Contact: Louise Denver
Deloitte
Director of Financial Services Communication
+61 2 9322 7615

Leading Australian innovation academic, University of Queensland Business School Professor Mark Dodgson, with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Business Review Weekly and business leader Terry Cutler, are launching a series of Innovation Leadership Summits to explore ways to further innovation in Australia.

Professor Dodgson said through a series of three events this year in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne the summits will bring together multiple perspectives from international and national expertise on government innovation policy and the role of business, and develop a clear statement about how Australia can meet the challenges of becoming an innovation leader on the world stage.

He said, "Innovation is perhaps the single most crucial contemporary issue for Australia’s economy."

"As countries around the world are forging ahead in innovation, we need to make sure Australia is not left behind."

"Australia needs to build on our considerable strengths and develop a business and policy climate that supports and fosters innovation and makes us better at it than our international competitors."

Consulting Managing Partner for Deloitte, Gerhard Vorster said, "Deloitte is committed to innovation. We see innovation as fundamental to helping business grow in a sustainable way. We expect these summits to open up new ways of thinking, and enrich our clients’ and our own understanding of how to ‘do innovation’ at the very highest level.

BRW recently launched a dedicated innovation section in the magazine, reflecting the magazine’s view of innovation as a critical ingredient in business success.

Terry Cutler’s Mindsharing Pty Ltd (www.mind-sharing.com) will be the repository for the output from the 2006 events and will serve the virtual community of individuals, groups, and organisations eager to contribute to an innovative Australia.

The Innovation Summit is supported by a wide range of business groups, including the Australian Business Foundation and the Australian Institute for Commercialization, with leading international innovation researchers from Australia and overseas contributing to the summits.

The first event focusing on government policy will be held in Brisbane on 26 October 2006. The Sydney event on 21 November will engage business leaders and the final event in Melbourne on 6 December will bring the pieces together to create a blueprint for the future.