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To paraphrase our new PM: “there’s never been a better time to be an entrepreneur in Australia.” For years there has been a lot of discussion in Australia about our innovation culture. Much of this discussion has been insubstantial - aspirational or lamentary. “Why” or “Why not”. But suddenly that conversation has changed dramatically.

I’ve written about this before in this blog post: New PM Sets the Scene for Innovation Hothouse in Australia but, since the rise of Malcolm Turnbull, the tone of this conversation is much more about “how” and “when”. It has a sense of belief about it, it is practical...and it has become an imperative rather than just an option.

What’s exciting is, Salesforce can genuinely say it is playing a role at the centre of this conversation. In recent weeks our Executive VP for Public Sector and former White House CIO Vivek Kundra visited these shores to meet with ministers - both Federal and State - to share his thoughts on how the innovation culture here can be developed and executed. I encourage you to read more about his  visit - which included meetings with Assistant Minister for innovation, Wyatt Roy; Shadow Minister for Communications, Jason Clare; Premier Palaszczuk of Queensland and several others - in my colleague Sassoon Grigorian’s post: Salesforce and Australian Government Align on Innovation.

From these meetings it became clear that so much of the critical infrastructure of a new innovation engine is busily being put in place even as you read this. This is a great thing, and will boost confidence among both independent entrepreneurs as well as with  corporate “intrapreneurs.” However, I think there is an aspect of this conversation that is missing, yet equally critical.

What’s missing is: where is all this heading?

What is the specific narrative to inspire everyone beyond “pivoting to a knowledge economy” or “becoming the next Israel”?  Consider if we are building a ship (and Malcolm Turnbull does like nautical analogies  - where is this ship bound?

It is an important question. Australians need a vision in order to get on board with this revolution, to be part of the journey. A bold vision akin to President Kennedy’s moonshot challenge:

What's the inspiration for the average Australian on the street?

What is the vision that will compel everyone , to play a role, to get onboard the ship?Some of what this might look like was contained in a speech I saw recently from Assistant Minister for Science & Technology Karen Andrews at an Innovation Aus event in Sydney last month.

You can read more about it here

Mrs Andrews talked about a recent visit to Korea and Singapore where it became clear to her that a clear vision and focus was needed for our innovation efforts. She saw our great strengths as being very much in the area of Environmentalism and Health & Ageing. There are clear competitive advantages we have in respect of these areas that other nations can identify with us.

Once you have a clear vision, then Government can start to make what Vivek Kundra calls “Big Policy Bets”. Along with other levers government can pull in terms of funding incentives and talent initiatives, these “Big Bets” can really unlock huge possibilities. Good examples are what the US achieved releasing more network spectrum which gave rise to the 802.11 revolution in the late eighties and early nineties ; or the genomics revolution in the UK right now. 

When we know where we are going we can focus our efforts on some specific outcomes. While this won’t preclude all other kinds of innovation, the huge revolutions and advances that will be remembered for generations to come will come from these “Big Bets”.

Perhaps we will see this vision in the government's Innovation Statement due next month. Notwithstanding, let’s relish the momentum we are enjoying at the moment. These are indeed very exciting times.

If you're interested in finding out more on how Salesforce works with the Public Sector click HERE