The Age of " Innovation " !

There seems little doubt that the Twentieth Century can be claimed as the " American Century ".  Right from the start, innovation was constantly coming from America and that innovation covered all walks of life.  Music - films - the amazing things we could do with electricity - made it the age of the entrepreneur even as we disparaged their lack of modesty.

It also created a nation of wealth - and later unbridled power.  America was not directly involved in the early years of either the first or the second world war and its industry made a fortune supplying war materials to the conflict.   When it did become involved that industry was decisive in winning both wars - and America reached the halfway mark of the century as the most powerful military force on the planet.

Since the end of the second world war when we think of America three innovations stand out.  The computer.  The microchip - and the Internet.   Our present world would be unthinkable without the changes those three instrumentalities have delivered.

The Americans created a formulae that allowed this to happen.   They created a triangular alliance between government, academia and private business that was centred on their great universities. The American government lavished money on research and from this creative minds developed business models that opened new frontiers.  The world sent its best and brightest to American universities and consequently innovation spread on a world wide basis.

Today, that concept has changed.  The flow of American seed money to university research is declining. Between 2011 and 2015 Federal investment in university research declined by 13 percent. To some degree, this is because China's theft of intellectual property is devaluing the rewards this money delivers.  Without this seed corn to be harvested into new ideas the American economy is becoming stagnant.

The centralised Chinese government was quick to copy this strategy from American success.  China has embarked on a series of five year plans specifically aimed at making that country the world leader in selected areas of innovation - and topping the list is artificial intelligence.  A fund of five billion dollars has been specifically directed to make that happen by 2030.

Unfortunately, we are seeing one way traffic in this ideas flow.  Chinese students are flowing into universities in the western world, but that is not being reciprocated in reverse.  Much of this Chinese innovation in artificial intelligence will be conducted internally and its secrets will not flow within the international community.

This vitally important area of research is fast developing into a contest between an open and a closed society.  China is creating a regime where intellectual property from outside China is not respected, but Chinese development is conducted behind a wall of silence.  It is the Chinese diaspora which is giving China the edge in this collective gathering of vital information.

This puts Australia in a pivotal position.    The education industry is one of our major areas of commercial gain and our universities are a magnet for overseas students.  It is almost impossible to safeguard intellectual property while that form of academic research is conducted in the university sphere.  Perhaps some aspects of university life may need to be closed to foreigners.