Hi-Tech South Australia

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (14:41): My question is to the Minister for Trade and Investment. Can the minister please provide an update to the council about the Department for Trade and Investment's digital engagement strategy and Hi-Tech South Australia May 2020?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade and Investment) (14:42): I thank the honourable member for her first question in this chamber. It is a pleasure to be getting the first question from her. I have known the honourable member for a number of years and know that she has a particular interest in the high-tech sector. Indeed, Mr President, it has been a busy month for the department as we saw the launch of Hi-Tech May 2020, which is the continuation of our global in-market webinar series and the launch of our e-commerce accelerator program. Hi-Tech May focused on showcasing the state's unique capabilities within the high-tech space, with particular focus on our global reputation for excellent in defence industries, cybersecurity, machine learning, robotics and connectivity.

Key stand-outs across the month included virtual events featuring notable presenters, such as MIT's Professor Sandy Pentland, Australian Institute for Machine Learning's Professor Anton van den Hengel and South Australia's Chief Scientist, Professor Caroline McMillen. These virtual events were specifically focused on how South Australia's businesses could navigate the changing face of doing business and the effects of COVID-19 on the digital economy.

We also shared numerous examples of innovation across the high-tech sector, including businesses such as Fustec, eBottli and CVX Semiconductor. Across May, 16 in-market and high-tech webinars were held, with more than 1,500 registered delegates. More than 35 new business leads have been identified from these webinars, with strong interest from Hong Kong, China and the United States. Webinars will continue to be a focus across our trade and investment strategy, with regular in-market updates to continue to provide crucial insights and access for South Australian exporters to our on-ground representatives.

Over the next two weeks we will run in-market webinars with the UK, Europe, Malaysia, India and Hong Kong, as well as specialised webinars in partnership with Wine Communicators of Australia to help our South Australian producers learn the best practice to run their virtual tasting events.

On Monday, my department launched the second of our focus months, concentrating on health and medical industries. Hi-Tech is worth more than $2.3 billion to South Australia currently, and we will focus on the state's best practice capabilities in biotech, clinical trials, medtech and digital health solutions.

As part of Hi-Tech June 2020, a number of webinars will be promoted giving investors access to some of South Australia's most prominent leaders in the space, including again Professor Caroline McMillen, South Australia's Chief Scientist, and Dr Michelle Perugini, co-founder and CEO of Presagen, one of the world's leading AI-enhanced healthcare companies.

We will also be promoting South Australia at BIO 2020, a virtual conference connecting some of the world's biggest biotech companies. At the event, we will be participating in BIO 2020's unique digital partnering program, getting one-to-one face time with interested businesses. Promoting our capabilities and research resources in the health tech sector have never been more important, as South Australia emerges as a COVID-safe state and offers investors continuity of business and an opportunity to come back stronger than before.