The Western Australian government should consider setting an official target for the state’s research and development expenditure, a ten-month parliamentary innovation inquiry has recommended. But it could not agree on a popular proposal to bring in a state chief entrepreneur.
The inquiry’s report, tabled on Tuesday, highlighted that businesses in the state have one of the lowest proportions of research and development expenditure among Australian jurisdictions and is now less than half the overall national level.
The recommendations for an official target and other innovation boosters land as the state drafts a decadal science and technology plan and seeks to diversify its economy amid the plunging price for iron ore — Western Australia’s biggest export.
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