Australia has an internationalisation, not an innovation and R&D problem

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s innovation agenda is being questioned again after both the Coalition and Labor agreed to make cuts to Australia’s R&D tax incentive.\ud Investors say the tax incentive is critical in encouraging startups to channel funds into innovative technology. Yet, international comparisons consistently show Australia does not have an innovation problem, it has an internationalisation problem. The top ten R&D spenders globally each invest about A$10 billion per year on R&D. Imagine if these companies were only active in the Australian market. It would have been impossible for them to reach the same level of innovation. Research shows companies who are more internationalised are more innovative and perform better. The recently released Global Innovation Index Report shows that winning at innovation requires joining the global marketplace to find new users for your products, services and technologies and to gain knowledge helping you to further innovate