Positioning the Queensland Smart State Initiative requires a close appreciation of key international perspectives that are developing in this arena. In particular, the paradigm shift that has occurred from information economy to information society to knowledge society, sends powerful signals. Moreover, there is a developing consensus on what the ingredients of a knowledge society should be. Queensland now has a clear list of policy choices to make and some housekeeping to undertake.

This paper aims at providing some understanding of emerging elements of the knowledge economy and the policy frameworks that might be developed to foster regional entities that will prosper by meeting the challenges of engagement in the global knowledge economy. Through a review of extant and emerging literatures a novel conceptual framework is developed to assist in policy evaluation and development. This framework is then applied to Queensland's Smart State suite of policies. The paper concludes that Queensland has in place many elements of the policy framework required to foster a knowledge economy. It is argued however that several tensions within the policy framework are evident, and as this is an emergent area of policy development, further in-depth evaluation of both the policy settings and the effectiveness of policy is warranted.

This paper analyses and critiques the Queensland Government's Research and Development (R&D) strategy that undergirds the smart state policy agenda. We argue that this strategy poorly addresses: R&D opportunities deriving from the applied social and creative disciplines; and the role of the social and creative disciplines in the development and commercialisation process for all research. Furthermore, we suggest this derives from a view of ‘smart’ which is biased towards science and technology.

Queensland can no longer afford to understand the social and creative disciplines as commercially irrelevant, ‘civilising’ disciplines. Instead they must be recognised as the vanguard of economic growth. In particular, the proposed R&D strategy does nothing to position Queensland for the emerging wave of innovation needed to meet demand for content creation in entertainment, education, government, and health information, in order to exploit universal networked broadband architectures currently in development.

Not only is research in the applied social and creative disciplines required for its own commercial potential, but also because such research must be hybridised with science and technology research to realise the commercial potential of the latter. Commercialisation depends on ‘whole product value propositions’ not just basic research. We suggest that there needs to be mechanisms whereby research in the social and creative disciplines can be meaningfully hybridised with basic research in technology to create new commercial opportunities for Queensland. To this end we describe two examples of research driven commercialisation outside science/technology, namely interaction design and broadcasting.

The Smart State initiative requires both improved education and training, particularly in technical fields, plus entrepreneurship to commercialise new ideas. In this study, we propose an entrepreneurial intentions model as a guide to examine the educational choices and entrepreneurial intentions of first-year University students, focusing on the effect of role models. A survey of over 1000 first-year University students revealed that the most enterprising students were choosing to study in the disciplines of information technology and business, economics and law, or selecting dual degree programs that include business. The role models most often identified for their choice of field of study were parents, followed by teachers and peers, with females identifying more role models than males. For entrepreneurship, students' role models were parents and peers, followed by famous persons and teachers. Males and females identified similar numbers of role models, but males found starting a business more desirable and more feasible, and reported higher entrepreneurial intention. The implications of these findings for Smart State policy are discussed.

The objective of this paper is to analyse key elements of the development strategy of Singapore since the mid–1960s. The paper describes the economic challenge faced by Singapore in the mid–1960s, overviews contemporary world trends in foreign direct investment, and uses competitiveness constructs developed by Michael Porter (1985) to clarify key stages in the evolution of Singapore's development strategy. The paper argues that the strategy has been successful because of unremitting top priority given to it by Singapore's political leadership and because the political leaders charged a single organisation, the Economic Development Board (EDB), with absolute authority to develop and implement the strategy. The paper concludes with implications for Queensland's Smart State initiatives.

Smart State is a Queensland Government initiative that recognises the central role of knowledge-based economic growth. In this context, the management of intellectual property (IP) within Queensland and Australian government research and development agencies has changed dramatically over recent years. Increasing expectations have been placed on utilising public sector IP to both underpin economic development and augment taxes by generating new revenues. Public sector research and development (R&D) management has come under greater scrutiny to commercialise and/or corporatise their activities. In a study of IP management issues in the Queensland Public Sector we developed a framework to facilitate a holistic audit of IP management in government agencies. In this paper we describe this framework as it pertains to one large public sector Agriculture R&D Agency, the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QDPI). The four overlapping domains of the framework are: IP Generation; IP Rights; IP Uptake; and Corporate IP Support. The audit within QDPI, conducted in 2000 near the outset of Smart State, highlighted some well developed IP management practices within QDPI's traditional areas of focus of innovation (IP Generation) and IP ownership and licensing (IP Rights). However, further management practice developments are required to improve the domains of IP Uptake and Corporate IP Support.

