AIIA's pre-launch promo for Conroy's National Digital Economy Strategy

Stuart Corner
Friday, 27 May 2011 14:35

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

AIIA has called for business, industry and all levels of government to become actively involved with significant digital economy opportunities that are expected to emerge from the Federal Government's National Digital Economy Strategy, to be released next week.

"These opportunities will shape Australia's economic future in a major way," said AIIA CEO Ian Birks. "We need an informed and rapid debate from every perspective. Most importantly, we need meaningful engagement. The digital economy will only be a big deal if other people - other industries, business sectors, community groups and government interests - are actively engaged with developing the right opportunities."

According to Birks, "Beyond government, individual businesses and leading industry bodies from every industry sector should now be developing digital economy strategies for their future. It's very important to act now and get ahead of the curve in order to develop the kinds of outcomes a digital economy supported by high-speed, ubiquitous broadband promises to deliver. What's missing is a practical understanding of what businesses, consumers and the community can do to see these benefits."

To that end he said that AIIA was "developing a digital economy strategy development toolkit for industry stakeholders to assist them identify the investments and simple steps that can be taken to deliver immediate returns that will grow significantly on the back of broadband rollout."

He also announced that: ""A group of our members will be working together to showcase what the digital experience is all about. The focus will be on the technology and applications that high-speed, ubiquitous broadband can enable, how users can directly benefit and what they need to do to see results."

Communications minister Stephen Conroy announced plans to develop the strategy at an AIIA lunch in Melbourne in July 2010 at which he said. "The Government will release a long-term Digital Economy Strategy to maximise the benefits of an NBN enabled society. Areas of focus will include:
- getting Australians online safely and securely;
- ensuring government is a leading digital economy participant;
- driving online and mobile payment innovation;
- increasing Australian e-commerce;
- creating greater use of online educational resources;
- increasing the use of telehealth and tele-care at home;
- making smart use of technology;
- and measuring the impact of digitisation of our economy."

Nothing else much was heard about this plan until Conroy and prime minister Julia Gillard announced in March "a major national strategy that will provide a roadmap for Australia to leverage the National Broadband Network (NBN) and become a world leading digital economy by 2020."

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