chieftech’s blog

There are a lot of pictures, so I'll post some notes later.

This is very brief summary of key points, based on my presentation notes:

Slide 2: Global competition:

• There are positives and negatives.
• I told a story about visiting CeBIT in Germany in 2005.
• However, consider Australia’s Olympic record - we rank 11th in the world total medal count, but are the 232nd most densely populated country on the planet.
• So how should we we compete in a global Web 2.0 industry? For a start, we have to accept that this is *NOT* Sillicon Valley.

Slide 3: "1.3 million downloads @ $1 each"

• This refers to Firemint’s successful Flight Control Game for the iPhone.
• It easy to dismiss Web 2.0’s value - but do the math! The FIremint examples shows there is room for Australia to compete.
• Web 2.0 is creating new business models. Built on ideas, bits.

Slide 4: The Web 2.0 industry is *different*

• This picture is from BarCampSydney5
• BarCamp, Hackfests, OpenSource - the industry has its own rules and culture, enabled in part by the technology itself.
• The industry has a low barrier to entry, but it can be hard to be successful - think of “superstar” companies and the Long Tail.

Slide 5: Mismatch!

• Government likes big funding models (no issue with that) - e.g. NICTA, CSIRO, Unis, CRCs, etc - and typically offer support on the basis of $1 for $1 funding or 3-way consortiums.
• There is a risk that this can create a dependency economy for business, but I don't believe the Web 2.0 industry is begging for handouts.
• Major mismatch between government and the Web 2.0 industry - process of gaining funding is too slow, its the wrong funding models anyway and most importantly they have very different cultures!

Slide 6: Recommendation #1: Open Innovation

• Example of TJam - Tesco’s shopping cart API. Held a design session with developers and customers in August.
• Government needs to start seeding innovation and proving in-kind support
• We can still make the process transparent (Gov 2.0).

Slide 7: Recommendation #2: Adopt Government 2.0

• Talked about the CityRail and iPhone app example.
• Government could actually help to directly seed opportunities without the need for direct funding - this will help drive innovation and allow local companies to gain real world experience, with real world applications.
• This could actually increase the participation of government in the Web 2.0 community

Slide 8: Recommendation #3: Support the Web 2.0 community

• I look at the community with a knowledge management perspective (as I do the ICT Illawarra cluster).
• We need to support the “Gardening” of this community
• This gardening would help with succession planning, increase its national effectiveness - not just Sydney, but states and regions, and also globally.
• We *don’t* just need big stands at CeBIT

Slide 9: Summary 

• What about measurement? I suggest we look at the network value not each project/initiative.
• What about value for money? The amount of funding that would help nurture the Web 2.0 industry could be so small (relatively speaking) that we should just do it.

The Public Sphere Camp will be in Wollongong, and we are planning to simultaneously have events in Brisbane and Melbourne to broaden the input.  This is to see whether multiple physical locations improve a Public Sphere Camp, and encourage meetings and discussions therein.

Why will this Public Sphere be in Wollongong and not a capital city? Because we want to recognise that our regional areas are an important part of this knowledge and creative economy too. The University of Wollongong has created an Innovation Campus to foster industry development in the area and local ICT businesses are being supported by a new local ICT industry cluster, called ICT Illawarra (ICTI).

With my *other hat* on (for those that don't know, I'm the president of ICT Illawarra), I'm really excited that Kate Lundy (with some help from Pia Waugh of course) is taking Public Sphere on the road and bringing it to Wollongong. I've travelled a couple of times to Canberra and of course get up to Sydney on a weekly basis, so hopefully I'll see a few people make the trip our way this! The new Innovation Campus, where we're holding Public Sphere, is well worth a look.