NDIS set to boost to innovation

The $22bn NDIS will lead to a boom in science, technology, engineering and mathematics jobs as people spend up on devices.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter said jobs would be created to support the NDIS.

The $22 billion National Dis­ability Insurance Scheme will lead to a boom in science, technology, engineering and mathematics jobs as people spend about $1bn a year on devices and applications for accessibility.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter said jobs would be created to support the NDIS.

“Today the government has outlined our assistive technology strategy,” he said. “It outlines the role that technology will play in improving the lives of people with disability at home, in the community and the workplace. Technology ranged from modified eating utensils to sophisticated artificial limbs, he said, or “even ... breakthroughs like thought-controlled wheelchairs”.

Once fully operational, about $372 million would be spent on assistance products, almost $400m on personal mobility equipment and $137m in home modifications, he said.

The agency responsible for delivering the NDIS said global companies, including Apple, Microsoft and IBM, would “increasingly see the Australian market as a potential incubator for new technologies and will ­explore the market opportunities presented by the NDIS”.

It said gains in efficiency and sourcing arrangements would deliver net benefits to the scheme of $161m in 2019-20 and $1.2bn over the following decade.

It said efficiency gains could have a significant effect on ­agency expenditure, for example by reducing the cost of personal and community supports which, at an average 45 per cent, is the biggest annual expenditure item in participants’ plans. “Further, technology solutions offer the potential to increase economic participation,” it said.

The NDIS sees its role primarily as one of shepherding the ­innovation process but also as “collaborating and co-investing with organisations” to bring ideas and projects to fruition, if they are financially beneficial in the long-term. The agency will establish an “innovation hub” to work with sectors such as aged care, private companies and consumer bodies.

It will centrally source almost half of all the product categories available — such as hoists, basic wheelchairs and beds — and the two biggest categories will be put out to a panel or tender process.