Ship-building and renewables promise new manufacturing golden age
HOPES of a manufacturing renaissance are being buoyed by warships and confidence in renewable energy after the disaster expected with Holden’s closure failed to eventuate.
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SOUTH Australia could be entering a new golden age of manufacturing but this time it’s warships and renewable energy that are driving the renaissance, instead of cars.
Confidence among South Australians that the state is a good place to do business has surged in the past year, with a little more than 74 per cent of Your Say survey respondents saying the state is an excellent (3.2 per cent), good (21.2) or average (49.7) place to do business, up from a combined 50 per cent the previous year.
Defence remains the industry regarded as the most important for SA’s future, with 44.1 per cent saying it was important up from 35.8 per cent.
Renewable energy jumped from 29.4 per cent to be in second place at 34.8 per cent.
The state’s industrial base is in the middle of a once-in-a- generation shift, with the start of the $89 billion shipbuilding program in SA beginning later this year when the first Offshore Patrol Vessel will start construction at Osborne.
While the program will move to Western Australia shortly thereafter, it will be replaced by the $35 billion Future Frigates build, followed by the Future Submarines in 2022, eventually providing decades of work based in SA.
On the renewables front, the announcement by German company Sonnen that it would create an Asian manufacturing hub for home storage batteries at the former Holden site in the northern suburbs, creating 450 jobs, marks a transition to having a genuine renewables industry.
PWC Adelaide managing partner Kim Cheater says there are common themes among the top five industries.
“The interesting thing that weaves them together, it’s really being driven by innovation, by approaches to digital, to data, and leveraging STEM capabilities,’’ he says.
This was just as true in industries such as mining and agriculture as others that might be seen as more technology-focused. Mr Cheater says this has implications for our education system.
He says: “How do we start reimagining our entire end-to-end education system in order to develop the skills that are needed for the businesses and industries of the future?
It’s not just technical skills, it’s soft skills or EQ to work in a digital environment, understanding consumer behaviour or user experience, for example.’’
While the current State Government has committed to not “picking winners”, a majority of survey respondents (54.9 per cent) said SA should subsidise large companies to move their head offices here.
Almost 40 per cent of people wanted support for overseas trade, such as trade missions and overseas trade offices, to increase, while only 12.9 per cent said it should decrease.