Professor Ron Johnston, Executive Director of the Australian Centre for Innovation at the University of Sydney, is one of Australia's leading analysts of change. Over the past fifteen years he has mapped and publicised the forces of change emerging from new technologies, changing patterns of international competitiveness and trade, new organisational structures, and shifts in social values.
Since the early 1980s he has argued for major changes in Australian objectives and institutions, some of which have now been accepted - commitment to trade and business development with Asia, recognition of the great strength and untapped potential of our multicultural society, the need for research to be shaped by the national interest, and the central role of knowledge, learning and skill development in competitive organisations.
Current areas or particular focus are the knowledge economy, scenario planning, e-commerce, the future of manufacturing, scenario planning for risk management, the future of financial services, strategies under globalisation, the new rules of the knowledge economy and effective knowledge management.
He has pioneered analysis of the emerging knowledge economy, and the need to understand the enormous changes that it, and the information technology and communications capability, will together have on education, work and leisure.
He was educated as a scientist in Australia and the UK, and worked for many years in Europe and the US in the private sector, international organisations and universities. He returned to Australia in 1979 to a position in the Commonwealth Government, and has since pioneered new approaches to organisation and management of universities, industry and government.
He consults regularly to industrial firms across the manufacturing and service sectors, to research organisations, and to government departments. Clients have included a wide range of Commonwealth and State Government Departments, OECD, UNESCO, the EU, Asian Development Bank, government agencies in the US, UK, Sweden, Denmark, and New Zealand, companies such as Boral, CRA, BHP, MIM, AMP, Telstra, and Pacific Power, public sector CSIRO and ANSTO, and a number of universities.
Professor Johnston is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering for his "distinguished contributions to linking the roles of industry, academia and government in the development of science and technology policy to meet the changing economic situation in Australia".
His expertise has also been recognised through his appointment as Deputy Chair of the Australian Science and Technology Engineering Council (ASTEC), Deputy Chair of the International Relations Committee of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Research Director of the Australian Graduate School of Engineering Innovation, Director of the Australian Commission for the Future, Trustee of the Powerhouse Museum, member of the Australian Manufacturing Council, and Adjunct Professor at University of Technology, Sydney.
PROFESSOR JOHNSTON IS RECOGNISED IN HAVING:
¨ Provided leadership in establishing a new culture of innovation in Australia in the1990’s
¨ Championed the key role of innovation and economic competitiveness
¨ Made a major contribution to an understanding of the emerging ‘Global Knowledge Economy’
¨ Identified the new growth sectors and employment-generating opportunities in the new knowledge economy
¨ Provided leadership in Australia since 1992 in laying the foundations for effective participation in the On-Line Economy
¨ Designed a widely accepted generic strategy for the application of on-line services to regional economies
¨ Developed leading-edge ‘E-Commerce’ pilot projects
¨ Pioneered the application of ‘future analysis’ in Australia
¨ Assisted a wide range of private and public sector organisations to develop viable long-term visions and strategies
¨ Developed science and technology policy formulation and research evaluation
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