Three Industry Growth Centre chairs appointed

Minister for Industry and Science Ian Macfarlane today announced chairs for three of the federal government’s Industry Growth Centres, as well as an independent advisory committee. The Industry Growth Centres Initiative - the centrepiece of the government’s new industry policy direction - aims to lift competitiveness and productivity by focusing on areas of competitive strength.

“The $188.5 million Industry Growth Centres Initiative will establish five growth centres in key growth sectors: advanced manufacturing; food and agribusiness; medical technologies and pharmaceuticals; mining equipment, technology and services; and oil, gas and energy resources,” Macfarlane said.

“They will set strategies and deliver outcomes under the four themes of encouraging collaboration and the commercialisation, enhancing workforce skills, identifying opportunities to reduce regulatory burden and improving capabilities to engage with international markets.

“A significant goal for the growth centres will be to forge better links between industry and Australia’s world-class researchers, to maximise the return on our $9.2 billion annual investment in science and research.”

The appointed chairs and committee members are, according to Macfarlane, “industry leaders who will bring together key stakeholders in their sectors to work in collaboration”. With extensive industry expertise and board experience, they will “provide Australian businesses with an extended reach into expanding international markets”, he added.

Peter Schutz, the chair of the Food and Agribusiness Growth Centre, has more than 35 years’ experience working in the food industry. He is the current chair of Food Innovation Australia and was a member of CSIRO’s Food Futures Flagship Advisory Committee.

Andrew Stevens, the chair of the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre, is the former managing director of IBM Australia and New Zealand. He led the integration of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting and IBM in Asia Pacific and the merger of PricewaterhouseCoopers and Lybrand consultancies in Australia and New Zealand.

Elizabeth Lewis-Gray, the chair of the Mining Equipment, Technology and Services Growth Centre, is also the chair of Austmine and the co-founder, chairman and managing director of Gekko Systems, a leader in gold, silver and minerals processing plants and services.

“These chairs will work with their sectors to develop a proposal for their respective growth centres,” said Macfarlane. “I expect these three growth centres will be up and running by the middle of this year.”

The two remaining chairs will be announced soon.

The Growth Centres Advisory Committee independent members are John Grill AO (Chair), Catherine Livingstone AO, Dr Andrew Liveris AO and Carolyn Hewson AO