Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox was also critical of the funding of the program by cutting the tax break for big business but said the measures announced by the government would strengthen the capabilities of Australia’s SMEs.
“For smaller businesses, the issues really revolve around whether the denial of the tax incentive means these very big businesses cut back on their R&D spend and, if so, what impact this has on the broader innovation system,” he says.
Indeed, the rationale for having an R&D Tax Incentive is that economy-wide benefits flow to businesses other than the business actually spending the money.”
However, Willox says a number of the measures announced are important for big-employing sectors under “extreme pressure” including in metals and metal product manufacturing, plastics and chemicals, retailing and residential and commercial construction.
Peter Strong, executive director of the Council of Small Business of Australia, told SmartCompany the changes are a good thing.
“I like the idea of having precincts. In the main it seems to reflect an understanding of how the true innovators behave and how we need to bring them together,” he says.
“The great innovators in Australia are small business… big business is good at taking those innovations and turning them into big business.”
Cara Waters is a former SmartCompany editor. Previously, Cara was a senior reporter for the Financial Times’ website and worked for The Sunday Times in London.
