Construction Innovation and Public Policy in Australia

Over the past few years there has been rapidly growing interest in developing a more robust, internationally competitive construction sector in Australia. All major stakeholders are involved in associated initiatives - industry, government, research sector and interest groups. There has been a significant improvement in the level and quality of communication between major stakeholders which is yielding initiatives that promise to lift future sector performance. However, it is early days yet and concrete improvements are modest at this stage. The performance of Australia's construction sector remains far short of its potential. Australia's construction sector operates against a background of industry fragmentation, intense competition, falling profits and new challenges including IT advancements; increasing public interest in environmental protection; increasing demand for packaged construction services; and moves toward private-sector funding of public infrastructure. Innovation and innovative behaviour are seen as key opportunities to raise the sector's performance and meet new challenges. However, to date, innovation in the Australian construction sector has been marked by poor innovation levels, government programs of limited effectiveness and poor uptake of those innovation programs that are available