SA’s 21 agenda setters of 2021: David Lloyd finds convergence between new technology and traditional industries

Space isn’t just the next frontier – it’s a way of evolving what SA has traditionally done in the past such as agriculture and aged care, says UniSA’s boss.

David Lloyd, vice-chancellor of UniSA and head of the Committee for Adelaide. Picture: Tom Huntley

South Australia is ideally positioned to turbocharge its traditional strengths by marrying them with the growing sectors of technology and space, UniSA vice-chancellor David Lloyd says.

Professor Lloyd – also the chairman of the Committee for Adelaide, a group committed to creating economic, social and cultural growth – said combining space and technology with areas such as agriculture and aged care would give the state the edge in highly competitive markets.

“These things are so interconnected,” Professor Lloyd said yesterday.

“When we say we’ve got space research, it’s not just about rockets – it’s about the application of space research which is useful for industries.”

For example, he said low-Earth orbit satellites could be used to remotely control farm equipment and monitor stock, crops, soils and water.

Similarly, health and aged care were rapidly changing, he said.

“There’s a convergence of technology and practice,” said Prof Lloyd, who The Advertiser has identified as an agenda-setter for 2021.

UniSA last year introduced a new course in aged care in collaboration with care provider ACH.

“The modern smart home and intelligent systems enable people to age in place in their own homes,” Prof Lloyd said.

“That then changes the way the aged-care and health workforce engage with people. So, we will train people differently and that technology has massive potential for growth.”

Between 2010 and 2020, healthcare and social assistance added more jobs than any other sector in SA – from 23,900 to 132,100 workers.

Professional, scientific and technical services was the fastest-growing sector, up 47 per cent, to 60,700 jobs, compared with SA’s total jobs growth of 6 per cent.

Meanwhile, UniSA aimed to make its research more accessible to business owners in all sectors by opening a “shop front”, in Light Square, called the Enterprise Partnership Hub.

Prof Lloyd said the coronavirus pandemic had created a new opportunity for Adelaide by showing how many industries could operate with staff working from home.

SA’s enviable lifestyle should now be intensely marketed to attract workers to live here, while employed by businesses based elsewhere, he said.

The Committee for Adelaide promoted Adelaide as a “well” city, but Prof Lloyd said there was a gap in co-ordinated messaging about Adelaide as a whole to prospective immigrants.

The Advertiser is this week unveiling its 21 SA agenda-setters for 2021, with a new face revealed every day until Friday at 10am, when the full list of 21 will be revealed.

You’ll then have the chance to shuffle the list into the order you think best reflects who you think the most important players are, and see who other readers put at the top of their lists.