Our Ambition for the Robotics Industry in Australia

We must be ambitious and seek to build homegrown global companies that export robotics and AI technologies to the world.

Here we outline how we have framed the Robotics Australia Group submission to the Department of Industry, Science and Resources 's Discussion Paper on the National Robotics Strategy. We are firm believers that Australia needs to articulate its vision of what our robotics industry should look like, and that we need to have ambition. Countries like South Korea and Singapore are good examples of the success you can find in the Robotics and AI space by clearly stating where you want to be in the future.

Robotics Australia Group was established in May 2020 to represent Australia's robotics industry to give the industry a "voice". We formed to overcome the challenges of being a young, evolving industry that not many people knew about. While we develop world-recognised robotics talent and technologies in Australia, not many people outside robotics know that we exist.

Extract from our Submission

Robotics Australia Group is the peak body representing the robotics and robotics-related technology sector. Our goal is to build a sustainable robotics industry in Australia. We have consulted with our network of more than 5,000 to ensure the Australian robotics ecosystem’s broad range of views are represented in this submission. Field and Service Robotics will impact every sector of the Australian economy and will help Australia to diversify and modernise its economy, as well as doing social and environmental good. By creating and adopting robotics technologies, Australians will have highly paid, safe, and fulfilling jobs in the near future. The application of robotics and automation will help to: lift economic productivity, protect our environment, provide equity in access to services for our rural and remote communities, reduce the cost of healthcare, accelerate decarbonisation, and reshore jobs and manufacturing back to Australia to maintain our living standards. But only if we invest in the talent and technologies we are developing in robotics, here in Australia. We must be ambitious and seek to build homegrown global companies that export robotics and AI technologies to the world.

Research has shown that the tech sector contributes $167 billion annually to the Australian economy and employs 861,000 Australians [1]. As outlined in the Discussion Paper, robotics in Australia is a fledgling but growing industry capable of enormous impact, currently thought to be worth more than $18bn in revenue to the Australian economy, employing more than 50,000 and comprising more than 1,000 companies with robotics capability. Critically, $92 billion of the tech sector’s annual GDP contribution is generated in industries outside of the direct tech sector. On top of this, business as usual applications of field robotics are emerging to support the safety and productivity improvement needs of the Mining and Construction industries, which contribute 21.9% of Australia’s economic output [2] generating $97.2bn GDP [3]. The robotics opportunity highlights this dynamic, as the robotics industry generates significant value through direct creation of robotics-related products and services as well as providing safety and productivity benefits to the sectors that adopt robotics and automation.?

Having recently developed and published the 2022 Robotics Roadmap for Australia, an extension of the ground-breaking 2018 Robotics Roadmap, Robotics Australia Group welcomes the Government’s timely development of a related National Robotics Strategy to promote the responsible production and adoption of robotics, AI and automation technologies.?

OUR VISION

Establish Australia as a global leader (Top 10 as measured by export value) in the supply of trustworthy robotics and AI products and services by 2030, with the robotics and AI industry integral to a prosperous, fair, and inclusive society.

Actions Required

• Add ‘Robotics and Artificial Intelligence’ to the Australian Research Council Science and Research Priorities with dedicated funding.
• Update the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industry Classification scheme to enable the measurement and tracking of Australia’s technology sector - with specific categories for robotics and robotics-related technologies (notably AI). Release dedicated statistics on Australia’s technology sector.
• Invest in Robotics and AI infrastructure such as data centres, cloud computing, high-speed networks, rapid prototyping, high-fidelity experimental testbeds with regulatory approvals in place, as well as environmental sensing infrastructure to support the development and deployment of Robotics and AI technologies.?????
• Support networks between national and international research organisations, e.g., supporting Australian researchers to integrate into EU-ERC, NSF, JSPS funding.·??????
• Also support stronger linkages between research and industry, and collaborate with other countries to promote the development and adoption of AI technologies that can be applied to robotics, and to reassert Australia as a global leader in this field.
• Increased investment, effort, education and incentives to “pull” emerging technology?into industry use,?supporting both commercialisation of our world-leading research capabilities as well as uptake by industry.
• Reduce barriers to movement of people between academia and industry by encouraging industry professorships and addressing the superannuation penalty academics face to move into industry.
• Map Australia’s Robotics and AI supply chain to identify where companies have access to Australian products, e.g., dc motors, semi-conductors, etc.
• Proactive measures to encourage relevant multinationals to locate within clusters of Robotics and AI activity in Australia, supporting the local ecosystem, and developing a pipeline for graduates (beyond SMEs).
• Develop?new co-ventures focused on key verticals where Australia has specialised sectoral strengths in robotics systems e.g., mining, energy (particularly renewables), construction, defence, infrastructure, agriculture, aerospace/space, logistics/transport, emergency/disaster response.
• Establish an information-exchange platform and agreed market development codes between Australian and overseas industry and investors to explore market opportunities, enhance trade and stimulate two-way investment.?
• Incentivise expat Australians to invest back into Australian start-ups and to locate a research and development office in Australia to leverage the talent and skills located here.
• Develop economic policy initiatives that appropriately distribute the benefits of technology to directly combat income inequality.

[1] ?The economic contribution of Australia’s tech sector 2021, Tech Council Australia

[2] ?Economic snapshot https://www.rba.gov.au/education/resources/snapshots/economy-composition-snapshot/

[3] https://tradingeconomics.com/australia/indicators

Each day we will post another segment from the Submission to the National Robotics Strategy made by Robotics Australia Group after extensive consultation with Australia's robotics ecosystem.

About Robotics Australia Group

Robotics Australia Group is Australia’s peak body for the Australian robotics (and robotics-related) technology sector with a network of more than 5,000 and an international alliance with similar organisations in other countries. Our goal is to build a sustainable robotics industry by supporting the entire robotics ecosystem, from the companies building robots to those researching and developing new robotic technologies, robotics educators and enthusiasts, and the companies looking to adopt robots and robotics-related technologies. Our members and partners include large and small companies that create or adopt robotics technologies.