INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY: THE FUTURE FOR NSW November 2001

INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY: THE FUTURE FOR NSW November 2001

Recently the NSW Coalition Government announced its commitment to establish New South Wales as the research and development "gateway" for Australia and the South-East Asian-Pacific region.

A future Coalition Government would set up an Innovation Centre, with a mission to place NSW at the cutting edge of innovation - and as a "new economy" gateway for the rest of the nation and the region.

The Centre would bring together the entrepreneurial expertise of our business managers and the creativity of young graduates as budding entrepreneurs into a dialogue where ideas and business could be discussed.

It is proposed that the Centre will be a place where the young people of today could learn how to take an idea and bring it to fruition in the real world.

The Innovation Centre, headed by a director reporting directly to the Premier, would act as clearing house and incubator of new ideas and trends, which could be developed further in NSW.

While NSW is considered the financial capital of the nation, the State was still way behind in becoming a world leader in research and development. To take a leading role in the new, globalised economy, NSW has to upgrade its educational system, ensuring that State schools further encouraged research and a spirit of enterprise in their pupils.

We need to promote intellectual initiative, beginning in our schools and universities if NSW is to become competitive in the new economy. We have computers installed in our schools but we have failed to provide our teachers with the resources required so they, too, can keep pace with the technological change and innovation.

The proposals being developed by the Coalition included:
Scholarships and intern placements for secondary and tertiary students with business - increasing practical experience and building contacts.

Revising sections of the curricula, in consultation with business, to make it more relevant and to ensure it kept pace with changes in technology.

Promoting careers in "new technologies".

Making learning interactive, utilising computer technology, and improving the training support for teachers across the board.
Planning must start with our education system, if the State is serious about making NSW the gateway to the new economy and open the doors of our schools to new ideas and a new spirit of enterprise among our students.