The Small Business Ombudsman also conducted an investigation into the enforcement of the scheme, with the final report criticising the conduct of the government agencies, saying it had had a “devastating impact” on companies.
Nexttech
Creating Generational Legacies
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
R&D Tax Concession Audits have eased up
The crackdown on research and development tax incentive claims has eased, with a more collaborative and fair approach to audits adopted and a number of recent successful appeals
Monday, June 1, 2020
The Future of Work - is there such a thing as going back to normal?
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The coronavirus crisis should be a "wake up call" for local manufacturing.
At our BBG Innovation forum last week - we were talking about Brian Sher’s 14 mega trends that will happen post Covid-19 .
One of these trends was the rise of local manufacture.
In the SMH this morning, Cara Waters writes about audio equipment maker, Peter Freedman’s advanced manufacturing business , Rode Microphones - based in Sydney’s Silverwater. Rode now employs over 500 people in Australia, China and USA .
Going against the trend of moving manufacturing to China - (Aus Manufacturing has gone from 13% - 6% of GDP over past 20 years). Rode Microphones has gone against the trend - they manufacture a global niche product - microphones - selling over 2.5m products per annum!
The Australian economy needs to focus on value-added exports rather than simply selling raw materials into China, says Freedman .
“we can't just scrape the surface, whack it on a ship, sail it, that's gone. We have great raw materials - the best food - We should be the best delicatessen- not just a bulk distributor of wheat!“
Chinese manufactured goods worldwide (according to Euromonitor )
- 35 per cent of household goods
- 46 per cent of high tech goods,
- 54 per cent of textiles and apparel,
- 38 per cent of machinery, rubber and plastic,
- 20 per cent of pharmaceuticals and medical goods and
- 42 per cent of chemical products
Theory of Constraints expert - Hendrik Lourens was talking about the importance of growing the Australian manufacturing base and not having to rely on other countries for our foods and services.
To do this, he says that Government will need to implement various policy measures to support this.
Mr Freedman agrees that the manufacturing revival will need a sustained push from government. There needs to be a long term commitment to the manufacturing sector.
“There are no short term solutions here, none at all." Says Freedman “Buying the cheapest is often not buying the best solution! “
The sustained long term investment in supporting Australian manufacture will provide a big payday for Jobs, Security and the general well-being of our nation.
Gary Bolles - Chair Singularity University - the Future of Work - presenting - The Great Reset: The Exponential Evolution of Work
Gary A. Bolles, Chair for the Future of Work, Singularity University and the Internationally acclaimed speaker and visionary, has kindly agreed to share his worldclass insights at our NextTech Transformation Forum on the Thursday 18 June, for our BBG members and their guests.
Thursday, May 14, 2020
Larry Marshall MD of CSIRO on Australian Innovation
Australian Innovation playing its part in helping fight this virus
Monday, May 11, 2020
How do we go back to work without causing a resurgence of Covid-19 infections - and get R to be less than 1?
Uri Alon, Ron Milo professors of computational and systems biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and Mr. Yashiv is a professor of economics at Tel Aviv University and at the London School of Economics Center for Macroeconomics , suggest 10-4 To Exploit the Coronavirus’s Weak Spot
People can work in two-week cycles, on the job for four days then, by the time they might become infectious, 10 days at home in lockdown.
This 10-4 cycle could suppress the epidemic while allowing sustainable economic activity.
We can exploit a key property of the virus: its latent period — the three-day delay on average between the time a person is infected and the time he or she can infect others.
People can work in two-week cycles, on the job for four days then, by the time they might become infectious, 10 days at home in lockdown.
The strategy works even better when the population is split into two groups of households working alternating weeks.
Models created at the Weizmann Institute in Israel predict that this two-week cycle can reduce the virus’s reproduction number — the average number of people infected by each infected person — below one.
Even if someone is infected, and without symptoms, he or she would be in contact with people outside their household for only four days every two weeks, not 10 days, as with a normal schedule.
This strategy packs another punch: It reduces the density of people at work and school, thus curtailing the transmission of the virus.
Schools could have students attend for four consecutive days every two weeks, in two alternating groups, and use distance-learning methods on the other school days. Children would go to school on the same days as their parents go to work.
Businesses would work almost continuously, alternating between two groups of workers, for regular and predictable production. This would increase consumer confidence, shoring up supply and demand simultaneously.
A 10-4 routine provides at least part-time employment for millions who have been fired or sent on leave without pay. These jobs prevent the devastating, and often long-lasting, mental and physical impacts of unemployment.
The cyclic strategy is easy to explain and to enforce. It is equitable in terms of who gets to go back to work. It applies at any scale: a school, a firm, a town, a state. A region that uses the cyclic strategy is protected: Infections coming from the outside cannot spread widely if the reproduction number is less than one. It is also compatible with all other countermeasures being developed.
Workers can, and should still, use masks and distancing while at work.
It can be started as soon as a steady decline of cases indicates that lockdown has been effective.
The cyclic strategy should be part of a comprehensive exit strategy, including self-quarantine by those with symptoms, contact tracing and isolation, and protection of risk groups.
The cyclic strategy can be tested in limited regions for specific trial periods, even a month. If infections rates grow, it can be adjusted to fewer work days.
Conversely, if things are going well, additional work days can be added. In certain scenarios, only four or five lockdown days in each two-week cycle could still prevent resurgence.
The coronavirus epidemic is a formidable foe, but it is not unbeatable. By scheduling our activities intelligently, in a way that accounts for the virus’s intrinsic dynamics, we can defeat it more rapidly, and accelerate a full return to work, school and other activities.
Of course the basic 7 needs to be adhered to
Article information sourced from NewYork Times
Thursday, May 7, 2020
A Case Study of how an organisation is creating a new blueprint for their future of work
Their 500+ employees largely consist of millennials, they 100% work in an office, the company has large CBD-located overheads, over 73% of their teams travel more than 2 hours on public transport every day, and their clients are Sydney-based.
Covid-19 happenned - people worked from home - and the clients were still being looked after! Employees were relieved of not having to spend a large portion of their day travelling to work!
All employees were engaged in remodelling the 150 year old blueprint - to focus on the people - the customer and the employees
Using SCAMPER – a Novel Thinking approach where potential solutions are elicited from questioning how we might Substitute, Combine, Adjust, Modify (magnify, minify), Put to other uses, Eliminate and/or Reverse, Rearrange the current working reality into something new -
the team has come up with an adjusted blueprint for the workplace going forward
The Proposed new blueprint
1. trial 3 days at home and 2 at the office (rostered).
2. Outreach to clients (site visits) had never been a part of organisational practice but to be put to clients as an option.
3. regional markets to be tested - employees expressed an interest to move regional - . establish cells within each location where team members worked in an office together 2 days a week. People still want to work together.
4. pursuing market specialisation in growth verticals within regions (for example agriculture, aquaculture, viticulture, mining)
The business has a great chance of thriving and surviving post Covid-19 say Heather - because
“The principals of the business were agile AND flexible. They acted and they acted fast. They are willing to fail because with failure comes learning and with learning growth"
The key success factor will be to place humans at the centre of the workplace and empower them to help rewrite the 150 year old business blueprint!
You may also be interested in this article http://australianinnovation.blogspot.com/2018/09/having-specific-skill-does-not-cut.html?m=1
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