Groups of university students from three centres across Australia presented their views of the future of agriculture and their intended roles in adding value to new industry development. An underlying common theme of their presentations was the need to foster partnerships between 'new' and 'old' agriculture. Market Pull vs Innovation Driven Industry Development in agriculture was debated and it was acknowledged that a fine balance between these approaches is required to successfully foster new industries. We can learn a lot from looking beyond agriculture to see how new ideas are fostered into commercial reality. The presentation from 3M Australia outlined how they have developed a culture that encourages and nurtures innovation.
Innovation involves taking risks.
Management needs to support, mentor and sponsor the investigation of new ideas. Innovators need to be comfortable with sticking their necks outs. M also acknowledged that building a culture of trust and continuous change needs a consistent approach over a considerable time. It was suggested that research and development needs to become more commercially focused with better linkages to markets. Effective marketing was rare.