Featured, Features - Tuesday, October 5, 2010 17:00 - 11 Comments

Startup nation: Is Labor’s NBN focus a little myopic?

Over the past few years, the term “information technology” has appeared to become increasingly out of vogue within the Federal Government, with Australia’s IT sector having to divide its attentions between the communications and innovation portfolios when it came to pushing the cause for its own industry development.

The elevation of Kevin Rudd’s Labor team in November 2007 brought a new term to the table — “the digital economy”. And it’s one that has become increasingly prevalent in the debate about how Australia’s technology sector might grow stronger, especially as Labor pushes its case that its flagship National Broadband Network project will have a broad productivity effect on the wider economy.

“The digital economy will ultimately encompass the entire economy and almost all facets of our society and the Gillard Government is ensuring it has the infrastructure in place to take advantage of the opportunities it will present,” said Communications Minister Stephen Conroy last week as he announced a partnership with chip giant Intel on the NBN.

The pot has also been stirred further by Conroy’s appointment to advise Prime Minister Julia Gillard directly on how the implementation of the NBN can boost the entire economy.

But is it dangerous to view the development of Australia’s entire technology sector through the lens of the infrastructure-based NBN? Following last week’s announcement, we asked two innovative technology companies — one big and one small — what they thought.

“I hope not,” says Intel Australia chief Philip Cronin, speaking from Melbourne in an interview.

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