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The New South Wales government has unveiled its innovation strategy with a number of key initiatives around streamlining innovation proposals, collaborating within and across government, and experimenting with ideas within regulatory sandboxes.
NSW Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Victor Dominello has on Wednesday unveiled the state’s multifaceted innovation strategy aimed at fostering a culture of new ideas and innovation within government in collaboration with technology entrepreneurs, startups, and small to mid-sized enterprises (SMEs).
As part of the innovation strategy [PDF], the government today launched the NSW Innovation Concierge (NIC), aimed at being the “front door” for entrepreneurs, startups, and SMEs looking to do business with the government.
Speaking at the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) NSW Government Innovation Forum, Dominello explained that the NIC will implement a “Shark Tank” process where proposals for the government to be more innovative and agile are judged in consultation with industry experts.
Another key initiative of the innovation strategy is the creation of a Ministerial Innovation Committee (MIC) that will oversee the implementation of the innovation strategy, seek advice and recommendations from subject matter experts, and address systemic barriers to innovation and collaborative practice within and across government.
As part of the innovation strategy, the NSW government will also provide businesses in the state the ability to test out new technologies within sandboxes that are isolated from their regulatory obligations. Regulatory sandboxes are already being used in the financial services sector, but we want to push the boundaries and apply this concept to other areas.”
Dominello advised businesses to alert the NSW government of specific regulatory barriers to innovation in agtech, blockchain, healthtech, energy tech, social innovation, and other areas via the NSW Innovation website.
As a precursor to the launch of the innovation strategy, Dominello said the government introduced changes to procurement guidelines to make it easier for government agencies to do business with startups and SMEs. The changes have seen the upper limit of the procurement innovation stream — a mechanism to foster innovation in the way government buys goods and services — increase fourfold from AU$250,000 to AU$1 million.
Dominello also lamented the lack of collaboration within and across government agencies, explaining that the new innovation strategy aims to change that.
“We have recognised that we must collaborate not only with the non-government sector but different levels of government operating in NSW. He first announced the state’s plans to create the Data Analytics Centre in August last year, saying at the time that data is one of the greatest assets held by government, but when it is buried away in bureaucracy, it is of little value.
Since then, Dominello has introduced a bill that requires each of the agencies and state-owned amenities to give his department their data within 14 days; appointed an advisory board charged with overseeing how the state government uses that data; and announced the addition of a chief information and digital officer to drive the government’s digital agenda.
