Australia the world’s most innovative country?

On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit e-journal on Australian social and political issues. An upcoming topic is innovation in Australia and the editor is looking for contributions. They asked me as I am on the editorial advisory board:

Australia has more nobel laureates per capita than any nation. Without us billions would die from infection, hundreds of millions would die from cervical cancer, and millions of deaf wouldn’t hear as well. Not to mention the stump jump plough. This feature celebrates and explores our creativity.

From: Australia - are we the world’s most innovative and inventive country?, Online Opinion, 2007

For this I thought I might revisit my 1998 work where I spent three months around Australia and in the UK talking and thinking about Australian IT innovation.

One thought would be to look at how Web 2.0 social networking might be an area for new growth in Australian innovation. One curious example is the new Australian startup "Remember the Milk". The work being done at Google Sydney, is also of interest.