We need to collaborate more effectively, in order to compete successfully with the rest of the world.

We need a shift in attitude and behaviour, if we are to truly benefit from the digital revolution. Especially here in Australia, this great southern land.?

Where the states compete rather than collaborate. Where councils compete rather than collaborate. Where universities compete rather than collaborate.

It’s historical. It’s structural. It’s understandable. We have never been good at collaboration. But if we keep on down this path, we will become “Mexico in the south pacific” by default.?

Which means turning “lip service” on collaboration into action.?

We need “local” but we also need global.

We need privacy and we need community.?

We need online and we need the real world.?

We can still have the digital cul-de-sacs we seem to love so much, as long as they are connected to other cul-de-sacs and the Australian interconnected digital knowledge network.

Connection, collaboration and integration can only work if we are all joined up. And sharing.

We are not good at telling our success stories. CSIRO has hundreds of great stories to tell, but doesn’t. Each of our universities has great stories to tell but doesn’t. Most of our ICT and technology companies have great stories to tell as well.

Our best stories are told to those who already know. Shared with the “usual suspects”. The usual networks. In closed loops.

We have to share our stories more broadly. With other regions. With businesses. With high schools and parents. With each other.?

We don’t know what we don’t know. We need to know what is possible.

So we can collaborate and share. So we can collaborate and export. So we can successfully compete with the world.

The RED Toolbox provides a showcase of 5,000+ organisations in key productive industries, with export showcases for markets overseas, with groups allowing industry networks, associations, councils and hubs to collaborate and share.

Easy to join, Easy to use. Easy to add new organisations to the platform.?

Organisations manage their own listings. But can connect to others across multiple dimensions.

Joined up thinking is an attitude as well as a network function. Our brains do it. It is the interconnection of 86 billion neurons that give us insight and intelligence.

So, there is no point connecting billions of devices and networks across Australia unless we also connect the knowledge in the heads of all Australians.

We need more than just information networks, we need knowledge networks, and that means sharing, between silos, between networks, between clusters, between sectors, between regions, connecting the obvious and the less obvious.

Knowledge networks mean vision, direction and aggregation of information for purpose – to address the wide range of wicked problems we face.

We need to align our thinking with the possibility. Recognise what collaboration and sharing ideas might deliver.?

Australia is big country with a small population. Concentrated in the capital cities. We need to collaborate and share across the whole country, all regions and industries.

How do we do it?

By starting in one region and sharing nationally.

The Hunter region is the most economically complex and diversified region in Australia outside of the capital cities, with deep experience and resilience generated from years of reinvention and rebuilding after the closure of the Newcastle steelworks in 1999.

The industries and organisations in the Hunter share similar networks, experiences and needs as other industries and organisations in regions across Australia. In agriculture, manufacturing, defence, energy, mining, climate action, investment and tourism.

So, using a strategy of “deliver local – share national” – is the most efficient way to target, encourage and build capability across the nation. Deliver locally – share strategically.

From November onwards, the RED Toolbox platform will host a national events program – covering innovation, investment, climate action, export, future of work, tourism, cybersecurity and more.

Starting with cybersecurity, robotics and export.

Events will target the Hunter region in NSW and then be shared with all other regions, councils and high schools across Australia. Open system.?

Cybersecurity is increasingly important for all organisations and individuals in Australia. As the challenges increase, so does the need for awareness, security and care.

In agriculture, farmers are highly productive. Productivity has increased because of machinery, better genetics in crops and animals, and the use of farm management systems. Automation and robotics are improving productivity even further.

In manufacturing, automation and business management systems have made factories more productive. Many larger factories are nearly fully automated.

Technology is delivering the increased productivity, not just workers.

Mining is highly productive with automation, robotics and software increasing productivity every year. Productive technology and workers.

Innovation in all these productive industries is where our future should be built.

In energy, waste management, pollution control, water, automation and robotics, arts and crafts, fashion, manufacturing, ICT, education, space, mining services, defence, assistive technology and ag-tech.

These are industries that will help us manage climate change. These are the industries that will deliver high reward jobs and employment opportunities for our kids and grandkids.?

These are the industries that will provide products and services that can be exported to the world.

So far, we have not been good at collaboration. Internationally, Nationally, Regionally or even locally.

Yet it can be done.

We have a new government, a new vision, new challenges and new opportunity.

We just need to turn our eyes outwards and forwards, and recognise the opportunity in front of us. New connections, collaborations, solutions, products, services, jobs and opportunities.?

The RED Toolbox has now been updated and relaunched.?https://www.redtoolbox.org

Councils, industry associations, incubators and other networks can use the platform for the benefit of their regions and themselves.

Let’s see what we can all do together.