| Is Globalisation Eroding Australia’s ICT Capability?
| |
|
|
Wednesday, 21 November 2007
13:15-14:15 | |
Speakers: Craig K. Baty, Partha Iyengar, Rolf Jester
Location: Session Room E
Session Type: Great Debate
Track: NTS | |
Australia imports all its ICT hardware, almost all the software and a growing amount of services. We export much less. There is little home-grown ICT. There is even less in the form of local home-grown innovation. By using imported ICT products and services, are we eroding our local capability, or worse, not providing any future opportunity for the potential growth of a domestic ICT capability? Are we sending a signal to young people that ICT is no longer a good career? Are we discouraging them from taking IT university courses? And what will that do to our future as a nation? Will be become even more dependent on others in future? This trend is being further exacerbated by the increasing visibility and expansion of the global sourcing providers – primarily from India – in Australia, further heightening the concerns around the viability of IT careers in Australia. If even the services work will be done offshore, then what remains in Australia? At the same time, by using and effectively leveraging the latest imported technology, Australian companies get the benefits of that, and the Australian economy gets the productivity benefits. So does it matter who invents or who manufactures the technology, or where? And should Australia even try and become an ‘innovation engine’? Can it, and what are the future ramifications for Australian competitiveness if it doesn’t? Three of Gartner’s leading analysts from Australia and the Asia/Pacific region will strongly argue the pros and cons of this issue in depth, providing you with plenty of food for thought about Australia’s ICT future. |
|
|