Why did we launch the RED Toolbox?
Because…
Jobs are disappearing. Digital technology is destroying more jobs than are being created. Skills demands have changed. Wages have stagnated. Digital disruption is impacting every sector, region and business category.
Businesses themselves (the entities that employ people) are disappearing. And whole Industry sectors are under threat. And those threats can come from anywhere, any country and across any border. The changes are happening fast. Our leaders have lost touch with the scale of this change. Tied to election cycles – short term - when the solutions we need are long term. We are educating for a world that has gone. We are hocked to the eyeballs. Inequality = 1% versus 99%. And we are focusing on policy trivia not the new “elephants in the room”.
Lots of problems that are all connected. And we can’t fix one properly without fixing the others at the same time. Because now it all joins up. That is what the digital revolution does. It automates. It robotises. It computerises. And it joins everything up.
We have no choice. We can’t just let this happen to us. That destiny would be dreadful. We have to manage it effectively. Which cannot be done alone. It has to be a collaborative effort and that requires collaborative thinking = more cross-siloed organisations, discussions and taskforces in government and business.
And it requires collaborative action as well.
That is why we created the collaboration platform = the RED (Regional Economic Development) Toolbox. https://theredtoolbox.org
We live in a big country with a small population, and we need to collaborate and share ideas more effectively. Ultimately, we are in competition with the rest of the world, and the possibility of a dystopian future, not each other.
We have to increase the number, value and variety of our exports, add value to everything we produce, to increase profitability so we can afford to provide jobs for our children and grandchildren.
And for that, we have to collaborate and share.
This is not the time for parochialism. Not the time for reinventing the wheel. Not the time for competition between our towns and cities, regions and states within Australia. We have to take on the world and the future, if we are going to address the issues above, and to do that we need to collaborate. Share good ideas quickly. Be agile.
That’s why we built the RED Toolbox and it was launched at the end of October in Port Augusta at the annual SEGRA event. https://theredtoolbox.org
We are now inviting councils, RDAS, businesses, not-for-profits, corporates, governments and universities to partner so that we can collectively develop the value of the national platform.
The RED Toolbox is a national platform for supporting smart, connected and sustainable regional economic development.
Australia’s economic future depends on the foundation of our productive industries – agriculture, creative industry, defence, ICT, manufacturing, medical & health, METS, smart trades and tourism.
There are now over 5,000 organisations from those sectors in the showcase, with more added every week.
We are creating groups to enable discussion, collaboration and the sharing of ideas – advanced manufacturing, agricultural and food, mining equipment, technology & services, smart cities infrastructure, sustainable energy, water and environment, and tourism development, with medical and health, higher education, creative industries and defence to follow.
This is an iterative process. And it has just begun. These groups will be mirrored across the platform and used to present projects as they are arise. So that project ideas can be shared, copied and improved upon.
This will make it easy for RDAs and councils to find information and ideas to match their regional economic interests. It will also help councils decide which other councils and regions they would like to collaborate with in a common group, to discuss problems, options and opportunities. To learn and to grow.
The platform is flexible. Groups can be created by partners and dissolved when no longer useful.
And because the platform is structured on our productive industries, then the connections, groups, projects and collaborations make sense.
Because we are not trying to force Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter to do something they were not designed to do.
The RED Toolbox reflects Australian regions, states, councils, sectors, issues and projects, and connects them in a way that makes sense here.
To showcase our leading manufacturers and producers to the world. To connect similar region with similar region. To match university research and ideas with industry. To put all parts of the puzzle in the same place, on the same table to create a big picture.
The RED Toolbox is the platform but partners are the actors on the stage. And it is up to partners how they use it.
The platform has been created to support and connect things together in a productive industry framework, from the bottom up, across regional ecosystems, and all connected in a national showcase to the world.
Global and local. Glocal.
Creating and supporting virtual export connections, virtual “clusters” and supply chains.
Recognising common issues and themes. Supporting and enhancing the work that industry association do, helping them to extend their reach and value to a wider audience.
Joining thing up. Cross pollinating. Connecting silos.
Because we need to be more agile. We need to catch up with the rest of the world and stop slipping steadily down the ranks of all the global indicators.
