News and Research

With Australia having a clear agenda to boost innovation, are children the answer to shifting our culture?

According to Dr David Cropley, the University of South Australia associate professor in engineering innovation,  children should be educated in developing a more creative mindset to help  them secure future job opportunities in our progressively innovative economy. Dr Cropley elaborates by stating, “Part of the innovative mindset starts right back in schools. We’ve got to be educating kids to have a more creative and innovative mindset, to be open to new ideas and open to experiences — that begins at school.”

Already incentives have been taking place to implement children and shift our culture towards being more digital savvy and enterprising. Last week, Queensland made coding and robotics compulsory in schools from prep to Year 10 in a move towards embracing a more technical economy. Additionally, over the weekend, Wyatt Roy’s inaugural Policy Hack took place, where ten innovation ideas centering on culture, capital, co-operation and talent were pitched by teams of founders, investors, CEOs and members of the public sector.

The winning team was led by Erin Watson-Lynn who wanted to start a national Lemonade Day to produce innovative children. Her plan was to roll-out the day in schools across the country as a program open to primary school-aged children. The children would be involved in creating a business strategy, designing a marketing plan, and executing a business. Perhaps there would even be a research and development stage? Lemon to sugar ratio is a serious product development query.

Other key policy ideas for improving the country’s innovation raised at Policy Hack varied from instigating capital gains tax exemptions for start-up investors to setting up special ‘landing pads’ for Australian innovators heading overseas to hot-spots, such as San Francisco and Beijing.

Are children the future to our innovative society? Only time will tell, nonetheless, in the meantime there are steps companies can take to increase innovation in Australia. Research and Development can drive innovation for a company and result in new products and new processes for the environment. The Australian government encourages businesses to do this by allowing business owners to offset research and development with R&D Tax Credits. If you think you could be claiming cash back for research and development projects you’ve participated in, Have a chat with us today to see if you’re eligible.