Page 387 - Week 02 - Thursday, 8 March 2007
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first toe in the water for the ACT as it comes to grips, along with the rest of the world, with the rapidly expanding opportunities opening up in India.
The ACT delegation was made up mostly of knowledge and technology-based firms and some of the key education and research institutions. The delegation consisted of: the National ICT Centre of Excellence; Perpetual Water; Ruleburst: the University of Canberra, EXCOM Education; the India Australia Business Forum Film and Entertainment Group; Shivoys International; Capital Hill Consulting; Diverse Concepts International; and the Centre for Customs and Excise Studies. The Canberra Business Council also accompanied the delegation.
Austrade was contracted to provide a commercial visits program for each of these companies, which consisted of around three to five meetings per day for each company over the 10-day mission. The ACT government paid for the Austrade services provided to the participants, while the companies themselves met their own direct participation costs.
The government also met some of the Canberra Business Council’s direct costs in recognition of its role in managing the ACT Exporters’ Network, the leadership role it plays in export development through its international business taskforce and its co-delivery of the TradeStart program with Austrade.
The specific objectives of the delegation were fourfold. The first was to understand the Indian business environment. Many things can be learnt about a place remotely, but hands-on experience can be invaluable in working through possibilities. The second objective was to establish relationships between ACT businesses and their counterparts in India. Our mission development partner Austrade did an outstanding job in connecting our businesses with likeminded Indian companies and institutions and provided first-class logistic support for my program and that of each of the companies.
The third objective was to consider how we might attract some of India’s many skilled people to come and ply their trade in Canberra. The fourth objective was to sell Canberra generally and the ACT’s unique economic story. The Indian business community still has a fairly dated view of Australia as mostly a supplier of agricultural products and energy and mineral exports. What has not been grasped is Australia’s position as a major centre for research excellence across a number of fields, all of which embody technology and nearly all of which are now moving down commercialisation paths.
In Australia there is no better example of high tech R&D capability than Canberra. My role was to present Canberra’s credentials in India as Australia’s premier research cluster regional economy, opening doors for company participants and giving focus, viability and visibility to our delegation in India. The strong sense I now have of India is that we simply cannot afford to sit on the sidelines and watch the Indian economic story unfold in someone else’s direction and for someone else’s benefit. India, like China, will drive wealth creation across the globe over the next two decades, and we have to expose our businesses to these dynamics as soon as we can.
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