Award winning journalist and presenter Jenny Brockie led a panel of distinguished industry professionals in a discussion on the future of tech at the 2021 Vice Chancellor’s Innovation Showcase.
Rebecca Holden, HR Executive: Group Owner and HR Partner for Enterprise at Telstra; Richard White, Founder and CEO, WiseTech Global; and Steven Worrall, Managing Director, Microsoft Australia and New Zealand, joined UTS Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Attila Brungs to provide insight into how the tech industry and academia can work together to build a better tech future in Australia.
Delivering a Better Tech Future
When it comes to delivering a better tech future, Rebecca Holden believes it is all about engaging and educating young people:
‘How we build a successful tech future is by giving our young people as much opportunity as possible to participate,’ she said, ‘partnerships give students an opportunity to understand what life is like in companies and where they could apply their technical skills. I love the opportunity it gives students to collaborate and envision what a job could be like — to help people find their pathway.’
Richard White thinks that engagement can start in early childhood:
‘Young children have a fundamental ability to use technology fluently and fluidly—they have rapid learning capabilities,’ he said, ‘we need to inspire them into technical careers – drive that vision.’
He believes early engagement can build a strong, home-grown tech future for Australia and he is adamant that retaining women in tech is a key part of this vision. He believes engaging girls with the subject in childhood and ensuring they don’t lose interest when they reach their high school years will lead to more women having successful tech careers. And he is eager to dispel misconceptions around the stability of careers in technology:
‘Tech is one of the most stable, valuable and meaningful careers in terms of the future of Australia, he said.
Partnering for innovation
Rebecca Holden considers that partnerships between universities and industry benefit both parties equally – ‘We benefit from the deep expertise and UTS benefit from us bringing that industry lens into the process that we leverage as a company.’
According to Steven Worrall, Managing Director, Microsoft Australia and New Zealand:
‘The reality is that partnerships are essential because they bring our resources together so we can learn from each other. It’s not easy to simply decide you want to create a new pathway,’ he said, ‘there is innovation and experimentation required and I think that’s one of things UTS brings to the table… it’s through trial and error and iteration that you end up getting a better result…ultimately none of us are as strong as all of us together.’
Tech is one of the most stable, valuable and meaningful careers in terms of the future of Australia.
Focusing on the future
Steven Worrall believes that the tech industry should be working to solve the great challenges the world is facing at the moment — the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. The solutions, he believes, will be found at the intersection between science and technology.
‘It’s not about technology itself, it’s about the desire to get involved in solving the biggest problems that we have.’
And he believes we are all responsible for ensuring that technology is used with integrity and morality:
‘It’s the key responsibility that any civil society assumes,’ he said, ‘all around us there are examples of how technology has unintended consequences —any tool can be used for good or bad…we all have a role to play, and that means how we elect our government, it includes the role we play in our community, and how we use our voice at work. We all have to think about how we want our society to operate in the future.’
As a leading university of technology, UTS will continue to focus on working toward a better tech future through inspired teaching, cutting-edge research, and partnerships with industry, the professions and the community.