Team Australia.
Teams are interesting things. Individual strengths and abilities magnified by “teamwork”. We are good at team sport. We need to become just as good in team export, team economic development, team job creation, team community development and team building.
The internet and web-based software tools provide the means. Partners provide the energy, ideas and objectives.
The productive industry focus provides a direction – creating the “banks of the river” - channelling collective energy in one general direction, translating the vision of a sustainable, productive future for our children and grandchildren into a reality. It can be done.
Collectively. Collaboratively. Together.
The individual ideas and objectives are the responsibility of each partner - business, not-for-profit, council, RDA, corporate, university, whatever.
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 etc can = a lot.
The product of the resulting equation is unknown. It depends on the partners, what they want, what they do, how they relate to each other. It’s gardening not architecture. And in a garden you never really quite know what might come up. You put trust in the seeds, the sun, water, fertiliser and the process and that is exactly how the Toolbox is structured to operate.
Productively.
We need more exporters in Australia. We need to increase the value of the goods and services we sell. We need to collaborate actively, and share examples of what works and what doesn’t more quickly and widely.
So check it out. Partner today. Engage and work with others on building capability across industry sectors, promoting export, adding value to regional businesses and organisations and creating a more fertile foundation for jobs and sustainable regions in Australia.
We have launched. Just begun. Now lets see where we can take the platform.
Company Director | Venture Builder | Board Director -Executive/ Non-Executive | Advisory Board Member | Coach & Mentor
7 年Great work John. An exciting and promising initiative, enabling collaborators to collaborate.
CEO at Digital Business insights
7 年Here is a snapshot of the sector Groups evolving on the platform. RDAS and Councils can create Groups, but then they can also join the sectoral groups on the platform where their regional development interest exist. WE will organise Projects in the same way.
Great initiative John.. and thanks ..
Well done for taking action instead of just moaning and groaning. There is a lot of negative comments and sentiments about Globalisation but there is also a lot of positives. Unfortunately as with all things, there is always downside as well as upside in any process or trend. The positives are the number of people taken out of poverty, spread of education & opportunity, so let's not get so downbeat about globalisation. The actions you are taking are exactly the right move to take advantage of globalisation for the benefit of the local communities. In 2006 we moved from the UK to Spain, taking advantage of EU freedom of movement for people, capital, and services. We set up 2 businesses and since then we have sold one (after 10 years), and started up 2 additional businesses (if you are counting this means 3 businesses on the go right now!). Over 50% of our revenue comes from outside of Spain, with clients in the US, South America, Europe, and Asia. We have business partners and associates across Europe, so our supply chain is as diverse as our customers. Small business can take advantage of globalisation by thinking outside of the square. There are a number of approaches namely: 1. Think Local, Act Local = Stay Local 2. Think Global, Act Local = Contribute Local but Diversified & Resilient 3. Think Global, Act Global = Gain Critical Mass & Resilience All are valid approaches to business but small companies do best when take the second option. Our diversification of revenue stream, customer base, and currencies means, even as a small company we can offset downturn in one sector/region against growth in another. Fall in one currency can be offset by fall in other currencies (likewise currency rise). The more strings we have to our bow the more chance of success or survival through any challenging times. Finally, one of my pet subjects is misuse of data and statistics, so I sign off with that! The notion of 1% is really very ambiguous and misleading. Anyone with net asset worth of $100k will fall under the definition of 1%. Yes this is how fortunate we are if we own our home or have equity of that magnitude, so in essence a lot of us are in fact part of the 1% even if we do not realise it.
CEO at Digital Business insights
7 年You are absolutely right Scott. We have endeavoured to create a multi dimensional Toolbox - location, sector, issues, projects and export, allowing sharing across all those dimensions and to an underlying logic of productive industry and value adding. What happens as different entities join groups and connect groups will be interesting. This is already happening as new partners understand the logic and the potential of bring "like" regions together to discuss common issues. And that could be really powerful with projects - replicating what works, quickly and easily. Built in agility. Hopefully we can begin to eliminate some of the "culture-de-sac" thinking and reconnect isolated "cultures-de-sacs" to the larger multidimensional network. Parochialism wastes money, time, energy and opportunity.