Transformational change usually requires strong culture, values, and emphasis on communication and leadership and always it needs persistence.2
When Queensland Premier Peter Beattie first announced the Smart State concept in 1998, his may have been a voice in the wilderness as far as the broader Queensland community was concerned. Queensland was the Sunshine State, leading Australia in population growth, tourism and skin cancer.
Since then, there have been massive investments in the Smart State. But these investments, particularly in the physical infrastructure required to meet the challenges of a booming economy, must also be underpinned by the cultural infrastructure, the community’s beliefs and values, which can help transform the economy over time into one based on knowledge, creativity and innovation.
This report focuses on that cultural infrastructure - an infrastructure that fuses sunshine with smartness and that engages the community in the knowledge, creativity and innovation necessary for Queensland to become a Smart State - a cultural infrastructure that supports the development of Queensland as a Smart State and sustains it into the future.
Such a cultural infrastructure will be characterised by:
The result will be a culture of innovation, a culture of individualism and freedom, curiosity, readiness to accept change, support for risk-taking, equality, acceptance of diversity and openness, cooperativeness and collaboration among individuals and institutions, and respect for the value of education.