SmartCompany’s Developing an Entrepreneurial Australia Roundtable came up with 10 multi-billion dollar industries of the future. JAMES THOMSON talks to IBISWorld’s general manager Rob Bryant about two more
As part of SmartCompany’s Developing an Entrepreneurial Australia Roundtable, we asked IBISWorld general manager Rob Bryant to nominate the 10 multi-billion dollar industries of the future.
We then asked our panel of 17 entrepreneurs and experts to try and identify the niches within these sectors that Australian businesses can exploit. In the second of a five-part series, JAMES THOMSON looks at two more of the 10 big industries of the future – ICT and health.
If you are already operating in one of these sectors, we’d love to hear from you about the opportunities and barriers that exist. Send your feedback here. See last week’s story for the first two of these billion-dollar sectors.
To understand the importance of the information, communication and technology industry and the communications and data services sub-sector, you need to look to the past.
When IBISWorld general manager Rob Bryant examines the last 100 years, he sees two distinct eras. The period leading up the 1964 is the industrial age, where the pervasive utilities were electricity, gas, water and telephony and the industry-specific systems and technologies included chemicals and mass production technologies.
After 1964, Australia entered the infotronics age, which Bryant expects will last until the 2040s. The industry-specific systems and technologies range from open-cut mining and laser-levelling in agriculture, to self-service retailing, biotechnology, distance-learning for education and much more.
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The communications and data sub-sector was represented at SmartCompany’s Roundtable by Simon Baker, chief executive of online real estate classifieds company, realestate.com.au.
While Baker is bullish about his company’s growth prospects in Australia and overseas (realestate.com.au operates in 12 countries) he says there is one thing holding the ICT sector back. “We need broadband infrastructure that actually works,” he says.
IBISWorld forecasts that this industry will grow at an average annual rate of 1.6% over the five year period to 2012-13. Revenue during this period will continue to be influenced by GDP growth, downstream demand from the corporate sector and changes in legislative requirements.
The digital revolution will seek to entrench consumer needs for technologically advanced and effective communication tools.
IBISWorld also nominates a number of factors that will affect the performance of the property and business services sectors. These include:
Australia’s aging population will create a number of opportunities, but none bigger than the health sector. IBISWorld forecasts that this industry will grow at an average annual rate of 5.2% over the five year period to 2012-13, although it must be said there are some uncertainties about future growth. More particularly, it is difficult to determine the extent to which drugs currently in development will progress to the market and be successful.
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The Australian biotechnology has been focusing on the areas of human health and agriculture. Both these areas are the focus of the National Biotechnology Strategy, and are expected to continue showing positive growth in the outlook period.
Richard Treagus, chief executive of Australian biotechnology company Acrux, was SmartCompany’s health and biotechnology representative at the Roundtable. His company has developed a technology that allows pharmaceuticals to be taken through the skin, applied as a spray or a liquid. Its first product, a menopause drug called EvaMist, hit the shelves in the US in April.
Treagus nominated pharmaceutical development and health system development as two areas of the health sector that are good targets for Australian companies. But there are plenty more; the aged care area will have to grow, as will the childcare sector.
IBISWorld expects the personal health care services sector to provide growth – just as personal trainers have filled the gap between the fitness club and the customer, we are likely to see health practitioners working directly with customers, rather than through an intermediary like a doctor’s surgery or medical centres.
Richard Treagus also nominates a few hurdles to pursuing growth, notably a lack of skilled workers and IP protection. Funding models also remain a huge challenge and Treagus would like to see investors take a more long-term view of the sector.
IBISWorld also nominates a number of factors that will affect the performance of the property and business services sectors. These include:
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