The challenges in the business environment are forcing Australian firms to be innovative in all their efforts to serve customers. Reflecting this need there have been several innovation policy statements both at Federal and State government level aimed at encouraging innovation in Australian industry. In particular, the innovation policy statement launched by the Queensland government in the year 2000 primarily intends building a Smart State through innovation. During the last few decades the Australian government policy on innovation has emphasized support for industry R&D. However industry stakeholders demand a more firm-focused policy of innovation. Government efforts in this direction have been hindered by a lack of a consistent body of knowledge on innovation at the firm level. In particular the Australian literature focusing on firm level antecedents of innovation is limited and fragmented. This study examines the role of learning capabilities in innovation and competitive advantage. Based on a survey of manufacturing firms in Queensland the study finds that both technological and non-technological innovations lead to competitive advantage. The findings contribute to the theory competitive advantage and firm level antecedents of innovation. Implications for firm level innovation strategies and behaviour are discussed. In addition, the findings have important implications for Queensland government's current initiatives to build a Smart State through innovation.

From a business perspective, the Dot.Com debacle of the late 1990s and early 2000s reinforced the need for good business planning and strategising, a clear requirement to be flexible and capable of almost constant change, a need to focus on creating added value and sustainable competitive advantage through the use of innovative ideas, strategies and tools – and finally, it focused attention on learning to harness the opportunities and minimise the problems associated with doing business in an electronic age. The case study outlined in this paper looks at the “What”, “Why” and “How” of doing business electronically in a traditional Queensland-based agri-industry – the Peanut Industry. The investigation found that the use of internet-enabled business practices between members of the industry value chain is increasing rapidly and is gaining respect as a means of improving efficiencies and productivity. It also found that if an entity in the value chain begins to do business electronically, other companies in that chain will need to follow suit or risk being substituted. In the longer term, it is likely that the drive for electronically enabled business practices will come from the larger food processing organisations, not only on the premise of improved internal efficiencies, but also because of increasingly tough food safety and quality assurance requirements that are prompting the need for real time quality information and decision support for product tracking back to source. Finally, conclusions are drawn for Smart State initiatives and for ‘smart’ practices in agri-business.

This paper presents a case study of the initial planning and implementation of an emerging e-model, community portals, in a regional Queensland community, focusing on the adoption of this model by the two key stakeholder groups of businesses and consumers. Our study was undertaken in two stages: an initial exploratory stage utilising depth interviews with businesses and focus groups of consumers to identify key reasons for participation, followed by a survey of all businesses and households in the region. Two key implications for successful planning and implementation of regional community portals include the need to focus on not only the establishment and start up phase of the portal but also on the longer term growth and development of the portal and secondly, the importance of considering and addressing the needs of all stakeholder groups at initial planning and implementation phases, rather than focussing on one stakeholder group. Overall the results question the viability of regional community portals if they are to be self-funding, hence necessitating a commercial focus.

Like those in other sectors, managers in community-based organisations face an uncertain and challenging future. Research and writing about the community sector (non-government, not-for-profit, or third sector) has canvassed a wide range of issues. A selective review of the recent literature reveals the breadth of research interest in the challenges facing community sector managers. While some reflection on the implications for managers of current economic and social policy contexts is crucial for this sector, research effort needs to be focused on understanding how third sector managers construe their current strategic challenges and the strategies they use to address them. A small sample of managers working in a regional area in South East Queensland was asked to identify current strategic concerns related to the future viability of their organisations. The key issues raised by managers are compared with the issues raised in the research literature. Results to date indicate that managers' concerns are reflected in the research literature, but that managers are also concerned about the current trends in social policy towards collaboration, amalgamation, and partnership. Implications of these findings for managers operating in this sector are discussed.

During the 2001 Queensland state election, the Australian Labor Party's (ALP) ‘Just Vote 1’ campaign message sought to limit preference exchange among conservative parties. This paper analyses the impact of this tactic that produced a 53.6 per cent increase in the exhausted vote over the last election. The size of the landslide to Labor made this tactic irrelevant but it affected the outcome in five seats and could have been decisive in a closer election. The concern is raised that the optional preferential system produces a less representative and less democratic outcome than the compulsory preferential system.

Rockhampton City's colourful and controversial Alderman Rex Pilbeam, qualified public accountant and secretary, longest-serving mayor (1952–82) of any Australian city, took office when Rockhampton was burdened with heavy municipal debt, poor quality roads, costly water supply, little sewerage, and few recreational facilities. However, Pilbeam's vision, single-minded devotion, unflagging energy, political skill, and managerial flair brought a dramatic turnaround in the city's fortunes. Continuing after retirement with voluntary community service until his mid-eighties, the Pilbeam legacy to Rockhampton is everywhere in evidence.