Technology is transforming the lives of many people with disabilities.

On Monday, 16 May, the MultiPLIERS group met with the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, to discuss investment and export opportunities for the ICT industry.

MultiPLIERS (Multinationals Promoting Local Investment, Export opportunities and Research Strengths) collaborates with the Australian Government to identify investment opportunities and promote Australia’s ICT capabilities internationally. MultiPLIERS offers a unique commercial perspective on ICT investment attraction, and provides access to key business leaders who can actively promote Australia’s ICT capabilities in conjunction with Invest Australia.

MultiPLIERS representatives include CEOs from Australia’s largest multinational companies from the full spectrum of the ICT industry – telecommunications, hardware, software and services. Some of Australia’s most influential organisations are represented on the committee – with combined company revenues of more than $13.5 billion and more than 37,000 staff on their books, the group has a powerful voice.

The leaders of these multinational companies have a firm commitment to Australia and find themselves battling to secure investment dollars when investors can be lured to alternative locations where the incentives are high. One key element to MultiPLIERS securing investment that contributes to Australia’s employment and economic growth is much closer government co-operation.

MultiPLIERS companies are committed to investing in Australia’s ICT industry, and to supporting R&D opportunities. For example, a number of MultiPLIERS companies have enjoyed international investment successes recently, including IBM’s Tivoli Security Software Lab, Ballarat Regional Software Solutions Centre and Queensland Business Transformation Outsourcing Centre; Apple’s Asia Pacific Call Centre and CSC’s Global Management Centre.

“MultiPLIERS companies are committed to investing in Australia’s ICT industry, and to supporting R&D opportunities,” says
AIIA’s Chairman, John Price.

There are also many investment opportunities in the pipeline. Most of these are still at an early stage, but Invest Australia is actively engaged with MultiPLIERS companies to bring these potential investments to fruition.

For instance, MultiPLIERS is in the process of establishing a number of ICT investment ‘ambassadors’ in countries like the UK, US and Japan. Typically, an ambassador is an ex-patriot Australian working for a multinational organisation in an overseas location. MultiPLIERS works with the ambassador to present to small groups of potential investors about the strengths of doing business in Australia. The number of ambassadors is steadily increasing, with opportunities for a presentation currently being explored in Japan.

I had the pleasure to attend the meeting with Minister Coonan, the principal focus of which was to brief the Minister on Australia’s potential as an international investment location and in particular the constraints on ICT investment in Australia.

Members of MultiPLIERS told the Minister that it is at least twenty five percent cheaper to run a commercial undertaking in Australia than in the US or Western Europe. Australia has lower R&D costs per capita than Europe, Japan and the US, and presents a much lower risk for investors, when compared to the developing world (particularly in respect to legal, political and cultural compatibility, and IP). Australian workers have high-level problem solving, design and complex system implementation skills, and our education system is significantly better than the OECD average. What’s more, our diverse language base (especially with Asia Pacific languages) enables smooth delivery of global IT services.

However, these strengths are, to a degree, counterbalanced by a number of constraints, including Australia’s isolation from some key markets, the fact that our nation is not on the global radar either as a supplier or as a location for investment, and that the rise in the Australian dollar has hurt our global cost competitiveness. The group discussed the impact of the ‘tech wreck’ on the Australian ICT industry, and in particular the loss of critical business mass and credibility to attract potential international investors.

MultiPLIERS also raised the lack of investment support by government, and made a number of recommendations to the Minister. MultiPLIERS recommends that the Australian Government:
• conduct a detailed review in order to better understand the nature and impact of key domestic cost inhibitors on the international competitiveness of Australia’s ICT software and services sector;
• select a few key emerging global technology areas, where Australia can be internationally competitive, and then promote and facilitate major investments in these areas to drive Australia to world’s best practice;
• build on the Technology Australia brand to further promote Australia as an investment destination targeting North America and Western Europe; and
• work closely with the ICT industry to raise the awareness of Australia’s high-value skills and promote the skills of both multinational companies and Australian-owned companies, providing the North American and West European target markets with evidence of Australia’s thought leadership, globally-competitive scale and proven process.

MultiPLIERS, together with AIIA, will be monitoring the Australian Government’s progress on these crucial issues, and AIIA will keep members advised of progress. A positive impact is important for all companies in the industry – small, medium and large.

John Price
Chairman
Australian Information Industry Association