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Australian Content New Imperatives and
Opportunities in the Global Electronic Marketplace

• John Rimmer
• Chief Executive Officer
• National Office for the Information Economy

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• Why the Information Economy matters
• significant potential source of wealth and
  competitive position
• information and communications supply industries
  are growing rapidly
• new tools for economic and social participation,
  communication of our culture and exclusion of
  population sectors
• knowledge-embedded products and services are the
  growth sectors
• from biotechnology to creative industries
• tools are basis of productivity growth
• operational efficiency and innovation

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We need to better understand the creative
industries

• What are the characteristics of creative
  industries on the one hand, and the digital
  economy on the other?
• Previous attempts to build digital content
  creation as a viable economic activity have been
  limited by a failure to understand key economic
  and commercial dynamics
• Attempts to develop this sector in other
  countries have also foundered on similar
  misunderstandings.

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Key Features of Creative Industries

• Diverse group of cultural, recreational and
  service industries based on design, writing,
  production and performance
• Rapid growth worldwide - typically double GDP
  growth rate in OECD countries - around 20 in
  Australia last decade - projected opportunity is
  10 for analogue and 20 for digital
• Different (and post-industrial) models of the
  firm
• project-oriented temporary organisations and
  freelance contractors
• micro-businesses and freelance contractors
  working in flexible contracting networks
• small number of larger production/distribution
  intermediaries around which smaller producers
  cluster

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Central Issues

• Standard problems of small business (information
  and working capital)
• New employment models - hybrid careers, flexible
  contracting
• Entrepreneurial and business skills deficits
• Market information and technology trends
  information deficits
• Collaborative networks and clustering
• Linkages to distribution networks, related
  service firms and RD
• Gatekeepers/Brokers/Mentors for the global
  distribution network
• Branding to the world

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Success in the Creative Industries

• Exploiting network effects when apparently
  contradictory and competing elements are brought
  into interaction
• Linking theory and practice - innovation in
  action
• Moving beyond the high/avant garde vs low/kitsch
  dichotomy
• The subsidised arts as cultural RD
• Creativity and the humdrum workaday world
• trends in consumer demand towards customisation,
  high design content in product and service
  markets
• the service industries of the future will consume
  creativity and content

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Success in the digital economy

• From value-chain to value-network
• Is there a digital content industry?
• Integrating the digital growth points with their
  industry roots
• banking examples
• publishing examples
• Creative industries can grow in the digital
  economy, using the tools to transform business
  processes and business models - BUT

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Challenge of the digital economy

• Convergence of information, communications and
  broadcasting technologies
• Industry re-structuring in the light of this
  convergence will continue to change the outlook
  for Australian digital content creators
• impact of distributed computing models and
  high-speed optical communications networks
• you aint seen nuthin yet
• We are only a few years into a long cycle of
  dramatic product and service innovation and
  industry structural change

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The Way forward

• Australia has a significant comparative advantage
  in the quality, innovativeness and cost of
  creative work.
• But a sustained investment in skills, research
  and development will be required if this
  potential is to turn into a genuine economic
  opportunity
• Identifying the entities and commercial dynamics
  of Australias creative industries
• Valuing the different capabilities in our value
  networks - learning how to collaborate to better
  compete
• Developing infrastructure and business
  information supports to promote growth
• Building critical mass based on clusters on the
  supply side
• Governments role as an intelligent purchaser on
  the demand side

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• Information Economy and the Government
• Role of National Office for the Information
  Economy
• every government agency is challenged by the
  information economy at
  policy and program levels
• agencies across government responding
• National Office for the Information Economy
• leadership, coordination and advice within
  government
• catalyst for change with agencies, business and
  communities
• Governments view of its strategic role
• leader, regulator, catalyst, exemplar

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