Once Australians bragged about inventing the blackbox flight recorders or the first ultrasound machines. Now, we are the nation that has lost its innovation spark, according to the latest research released by a foremost insight consultancy.
According to The Leading Edge Trends Index survey of 1234 Australians aged 18-64, 70 per cent of people do not believe Australia is a world leader in inventing new products and services.The report claimed that people were growing tired of the same old products being dressed up as new.
“A deluge of ‘new’ products hits our shelves daily, but it takes something really different to stand out and these days consumers take new packaging and flavours for granted.
“These changes aren’t innovation; they are simply the continual renovation of the offer needed to keep brands fresh in consumers’ minds,” said Virginia Proud, Branding and Innovation Consultant, The Leading Edge.
Most Australians ranked IT and electronics as the number one innovative services, with all brands named being overseas manufacturers. Apple, Sony, LG, Samsung, Nokia and Panasonic were frequently mentioned, however, only 22 per cent of respondents were able to name a specific brand they considered innovative while 45 per cent were unable to recall anything at all.
However, despite this “recognition mind-blank”, a massive 71 per cent of respondents claimed they like to try new products and services, said Ms Proud, but simply had no access to “anything exciting or memorable”.
The decline in innovative thinking comes after more than 100 years of ground-breaking discoveries by the Australian researchers in fields ranging from IT, to medicine to household appliances.
In 1902 the simple notepad was created by by J.A.Birchall of Launceston when he had the idea of gluing individual sheets of paper together into a conveniently usable form.
The discovery of the Anthrax vaccine in 1918 by John Macgarvie Smith led to a breakthrough in the treatment of the deadly condition, while the invention of the bionic ear in 1973 by Graeme Clark of the University of Melbourne totally revolutionised the treatment of hearing impairment around the globe.
Perhaps one of the most famous Australian inventions is that of the blackbox flight recorders in 1958. The simple device allowed for recording of the pilot’s conversation and some of the instruments, allowing for more thorough analysis of aviation accidents.
But the true-blue Aussie icon still remains the Hills Hoist revolving clothing line, invented by Lance Hill of Adelaide in 1945. The rotary washing line with hoist quickly became and remains a fixture in most Australian back yards.
