.