Smart adj
1. showing intelligence and mental alertness
2. shrewd and calculating in business and other dealings
3. amusingly clever and possessing a quick wit
4. disrespectful or impertinent
5. with a neat and well-cared-for appearance
6. fashionable and stylish
7. vigorous and brisk
8. causing a sharp stinging sensation
9. used to describe a missile or weapon that is guided to its target by laser or radio beams
10. with a built-in microprocessor.
The Queensland Government has a vision for Queensland to become a Smart State‘…a State where knowledge, creativity and innovation drive economic growth to improve prosperity and quality of life for all Queenslanders’. On the other hand, many Queenslanders, perhaps even the majority, appear to view the Smart State as self-congratulatory political rhetoric. It is time to engage the community.
This report assumes that Government has a legitimate and powerful role to play as a promoter of cultural change.1 Queensland will not become a smart state without the leadership of both the government and the community. At the same time, attitudinal change of the kind that would lead many Queenslanders to alter their perceptions of the Smart State to replace sunshine with smartness, or even to add smartness to their sunshine – to engage in education, innovation and creativity – will not be achieved easily.
This report takes a broad view of the Smart State, starting with the Queensland Government’s vision for a knowledge economy and continuing this to its expression in a community steeped in knowledge, creativity and innovation. It also takes a broad view of community engagement, both in terms of the diverse range of communities that might engage with knowledge, creativity and innovation and the forms engagement might take. This report is mindful of the State Government’s wider policy agenda to engage with Queensland communities long disenfranchised from decision-making about their lives.
This kind of Smart State – a broad culture of knowledge, creativity and innovation – and this kind of engagement – where communities identify and act upon their own notions of smartness – do not make for easy policy solutions. A marketing approach may form part of a total strategy, but mass marketing serves to inform only, not to engage in a dialogue. Marketing – whether it be publicity, advertising or promotions – may aid understanding and clarify misunderstanding. It may link initiatives of the Government’s Smart State vision to people’s lives. But it will not engage people in the Smart State.
This report identifies models of innovation diffusion which indicate the way in which a culture of innovation might find its way throughout the Queensland community. The State Government’s framework for community engagement is highlighted, along with tools available to seek community engagement at the deeper level needed to achieve cultural change. Other models of community segmentation and understanding are also presented. While cultural change will not happen quickly, these models identify potential ways of making change work more effectively.
Ultimately, this report gives the Queensland Government an opportunity to think strategically about developing the cultural infrastructure that underpins a Smart State in which knowledge, creativity and innovation are the most valued qualities.