Robotics Australia Group submission to the National Robotics Strategy
Robotics Australia Group is the peak body representing the robotics and robotics-related technology sector. Our goal is to build a sustainable robotics industry in Australia. We have consulted with our network of more than 5,000 to ensure the Australian robotics ecosystem’s broad range of views are represented in this submission. Field and Service Robotics will impact every sector of the Australian economy and will help Australia to diversify and modernise its economy, as well as doing social and environmental good. By creating and adopting robotics technologies, Australians will have highly paid, safe, and fulfilling jobs in the near future. The application of robotics and automation will help to: lift economic productivity, protect our environment, provide equity in access to services for our rural and remote communities, reduce the cost of healthcare, accelerate decarbonisation, and reshore jobs and manufacturing back to Australia to maintain our living standards. But only if we invest in the talent and technologies we are developing in robotics, here in Australia. We must be ambitious and seek to build homegrown global companies that export robotics and AI technologies to the world.
Research has shown that the tech sector contributes $167 billion annually to the Australian economy and employs 861,000 Australians . As outlined in the Discussion Paper, robotics in 1 Australia is a fledgling but growing industry capable of enormous impact, currently thought to be worth more than $18bn in revenue to the Australian economy, employing more than 50,000 and comprising more than 1,000 companies with robotics capability. Critically, $92 billion of the tech sector’s annual GDP contribution is generated in industries outside of the direct tech sector. On top of this, business as usual applications of field robotics are emerging to support the safety and productivity improvement needs of the Mining and Construction industries, which contribute 21.9% of Australia’s economic output generating $97.2bn GDP . The 2 3 robotics opportunity highlights this dynamic, as the robotics industry generates significant value through direct creation of robotics-related products and services as well as providing safety and productivity benefits to the sectors that adopt robotics and automation.
Having recently developed and published the 2022 Robotics Roadmap for Australia, an extension of the ground-breaking 2018 Robotics Roadmap, Robotics Australia Group welcomes the Government’s timely development of a related National Robotics Strategy to promote the responsible production and adoption of robotics, AI and automation technologies.
You can read the full submission here
