The Western Australian government has hosed down popular calls for the appointment of a chief entrepreneur two months after a parliamentary inquiry recommended the move, saying it had already convened its inaugural Innovation Advisory Board.
The Public Administration Committee’s final report on innovation in Western Australia was published in mid-September, but on Tuesday the WA government only “noted” the recommendation that it create the chief entrepreneur role.
It said “the merits in exploring this recommendation” would be a for discussion item for the new innovation board.
The 11-member board, appointed shortly after the inquiry wrapped up, is responsible for delivering “key innovation insights and oversight of progress against the WA Innovation Strategy’s vision and goals”, according to the state government’s response.
Of the 18 recommendations made by the committee, which began its inquiry in January, the government has supported or supported in principle 11 while the rest were “noted”.
The committee itself had been split on calling for a chief entrepreneur or chief innovator, with two contrasting recommendations made on the issue, both “noted” by the government.
The majority of members – retiring Labor member Darren West, Nationals member Stephen de Grussa, and independent Wilson Tucker – explicitly called for a chief entrepreneur or chief innovator.
Committee chair Pierre Yang and fellow Labor member Sandra Carr however said the role should only be established after undertaking a cost-benefit analysis to determine the roles are “in the interest of Western Australia”.
Mr Tucker previously said “every industry contact” the committee spoke to backed the establishment of a chief entrepreneur, including outgoing chief scientist Professor Peter Klinken.
He told InnovationAus.com on Friday that the government’s “big miss was not following the lead of the other states and appointing a chief entrepreneur, along with the funding and resourcing that the role needs”.
Queensland was the first state to appoint a chief entrepreneur in 2016, followed by South Australia in 2018. However, the South Australian position was replaced with an Innovation Leaders Network earlier this year.
South Australian deputy premier and Industry, Innovation, and Science minister Susan Close said at the time the position was scuttled that the growth of the startup sector meant it was “no longer sustainable for a single person to take on all that’s required of a chief entrepreneur”.
Another of the recommendations that was noted by the Western Australian government was the call to increase funding support to attract venture capital funds to set up in the state through the WA Venture Support Program (WAVES).
The government response explains that “the future of the WAVES program” is being considered under the Western Australian Venture Capital (WAVC) initiative, launched before the committee report landed in September.
The $30 million WAVC will act as a ‘fund-of-funds’, investing in venture capital funds to increase the pool of early-stage funding in the state, in-line with a recommendation of the report.
The state government also noted the recommendation to consider inclusion of a research and development spending target in the upcoming 10-year Science and Technology Plan.
Instead, it will “continue to monitor” Australian Bureau of Statistics data on the level of business and government R&D expenditure in the state to “consider if appropriate targets are useful in determining the desired outcomes identified in the upcoming Science and Technology Plan”.
Initially expected to be published in mid-2024, the government has made no public announcement on when the final plan should be expected.
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