Wine industry innovation: how does Australia fare?

One of the best publications I’ve seen in a while is Fast Thinking, which appears to have emerged recently in the wake of the Rudd Government’s innovation review this year.

I read the Autumn 2008 issue which covers a wide variety of topics from environmental practices and water conservation, to what makes a good CEO.

The most interesting article in this issue for me was “Dumbest Country in the Southern Hemisphere?”, which examined Australia’s history and notoriety as a creative country and whether innovation is really a priority in the current era.

The article, by Lia Timson, points out that Australians are very good at naming some of our national inventions (the wine cask being one), but that our smallness of mentality and tendency to comparison hold us back.

I would like to think that Australia is “nimble, and can implement innovation faster”, as Tim Pethinck from WhatIf! says. But he also says we have a limited knowledge of the local consumer and tend to follow overseas trends. Not long after the article was written, he experienced the closure of the Australian office of WhatIf!, saying that innovation goes unappreciated, and under-invested, in Australia.

In a report from marketing consultancy The Leading Edge, it was revealed that Australian companies were good at following new trends, and launching new products, but that a change in consumer behaviour was not forthcoming. In addition the article reveals that Australians are confident innovators, but not in Australia (this from Richard Webb, founder of Blue Freeway).

I have personally seen, mostly in workplace situations, Australia’s lack of interest or confidence in creativity and risk taking. I have also seen a lack of confidence in local talent. I doubt whether this is a peculiar Australian trait, but when you can be exactly the opposite, why not?

While all this may not have much to do with the wine industry, I think Australia needs another reputation than great wine at cheap prices. And seeing as I’m definitely not an expert, it probably needs to be made clear what innovation is, how to encourage it, and then how to use it. There’s no point sitting around “innovating” (next biggest excuse for procrastination?) if there fruits of this can’t be utilised in some way.

I think Australia’s wine industry does have a reputation for innovation – or at least a freshness of approach. Which is more than I can say for where I work now – we run an entire wine investment fund off an excel document; the users are faulty, not the program itself, but with some software we could find (or develop!) the level of innovation, and therefore resources saved, would be highly beneficial.