News

The Chief Scientist is rightfully cranky

The Chief Scientists of most advanced economies today have better things to do than spend their time trying to convince kids – and their government – that studying science,...

Abbott on tech competitiveness

The release of the Tony Abbott-chaired National Industry Investment and Competitiveness Agenda has been pushed beyond August, so the startup sector will need to sit on its hands a...

Hugh Geiger: The exit interview

It is crunch time for Ollo Wearables’ CEO Hugh Geiger. He has packed his bags and left Australia. The company has moved to San Francisco. Actually it was crunch...

SIV: Great wall of frustration

There are more than 1,000 formal applications from wealthy Chinese for Significant Investor Visas sitting in Hong Kong with officials from the Australian Immigration department waiting for approval. This...

Billson: Startups a small business?

Federal Small Business Minister Bruce Billson added some shape to some of the unknowns in government’s tech sector industry policy on Friday at a G20 satellite conference on small...

Maurice Newman on innovation

Maurice Newman has some interesting views on innovation in Australia, and it is unfortunate they didn’t get wider circulation in the tech sector’s discussions on industry development. Newman is,...

SIV Program: Where’s the data?

There is a problem developing in relation to the Significant Investor Visa program. The problem isn’t about a lack of cash pouring into the Immigration department’s gigantic SIV funnel...

China’s Xi cranks innovation engine

In a week in which our Prime Minister has been spruiking the resources sector and the promise of great returns for investment in Australian infrastructure, China’s President Xi Jinping...

China: Our best tech friend in Asia

The health of the relationship with China is fundamental to the health of the Australian economy. This overwhelming consensus view is not just related to Australia’s resources sector and...

Budget Notes: Buckets of blood

Listening to the shrieks and squeals of tech sector commentators over the past few weeks, you’d be forgiven for thinking Joe Hockey’s first budget contained nothing for the industry....

SIV approvals start to flow

The log-jam choking the approvals process of the Significant Investor Visa program has started to clear. But whether any of this money finds its way into innovative Australian companies...

Tough week at the CSIRO

It was a tough week for science in Australia last week as it was revealed staff numbers at the nation’s flagship science agency – the CSIRO – are under...

Prof Terry Speed, Australian hero

There were a ton a science prizes handed out in Australia this week. So in the interests of acknowledging the superb calibre of our science community – and these...

Rupert Murdoch is surprisingly right

Rupert Murdoch is a funny bugger. Just when you think that age has wearied him, and that his keen eye for the Big Picture had finally been overcome by...