The Promise of IT

There has been plenty of talk recently about older bastions of the Australian economy, such as the car industry, the energy industry and others. Yet no other industry has more potential to spur on Australia's future economic growth than information technology (IT).

Over the past few years, the internet has become ingrained in almost everything we do. It has evolved into an essential platform for businesses and communications, and has helped Australia to overcome the "tyranny of distance" by levelling the global playing field for Australian companies and entrepreneurs.

But right now, our focus as a nation on IT is inversely proportionate to IT’s importance and IT’s untapped potential. We face a serious IT trade deficit in Australia, and the number of students graduating with IT degrees is declining.

Australia has the potential to become a global IT leader, but this can only happen if we act now to make IT a top national priority, and encourage our children to embrace the power of an IT education, to foster a new generation of innovators.

The speed, interconnectivity and openness of the Internet inherently produce innovations on a remarkable scale. Cloud computing, user generated content, the mobile web, social networks, online advertising: these are just the beginning of a new, universally accessible web ecosystem driving efficiency in business and opportunities for consumers everywhere. If IT were biology, we're about at the point now where we're discovering the microscope.

Fundamentally, IT fuels the economy like no other technology. It is not only a $85 billion-plus industry that employs over 260,000 Australians; but also an enabler of other industries, generating new opportunities and businesses, new workplace arrangements, and connecting people more quickly and more broadly to get things done.

More than ever before, we need to create fantastic IT opportunities that will keep our talent at home. This effort starts with recharging the imaginations of our children, opening their eyes to endless possibilities of careers in IT. We need computing to join the ranks of reading, writing and arithmetic as an essential in the classroom.

Think how much more powerful our IT industry can be if all our technical pistons are firing at once: enhanced research, development and investment, an open internet and most importantly a world-class skilled workforce.

Part of the current decline in graduates with IT degrees (including Computer Science and Software Engineering) is due to a lingering fear after the dotcom crash that the world of IT is unstable, and jobs unreliable, when in fact the situation is the opposite: the opportunities in IT are boundless and booming, and the choice of career paths is incredibly diverse. Those who do emerge from college and high school with IT degrees are incredibly sought after. Companies are competing heavily with each other for today’s engineering talent, and that competition translates into better jobs and job security for everyone graduating with an IT degree.

There are opportunities in IT to work as part of a large company with global reach, or as part of a small team running with a new and revolutionary idea, or even as an individual developer or web designer--many who have designed Facebook or iPhone apps have sold their ideas for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Often, engineers have the opportunity to experience each of these worlds, and to move between them. From there on, there are opportunities to teach and conduct research, to consult, and even to advise in government.

Many positive steps have already been taken to raise awareness of IT in our schools, but we need more. New, national initiatives are being developed at the Universities of Adelaide and Melbourne, including ventures into puzzle-based learning, problem-solving curricula for computers, and "Integrated Virtual Learning Environments" (IVLE) to help students develop fundamental computing skills.

Universities across Australia have begun to work closely together and are beginning to open up a forum of discussion through the AIIA and the Council of Deans. Fantastic programs like the University of Sydney's National Computer Science Summer School are reaching out to high school students across Australia, posting materials online for access anywhere, and empowering teachers to find new ways of incorporating IT learning in the classroom.

At Google Australia, we're actively hiring talented engineers at all levels to work on challenging and exciting problems in geo-spacial technology, cloud computing and collaborative software. This year, we're also sponsoring the inaugural Eureka Prize for Innovation in Computer Science.

We need now to build upon these foundations. Investing in IT education is investing in a stable and prosperous future for all Australians. It's not enough anymore to talk about the benefit's of a digital economy. We need real change, and we need to bring IT to the forefront of our national consciousness. We need to act as a nation to seize this moment, and to inspire that next generation of great imaginations that will lead us in the coming century. We've just discovered the microscope. Imagine where we can go from here.

Editor's note: This opinion piece was first published in the Australian Financial Review

Posted by Alan Noble, Engineering Director Google Australia and New Zealand