There are many ways of understanding and describing the Queensland communities that might engage in a culture of knowledge, creativity and innovation. The following (overlapping) communities will have different stakes in the future of Queensland as a Smart State:
It would appear that the Smart State has support from some sectors of these communities. Consultations suggest that there is considerable support amongst community and business leaders and in the research and education communities for the Smart State, but that the general community understanding of and identification with the Smart State still lags somewhat.
While there has not been a large quantitative study of community attitudes to the Smart State vision, a range of sources provide qualitative data on community engagement with the culture of knowledge, creativity and innovation. During the development of the revised Smart State Strategy in 2004, Government organised community consultation events involving over 200 leaders from business, industry, research and education, together with young people. Feedback from these forums was published, along with the views of a number of working groups on key Smart State issues. The call for public submissions to the Smart State Strategy process elicited a total of 430 responses. The Queensland Government also commissioned a small focus group based study of the Smart State concept in 2004. More recently, as part of the development of this report, business and industry leaders were drawn together to explore the extent of community engagement with the Smart State vision.
The findings from these sources suggest Queenslanders are a long way from engagement with the Smart State. Some are uncomfortable with the notion of being ‘smarter’ than other states. Some don’t know what a ‘smart state’ is. Some see it as nothing more than Government rhetoric. Cynicism characterises responses. Those who do understand what the Smart State is see it as being about general economic prosperity but not their lives and families. They see the Smart State failing to grapple with the urgent environmental issues of our time. They don’t connect the Smart State with their own lives.
Three specific community concerns with the Smart State vision were consistent across the focus groups, planning forums and the recent reference group for the preparation of this report:
At the same time, Queenslanders do see the value of science and technology to the community. A 2005 household survey examining Queenslander’s perceptions of the role of science and technologyfound that:
Whilst not a survey of the Smart State concept, it does show that Queenslanders are linking science and technology to international competitiveness, the preservation of the environment, and better lives, if not to future jobs. This is important in that while the Smart State has not engaged the interests of the community, the principles of a culture of innovation fed by science and technology are becoming clearer.