Pillar Two of the AUKUS technology-sharing agreement offers more immediate benefits than the parallel, decades-long nuclear-submarine effort—but not until we fix serious shortcomings in its execution. It has six capability workstreams—undersea robotics, quantum, AI and …
When asked on Insiders about the United States’ review of AUKUS contributions, Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy made a subtle but important point: Australia’s aid and diplomatic spending, particularly in the Pacific, should count …
While headlines warn about the risks of dodgy e-commerce and questionable supply chains, a quieter vulnerability has taken root in our digital infrastructure. In May, researchers at GreyNoise uncovered a stealthy backdoor campaign targeting Asus …
The release of the United States’ AI Action Plan marks a shift in tempo. It’s now abundantly clear Washington is treating artificial intelligence as a pillar of industrial policy, national defence and technological competition. The …
The Pacific is no longer an afterthought in global strategic competition. Stretching across a vast ocean, the region’s scattered island nations are navigating a digital transition that will shape their economic development, national security and …
Across recent debates about sovereignty, capability and technological competition, one thing is clear: Australia does not lack ideas. What it lacks is an innovation system capable of converting those ideas into deployable capability. Previous analysis …
Innovation policy is often built around optimism. But in a world of live contest across the economy, the environment and the broader geostrategic landscape, progress cannot afford to wait for perfection. The scale of technology …
A cyberattack on a Qantas call centre, revealed last week, put cyber risk back in the headlines, as did similar attacks on Medibank and Optus. But these are not one-off shocks: they represent a new …
Australia’s ability to generate breakthrough ideas has never been in doubt. But despite increasing recognition of the need for national resilience, the country still lacks a capital system built to serve strategic purpose. The failure …
Cloud infrastructure is now the backbone of everything from social services and emergency response to critical industry operations and defence. The shift has been fast, and often invisible to users. What began as a convenience …
When it comes to innovation, Australia has a strategy problem as much as a delivery problem. The first is about purpose. The second is about execution. I recently argued that Australia’s innovation system lacks the …
Silicon Valley’s ‘move fast and break things’ mantra might work in software. But when it comes to lithium, rare earths and other critical minerals, where development times average 10 to 15 years, breaking things isn’t …
