[LINK] Leadership 2.0 Needed for Canberra Innovation

[Tom Worthington]

Jon Stanhope MLA, Chief Minister of the ACT, opened Innovation Week at 
ANU last night in "spacedock" (aka John Curtin School of Medical 
Research), Australian National University, Canberra. The Chief Minister 
gave a disappointing speech on the role of innovation in the Canberra 
economy. This was followed by a lackluster debate on "Investing in 
innovation? This house believes that Australia spends too much money on 
university research". This contrasted with the previous excellent events 
in the ACT Innovation program, run by students of ANU and University of 
Canberra. The Chief Minister and the professors need to learn from the 
students how to communicate in the 21st century: 
<http://innovationact.org/>.

The debate was between Professor Lawrence Cram, Deputy Vice-Chancellor 
ANU; Professor Steve Dowrick, Professor of Economics, ANU and member of 
the 2008 National Innovation Review; Narelle Kennedy, CEO of The 
Australian Business Foundation and member of the 2008 National 
Innovation Review; and Dr Geoff Garrett, former Chief Executive of the 
CSIRO.

Narelle Kennedy was the evening's best performer, with an engaging and 
passionate argument in favour of university research. The rest of the 
evening was a very dull affair.

The Chief Minister set the tone for the evening by giving a generic 
opening speech which indicated he was not interested in the topic and 
then confirmed this by leaving immediately afterwards. The following 
speakers were not helped by using an old fashioned debating format. It 
was ironic that the hi-tech Finkel Lecture Theatre in the hi-tech John 
Curtin School of Medical Research was being used for a very low tech 
debate: <http://jcsmr.anu.edu.au/about/>.

Some quotable quotes I picked out of the debate:

"Innovation is ideas successfully applied", "Innovation is a contact 
sport, like rugby", "Knowledge is a cumulative process", "ERA is 
inwardly focused".

Apart from that, I don't really know what the speakers were talking 
about. They got up, talked a lot, and then sat down again. This "Lecture 
1.0" format was used at universities, before we realised it was not a 
useful way to communicate: 
<http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Lecture_2.0#Lecture_1.0>

The ACT Chief Minister, and our professors, need to be re-skilled in 
21st century communication, if they are to provide leadership on 
innovation (or any other topic). We now teach undergraduate and 
postgraduate students how to do this, so they can be leaders of the 
future. The leaders of the present need to sit in on some classes, if 
they wish to be part of Canberra's future.

The next Australian Innovation Festival Seminar is "Harnessing the cycle 
of innovation - Understanding your market" by John Hemphill, CEO, Axxos
Wednesday 28 April, 6-8pm, Finkel Lecture Theatre, The John Curtin 
School of Medical Research, ANU.

More in my blog at: 
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/leadership-20-needed-for-canberra.html>.


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Lecturer, The Australian National University t: 02 61255694
Computer Science http://cs.anu.edu.au/user/3890