D61+Live and Adrian Turner

After 2 days of brilliant speakers and fascinating exhibitors, fine food and cutting edge demonstrations, we’re feeling happy and tired. We learned a lot. Here’s some high level ideas shared.

To paraphrase Adrian Turner, leader of Data61 (CSIRO’s tech arm), Australia has a choice. Either we go through ‘door 1’, where we embrace disruption to our established industries, transform our Research funding process, bare a difficult process but ultimately achieve prosperity, or go through ‘door 2’, continuing with business as usual, slowly becoming irrelevant to the rest of the world, and drifting into a third world economy.

The amount of funding for RnD for AI and tech development in Australia is much lower than other countries. And this is part of the problem.

Corporations and research organisations need to work together to produce innovation as innovation is the only way we’re going to keep up with the rest of the world.

The general public is understandably nervous of the rapid changes that new tech brings. Media stories of swathes of jobs lost to automation and movies of dystopia don’t tell an accurate story. Yes, jobs will be substituted out to robots and AI. But there will also be a massive amount of new ‘additive’ jobs needing people to perform them.

From the first round of new industries generated, supporting industries will grow. For example, when the car was invented, not only was the motor industry born, but also car washes, petrol stations, and driving schools.

Turner feels the future is unknown but with the excellent talent in Australia we have the skills to catch up and lead the world in tech related industries.