Three members have joined the board of Innovation Australia, the independent statutory body that provides the government with advice on its innovation programmes.
The three appointees, Nicholas Gruen, Richard Shaddick and Innes Willox, were announced on 13 October.
Gruen is an economist, entrepreneur and commentator who is involved in public policy issues, particularly industry and innovation. He is CEO of Lateral Economics, a public policy consultancy. He is also chairman of the Australian Centre for Social Innovation.
Shaddick was a member of the Australian Taxation Office’s Public Rulings Panel until 2010. He specialises in international taxation, dealing with outbound and inbound investment, and is a long-standing speaker and author for the Taxation Institute of Australia. He was previously a lecturer at the University of Melbourne Law School.
Shaddick will chair the R&D incentives committee, which has been renamed from the tax concession committee to reflect its role in administering the R&D Tax Incentive.
Willox is director of the Australian Industry Group, with national responsibility for government relations, trade and defence policy. He is a member of the Defence Industry Innovation Board and the Defence Industry Skilling Taskforce.
According to Kim Carr, the innovation minister, and Innovation Australia chairman David Miles, the appointments will add to the board’s depth of professional business and technical expertise across a broad section of industries, technologies and capital markets.
“Australia’s ability to commercialise its research and development, innovate and ensure global competitiveness is in good hands with this board,” said Carr.