Bridging the Barriers: A Study of Innovation in the NSW Manufacturing Sector. Revised Final Report

Ross Chapman, Phil Toner, Terry Sloan, Ian Caddy, Tim Turpin

Research output: Book/Research ReportResearch report

Abstract

This report was commissioned by the NSW Manufacturing Council and the Department of State and Regional Development. The study was carried out by a team from the Centre for Industry and Innovation Studies at the University of Western Sydney. The main objectives of the project were to analyse current manufacturing innovation support policies and programs, identify critical areas required to foster innovation in NSW manufacturing, and identify quantifiable industry measures to assess effectiveness of innovation policies in NSW manufacturing. The project was required to be carried within a three month time-frame – August to November 2007. There were three major tasks identified for the study: 1. a desk analysis of existing innovation support programs and previous studies on innovation support within Australia to identify possible gaps between innovation support and the NSW Innovation Statement; 2. an analysis of existing data on manufacturing performance and innovation with a view to developing possible innovation ‘indicators’ for the NSW manufacturing sector; and 3. a qualitative analysis of interview data from key manufacturing stakeholders in NSW. The following section of this report discusses the concept of innovation, how the term has been used in various other studies and how it is defined for the present study. The third and fourth sections explain why manufacturing firms invest in innovation and why it is important. This is followed by a discussion on why governments support innovation (section 5). Section 6 presents an overview of Australian manufacturing focusing on trends in performance and R&D investment. Section 7 presents some data on NSW manufacturing and includes a critique of these data and their capacity to serve as indicators for monitoring the state of innovation in manufacturing in NSW. Sections 8 and 9 review Commonwealth and State programs designed to promote innovation in manufacturing as well as recent suggestions for improving innovation performance. The views of NSW manufacturers collected through interviews for the present project are presented in section 10. The final section (section 11) identifies gaps in current government programs, identifies barriers to gaining access to existing programs, and suggests actions for bridging these barriers.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationPenrith, N.S.W.
PublisherCentre for Industry and Innovation Studies, University of Western Sydney
Number of pages85
Publication statusPublished - 2008

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