{"id":25033,"date":"2016-03-10T11:00:13","date_gmt":"2016-03-10T00:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=25033"},"modified":"2016-03-08T10:36:13","modified_gmt":"2016-03-07T23:36:13","slug":"dwp-2016-room-for-optimism-in-australian-defence-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/dwp-2016-room-for-optimism-in-australian-defence-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"DWP 2016: Room for optimism in Australian defence industry"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n The Federal Government\u2019s Defence White Paper signals a complete redesign of the relationship between the Australian Defence Force and industry.<\/span><\/p>\n The Turnbull Government\u2019s broader<\/span> National Innovation & Science Agenda<\/span><\/a> has significantly impacted this White Paper and companies that are innovative, collaborative and internationally focused will benefit. And it isn\u2019t just a document that\u2019ll reap benefits for large international corporations. This White Paper establishes investment funds and support mechanisms for smaller, innovative service and technology start-ups, which could be the most exciting aspect of the entire document.<\/span><\/p>\n Previous Defence White Papers and Industry Policies have tended to be more focused on international prime systems companies with large globally-integrated supply chains, but now it\u2019s our small to medium Australian innovators that could benefit the most from the DWP\u2019s new industry policy.<\/span><\/p>\n While the detail is still to come, $230 million for the<\/span> Centre for Defence Industry Capability<\/span><\/a> (CDIC), $640 million for an Innovation Hub and a further $730 million for the<\/span> Next Generation Technologies Fund<\/span><\/a> represents a $1.6 billion, 10-year investment which should flow to Australian small to medium companies and entrepreneurs.<\/span><\/p>\n Innovation and entrepreneurship aren\u2019t words typically used to describe the Australian defence industry sector\u2014but this industry policy may in fact be remembered for being the document that established the beginning of their association.<\/span><\/p>\n If the CDIC is well led, the Innovation Hub and Next Generation Technologies Funds are well managed and the cultural change described in the First Principles Review delivered, Australia could witness the growth of an export focused group of national security entrepreneurs. Just as the start-up mentality begins to gain traction in the Australian economy, Defence plans to inject hundreds of millions of dollars to accelerate those ideas into reality.<\/span><\/p>\n