Senior leaders from across Australia’s industry, defence and academic communities confirmed on Wednesday the need for greater collaboration to unlock the full potential for defence industry as a driver of innovation, employment creation and growth.

The inaugural Securing Australia’s Defence Industry?Forum, co-convened by Lockheed Martin and Ai Group, addressed key challenges to transforming Australia’s industry base and highlighted opportunities to build Australia’s sovereign capability through an emphasis on technology transfer, local participation and exporting innovation.

“The identification of the defence industry in the 2016 Defence White Paper as a Fundamental Input to Capability (FIC), coupled with the release of the National Innovation and Science Agenda, were strong, welcome signals to industry,” Lockheed Martin ANZ CEO Raydon Gates said.

"Defence industry is centre-stage as a driver of innovation-led industry employment and economic growth."

“But they also require a concerted focus on our capability challenges and the role of the industry sector to confront them.”
Gates said the defence industry is centre-stage as a driver of innovation-led industry employment and economic growth.

“Lockheed Martin, as a defence industry leader, felt it was important to kick-start that conversation by bringing together industry and academia to collaborate on the significant potential for defence to transform the Australian economy,” he said.

“Today’s forum is timely in that it addresses critical questions for industry that have far reaching consequences for the health and future wellbeing of our nation,” Ross Pilling president Ai Group Victoria said.

“Our economy is in transition from the mining investment phase to the new economy – which will have a high reliance on advanced technology capabilities. Defence, as an outlier of cutting edge innovation and technology, has a critical role to play in that new economy, so it is imperative industry works together to address any challenges and unlock its full potential,” Pilling said.

The leaders forum featured keynotes from: Dr Leonie Walsh, Victoria’s inaugural Lead Scientist; Professor Tony Peacock, the CEO of the Cooperative Research Centres Association; and Dr Jens Goennemann, the managing director of the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre.