IoT presents $30bn opportunity for Australia's tech sector

The Internet of Things (IoT) presents a $30 billion opportunity for Australia’s tech sector by 2023, with IoT hardware, software, solutions and communications systems presenting unprecedented growth rate prospects. This is according to ‘Australia’s IoT Opportunity: Driving Future Growth — An ACS Report’. 

According to ACS, a professional association for Australia’s ICT sector, IoT has the potential to reinvigorate Australia’s stagnant productivity growth in five key sectors — construction, mining, health care, manufacturing and agriculture.

These sectors have the potential to realise a 2% per annum growth in productivity, equivalent to between $194 and $308 billion in GDP over the next 8–18 years, according to the report.

“Agriculture and resources continue to dominate Australia’s exports, and we do well exporting education to the rest of the world. Technology wise, however, there isn’t anything SMART in our top 10 exports,” said ACS President Yohan Ramasundara.

“As IoT has matured, the highest value of an IoT solution is no longer sensors and actuators, rather in artificial intelligence. We often hear that data is the new fuel for the digital economy, it is, however, crude oil, and needs to be refined. Artificial Intelligence via software applications is the refinement process, and it is here where Australian can become a market leader developing scalable solutions that can be taken to the rest of the world.”

In addition to providing an overview of the state of opportunities for IoT in Australia, the report also reveals keys strategies for businesses to develop competitive advantage through IoT, as well as a set of key policies for government to assist in the development of the Australian IoT industry.

PWC CEO Luke Sayers also pointed to the significant productivity gains that IoT offers across all sectors of the economy. “Australia’s productivity has plateaued in the past decade and our growth has largely relied on the bounty of our natural resources. Our future growth is going to come from innovation and embracing the digital revolution. New technologies are triggering a fundamental transformation in the way we are engaging with each other, the world around us and how we do business. The Internet of Things provides a huge opportunity to improve productivity by up to 2% per annum in some industries if we have the courage to embrace it.”

“We feel confident that the levers recommended in this report will provide a bright future for Australian industry, and just as importantly, provide Australians with the ability to attract the higher paying jobs in this Fourth Industrial Revolution,” said Ramasundara.

The report is available at https://www.acs.org.au/content/dam/acs/acs-publications/ACS-PwC-IoT-report-web.pdf.

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