We Must Encourage Kids Into STEM

We need to create incentives for these engineers to stay working in Australia and for other young people to see there are attractive pathways to follow in their footsteps. One of my driving ambitions at Nova has been to create a great Australian technology company so young people know they have opportunities to one day work in a stimulating STEM environment.

We need to stem the tide, so to speak. To encourage our best and brightest to stay and work in Australia after they complete their studies rather than feel compelled to move to the US or Europe to reap the economic benefits of their educational achievements.

If we are going to tackle important challenges in Australia, we need major sovereign organisations working to find the solutions. Australia has numerous highly successful small to medium enterprises of around 100 people or less. There are impressive mid-tier organisations of 800 to 1,000 plus people, the category where Nova Group fits.

However, the large technology organisations working in this country tend to be multinationals with headquarters in the US or Europe. If we look at this situation from an engineering staffing example, it shows how building larger sovereign entities by drawing together our smartest people, makes sense.

Let’s say we have 1,000 smart engineers working on separate projects for separate organisations, then we will be able to create 1,000 perfectly drilled holes. If we put those same 1,000 engineers into one well-run organisation to solve problems together, they can put someone on the moon.

Australians can be too modest, we celebrate our athletes as we should, but we sometimes struggle to celebrate our entrepreneurs who are creating jobs and a strong national economy. We also need to celebrate our teachers, particularly in primary and high schools, who can help us reach our potential. Let’s find ways to attract more high quality teachers in maths and science, pay them a bonus as we would compensate the best in private enterprise.

One of the positive steps Australia has taken is to bravely create the Australian Space Agency with its headquarters in Adelaide to develop national capability. This agency is working to transform and grow the Australian space sector. Space is a fascinating sector with broad appeal, it is attractive to young people across gender, religion, and cultures, and has potential to inspire more young Australians to study STEM.

Australian businesses need to play their own roles in creating an inspiring sector for STEM graduates, these young people must see a bright future for themselves in this country. Nova Systems has an important work experience program and a graduate program aiming to draw more talented young people into the company.

We have work experience programs for second, third, and fourth-year university students, particularly over summer. The participating students are chosen using a full selection process and job interview. At Nova, some 50 per cent of young people involved in our work experience program are subsequently employed by the company a year or two later when they graduate.

From 2018 to 2021, I took on an unpaid role as South Australia’s first chief entrepreneur. This was an opportunity to give back, a way to support entrepreneurs. It worries me that we lack confidence in our own strengths, we are a country founded on entrepreneurship. If my home state of SA was recognised as a country, we would be in the top 10 in the world for the number of Nobel laureates per capita.

We need to back our entrepreneurial spirit, to celebrate the successes in our STEM community and work together to utilise our clever people to build successful global businesses.