The information and communications technology sector is worth around $10.1 billion to the Western Australian economy, much more than previous official statistics had found, a state government report released this week has concluded.
The information and communications technology sector is worth around $10.1 billion to the Western Australian economy, much more than previous official statistics had found, a state government report released this week has concluded.
The report was commissioned by the WA Information and Communications Technology Industry Development Forum in partnership with the Depart-ment of Education and Training.
Forum chairman and former state government minister Mal Bryce said analysis had not previously taken account of the value of ICT use to the WA economy or the dependence of WA industry on ICT.
The report suggested that misconceptions about the ICT industry meant it “can all too easily be overlooked by policymakers”.
It looked at ICT as an ‘enabling’ technology that is used by a broad spread of industries to boost their efficiency or improve their services.
“The state’s ICT industry is tightly intertwined with other industries and forms a valuable and crucial link to many of WA’s headline industries such as mining, agriculture and numerous service industries,” the report says.
The report’s starting point was Bureau of Statistics data, which found that the ICT sector was worth around $2.9 billion, or 3.3 per cent, of the state’s gross output.
That put ICT on a par with the combined agriculture, fisheries and forestry industries.
The bureau also found there were about 1,800 specialist ICT firms in the state providing direct employment for 23,000 people, nearly as many as the accommodation and hospitality industry.
“These data, although suggesting the ICT sector is a significant element of the Western Australian economy, only tell part of the story,” the report says.
Using multiplier analysis, it estimated the ICT sector was worth between $10.1 billion and $17.6 billion to the state and indirectly created more than 107,000 jobs.
Underscoring the role of the ICT sector, a survey undertaken by The Allen Consulting Group found that 75 per cent of businesses believe computer technology is of vital importance to their operations.
The survey respondents said major constraints on using or increasing use of ICT was a shortage of appropriately skilled people and high staff training costs.
Security issues and privacy concerns were also cited as barriers to the use of ICT.
The ICT Forum is hoping the report will enable the ICT sector to carry more weight in seeking policy support from government.
Its recommendations included supporting the development of a digital content sector, where it believes WA is showing competitive advantage.
Specific measures would include establishing centres of excellence in digital content, supporting the building of ultra-broadband infra-structure and building high perfor-mance computing capacity.
