ICT innovation still missing from federal agenda

Grant used Labor's education PC initiative as an opportunity for the industry to flip its market approach from just supplying boxes to looking at ICT as an enabler. "The real opportunity is for people to use these PCs to drive productivity and innovation, which generates greater opportunity for our industry - the PC or device is just the starting point," he said. Moon added that for young people to get the full use of these PCs, they needed broadband access - and that wasn't going to roll out on November 24.

"We need great infrastructure in place, then the PCs, then we need to address the big elephant in the room - how teachers are going to incorporate PC applications into their programs, because teachers are not being prepared to teach in the digital age," she said.

The industry would benefit from consumers and the education sector regularly refreshing PC equipment. But Moon said a national e-waste policy would also need to be in place to prevent old equipment ending up as landfill.

ASI Solutions director, Maree Lowe, agreed Labor's plans to supply every child with a PC presented a huge channel opportunity, but called for more money to be spent on building the total infrastructure to cope with the rise in educational networking.

"The PCs are a great PR exercise, but you've got to have everything behind it," she said. "If you are going to have online delivery of information, then you've got to have much better broadband capabilities than we currently have."

Dimension Data communications manager, Martin Aungle, said the impact of high-speed connectivity on the health sector had been significant.

"The role broadband will have in the education space is profound," he said. According to AIIA figures, 30 per cent of local companies trading offshore were doing so online, but just nine per cent of local companies doing business domestically were online.

Data#3's Grant said the industry groups needed to work harder on shifting thinking about ICT away from cost management and reduction to enablement.

ASI's Lowe and DiData's Aungle said the government should also commit to training more Australians in IT. "The big issue we are all suffering from is the lack of people going into IT. If we are going to be a smart country, we need people trained in IT," Lowe said.