NSW Premier, Mike Baird
NSW premier, Mike Baird, has used his keynote address at CeBit 2016 to outline the top three tech priorities for the State Government.
Baird told the audience the digital economy was worth about five per cent of the total economy and the state needed to take advantage of this growing trend. He said the NSW Government had focussed on three key areas for growth in the digital economy.
Fintech was highlighted as the top priority by the premier, due to Australia’s position of third in the world for emerging markets behind the US and UK.
Second on the list of tech priorities was medical technologies. Baird said the area had enormous potential due to the size of the local population and ageing demographics.
Cybersecurity was third on the state’s tech agenda. Baird said the cost to the global economy from cybercrime was $US400 billion in 2015.
“Increases in cyber attacks in Australia last year over were 100 per cent, so there is a need for address it from a security point of view. But there is also a massive business opportunity and that is where we will also be focussing,” he added.
Baird was bullish about the state’s prospects for growth and highlighted the financial and insurance sector for its strong performance from 2000 to 2015. He said the sector 4.62 per cent CAGR, compared to 2.92 per cent growth in total GDP.
“The finance and insurance sector has been a key performer for the economy in Australia but particularly in New South Wales.
Baird then dubbed New South Wales as the engine room of the national economy.
“New South Wales constitutes one third of the Australian economy, which is the twelfth largest in the world,” he added.
“As a place to invest, we are proud about the parameters, the growth and trajectories you see here in NSW.”
He then went on to discus performance of the state in context of other states saying job growth was double the nearest competitors in the last five years.
He described NSW as an easy place to do business, saying we want that in our DNA. He also touted the state’s performance, coming thirteenth out of 189 regions in a recent study.
In terms of facilities and training, Baird highlighted that two NSW-based universities were in the top 50 in the world.
“I strongly believe there is significant talent in NSW with the appropriate tertiary institutions to facilitate that.”
