At last, some meaningful support for Australia’s spirit of global innovation

THE government’­s innovation strategy goes to the heart of everything about this column. Australia has so many wonderful and innovative companies.

Ross Greenwood talks at the Inner West Small Business Expo at West Ashfield.

THE federal government’­s innovation strategy goes to the heart of everything this column has ever written about.

Australia has so many wonderful and innovative companies. When we started, the idea was to dispel the myth that all Australian manufacturers were dying … killed by the combination of the high dollar, Chinese imports and jobs being sent to Asian manufacturers.

What we discovered in so many parts of the country were flexible, smart companies that are using cutting edge technology to not only drive costs down but to compete against some of the biggest companies in the world.

It’s not to say life is easy for these companies, they have a range of issues from access to capital to a tax system that makes them uncompetitive, ­labour laws that do not give them the flexibility to help themselves and their workers, and a general lack of protection from predatory pricing from overseas dumpers.

However, if Australia is to regain its place as a high-growth economy, then these barriers have to be stripped away. If the government’s ­innovation strategy does anything to change the dynamics of running a business in this country, bring it on.

The biggest problem ­Australia faces, in a post-­mining boom era, is a lack of productivity and a lack of great ideas that can become wonderful, profitable locally-based businesses. This suggests we are wasting our education ­system, and the efforts of our world-class scientists.

But scientists alone cannot make a successful business. They need to be backed by great marketers and financiers who have a long-term vision and can see beyond the backyard.

Future needs vision

If there is a criticism of many of our largest companies (think of most of our big banks, all our big retailers, our airlines and every one of our superannuation fund managers) it is that they are happy milking the local economy without spreading their wings into the more competitive markets internationally. But many smaller businesses understand a small niche here can translate into much larger sales if they ­commit to time abroad.

So they head out on trade missions and to industry fairs and exhibitions, trying to ­create contacts and to crack new markets. In many ways these business people, most of them unsung, are the true modern ­pioneers of Australia. And, as we have shown in the past two years, many of them have been surprisingly successful.

Australia needs to reach out to these people and to understand why they are important. For your kids, these fast-growing companies that you have never heard of might be their future source of employment. For the government the standouts from the companies that go abroad will be the source of economic growth that can lift Australia from its malaise. They will also be the taxpayers who will help rebalance the federal budget and create a new era of prosperity.

First we have to unshackle them from procedures and taxes that make them less competitive on the global stage.

WORKING HARD TO BREATHE EASY

PAFtec Australia CEO Alex Birrell. Picture: Virginia Young

IF there is a company that should be a poster child for the government’s innovation strategy, it is PAFtec.

It has been so successful it recently secured the NSW Premiers’ Export Award for small business.

Imagine you work in a confined space, where the air quality is compromised, or even dangerous.

It’s hard physical work but in order to breathe safe air, you lug around an extra 30kg of equipment and wear a bulky breathing mask.

This was the challenge a small group of Australian engineers set out to solve when they left their old business to create PAFtec. Their answer was the CleanSpace respirator.

“What we do is miniaturise a bunch of componentry and we created the world’s smallest powered respirator. It has all the convenience of a light mask but with the safety and protection of a powered respirator,” chief executive Alex Birrell said.

The functionality of a light respirator mask cannot be overstated. Many of PAFtec’s competitors’ products weigh 30kg.

There are lessons in PAFtec’s success for other organisations, especially about competing with giant multinational companies.

The Artarmon-based company is up against giant household brands.

“We didn’t have 50 years to build credibility. Our product is about safety so trust was a key factor. Being Australian does help, but then we worked super hard to get third-party endorsements from our customers. The big miners were great to us: BHP, Rio Tinto, Wesfarmers,” Mr Birrell said.

The other advantage, once the miners were on board, was that PAFtec is small and able to adapt to customers’ changing demand, with products that now protect workers clearing asbestos and health care workers treating ebola patients in Africa. Using Aussie know how.