In Australia, public discussion and debate about export markets generally focuses on commodities, such as resources, energy and agricultural products, and their respective contribution to the country’s economy.
Certainly, those commodity exports drive an important component of the country’s economic growth.
But we hear less about our successful export of technology and the intellectual property that accompanies it.
Naturally, the media and political sphere pay a lot of attention to defense platforms such as submarines and helicopters, but these are not necessarily the best areas Australia should focus on for its exports.
A large platform (especially for defense use) will always be an evolved version of a previous large platform and this will mean that Australia will always look overseas for a base version of something it wants to develop domestically.
Instead, Australia is better off focusing its energies on areas where product heritage is not particularly important.
This is where we come to the development of technology. A good example is cyber. Unlike platforms, current cyber development is not particularly dependent on what happened five years ago.
Just like our healthcare professionals continually racing to stay ahead of problematic pathogens, those in the cyber domain must also continually innovate to stay ahead of emerging threats.
Due to its relatively small size, Australia has always depended on having better technology to counter its adversaries.
This will be as true in the cyber realm as in any other field.
What is needed to develop cyber in Australia are skilled people with good ideas, and Australia has many of those resources.
Australia is developing a reputation for fostering and developing intellectual and technological expertise in the field of national security technology.
Focusing on technology export has been successful for Penten and we have turned our ideas into technology that is sold abroad.
The best example is in our safe mobility business.
Our secure mobility solutions emerged from the recognition that the global national security market had not adequately responded to an acute need.
From there we developed safe mobility technology that is now used nationally and in other markets.
Ironically, it was the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that helped us secure business opportunities in the UK.
When UK government employees were forced to work from home last year, some of their communication channels were secured through Penten’s AltoCrypt Stik product.
Approved for use by the government, AltoCrypt Stik gave more than 4,000 UK employees across more than 40 departments and agencies the ability to work securely and remotely from home by accessing sensitive and highly classified information using Wi-Fi. your home.
Last year, Penten exported $6.5 million worth of products, primarily through our services and gateways to the UK, including Stik product royalties.
Another possible avenue for Australia’s technology exports is Applied Artificial Intelligence (AI), which will become an increasingly important part of the war theater.
In the future, threats to our online integrity will come from machines.
However, machines are not invincible and they make mistakes, and this is where counter-AI comes into play.
However, no country has matured in anti-AI technologies and Australia is well positioned to step up and fill the gap.
What applied AI and secure mobility have in common is that they are both rapidly evolving technological fields. In such an environment, a country with a well-educated workforce is well positioned to create the best technology. Furthermore, no country is held back by the history of another’s product.
In the case of technology exports, it is a company’s intellectual property that provides a competitive advantage. This means that any company with the right mix of skills can develop something that can be sold abroad.
Australia’s national security industry will continue to grow in line with the Australian Government’s record peacetime investment in defence.
Focusing on technology exports will be essential to create a sustainable industry that supports high-wage, high-skill jobs. Only through exports will Australia’s national security industry be freed from the need to rely on federal government contracts.
Penten is an Australian cyber company focused on innovation in secure mobility, applied artificial intelligence (AI) and tactical communications security.
In 2019 and 2020, Penten was awarded Cyber Business of the Year at the Australian Defense Industry Awards.
For more information visit www.penten.com
