Industries that are Booming Post-Pandemic

COVID-19 brought rapid and catastrophic impact on healthcare and the economy. It exposed weak spots within industries and the opportunities to work on them to build a more resilient economy.

The pandemic also elevated critical sectors that boomed and continue to flourish due to its significance in delivering essential items and services to people.

Let’s take a look at the latest changes and development with these booming industries:

Agriculture

Food Security 

According to ABARES (Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences), Australia enjoys continuous access to diverse and high-quality food all the time, so food security is not a threat. Food is produced domestically, and local production meets more than our needs. From the 2018-19, our food exports were worth more than 48 billion dollars. We place the 12th spot in the world per capita income, making the country as one of the most secure nations in the world.

Post-Covid-19 Changes 

In the latest report by ABARES, the pandemic drove some changes that will likely become part of the future trade landscape. These include:

• Engaging in e-commerce which requires new regulatory systems and choices to address switching between market segments
• Creating supply chains that support strong trade relationships but ensures production remains agile to rapid changes in the global trading environment
• Digitisation of trade in developing exporter capabilities as well as regulatory systems which provide necessary assurances, but support trade responsiveness
• Building an international reputation as a reliable supplier by maintaining stocks during critical times and have strategies to address variable production within the country.
• Strengthening food safety and production transparency         
• The rules-based system needs to fight protectionist developments and help unwind support measures once the crisis has passed.

National Agricultural Workforce Strategy 

The National Agricultural Workforce is created to address future workforce needs in the following sectors: agriculture, fisheries, forestry and closely allied service and supply chain. The objective is to attract, retain and upskill the domestic workforce as well as recognise the need to access migrant workers where needed.

Manufacturing

Medical Manufacturing 

Non-medical factories and engineering companies shifted to manufacturing medical equipment and accessories in response to COVID-19:

• DetMol manufactured mask and respirator. Med-Con was assisted by several Australian Defence Force (ADF) engineers to boost production of surgical masks, goggles, gowns and sanitiser. Erebus Motorsports team developed two prototypes of face masks and Perspex patient cover.
• ResMed delivered more than 3000 ventilators to the government. Grey Innovation worked with the government and industry partners to make 2000 medically certified ventilators. Triple Eight Race Engineering created a low-cost ventilator prototype.
• Four Australian manufacturers collaborated with an international medical technology company to produce emergency hospitals beds
• Ego Pharmaceuticals and Manilda Group increased production of hand sanitisers
• Clets Linen produced thousands of medical-grade surgical gowns for frontline workers

Post-Covid-19 Changes 

The government and industry body’s proposed major changes to propel the country’s manufacturing sector locally and internationally:

In a speech delivered by Industry minister Karen Andrews, she said a faster project approval and decrease company tax is the key to attaining ‘economic sovereignty” and stronger manufacturing sector. She cited the following factors that can contribute to the progress of Australia’s manufacturing industry: cheaper gas and electricity, a highly-skilled workforce, reduced red tape, greater collaboration between research and industry, support to commercialise “good ideas”, improved access to export markets and “lower taxes and a stronger economy”.

Andrews cited a $215 million manufacturing fund as a measure to “back businesses that back themselves”. She also noted that the government should focus on mining and agriculture technologies, minerals processing, food and beverage manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, medical technology, defence, energy, space, waste and recycling.

The manufacturing sector expert and former advisor to the Federal Government Roy Green suggested that the country should build niche markets and “have a strategy that creates clusters of small manufacturing industries that the country can develop”.

A report published by KPMG echoed the same recommendation, specifically producing high-tech products that the country needs to be self-sufficient like personal protective medical goods and technology. KPMG Australia Head of Geopolitics & Tax Merriden Varrall noted that the pandemic brought opportunities for the country to develop new technologies that can start new businesses, industries, and jobs, like renewable energy and lithium batteries.

Varrall continued that the country should also remember the huge economic benefits yielded by global free trade. Australia must take initiatives to invest in education and training to develop a workforce capable of meeting global trade demands.

Biotechnology 

Thriving Life Science Industry 

Australia boasts of a world-class scientific research community, bringing real-world medical and health solutions locally and globally.

The government’s Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) granted financial aid to several COVID-19 initiatives relating to medical research, pathology testing, clinical trials and clinical management of patients. The government also funded researches on child cancer and ovarian cancer research as well as mental and physical diseases as a result of the recent bushfires.

Post-Covid 19 Changes 

According to AusBiotech, the country’s leading life science industry body, Australia is well on its way to achieving the vision of a successful bioeconomy. However, it still needs further boosting in investment attraction, research funding and tax incentives.

AusBiotech proposed the following initiatives for the country’s biotechnology:

• develop domestic capabilities around additive and advanced manufacturing, to decrease dependence on imports
• Support the maturation of SMEs along the value chain
• address the failure of expansion capital attraction 
• Policy changes that attract investor confidence
• Self-sufficiency

AusBiotech urged the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission to create policies around government’s position’s in investment attraction, researching funding, taxation changes and attraction and retention of talent through migration policies.

Information Technology

A Robust Digital Infrastructure

Digital technology is one of the strong pillars that powers Australia’s economic growth. Mobile technology is projected to reach $65 billion by 2023, according to ACS’ Australia Digital Pulse 2019 report. ICT service exports grew to $3.7 billion in 2017-18.

In the face of the pandemic where almost all industries are closing, information technology proved to be a significant factor in delivering essential services and items through e-commerce (food), telehealth (healthcare) and mobile applications and platforms (video conferencing and online collaboration tools for work).

Post-Covid 19 Changes 

Work-life and travel will be permanently changed by the pandemic, according to KPMG’s report, Our New Reality: Predictions after COVID-19:

• Workforce: automation will grow, gig workers will increase as employers need to adopt an approach based on technological transformation and economic conditions, upskilling is a requirement as a response to increased digitisation
• Digital commerce: home delivery will be in-demand, cashless transactions will grow, online and remote learning will be the norm
• Business Continuity and Resilience: companies will try new approaches for service delivery, adapt work from home practices and make changes to their organisational structures and decision-making formats
• Supply Chain: boosting of local manufacturing for essential sectors, emerging technologies will be heavily used (AI, machine learning, predictive analytics, IoT and blockchain) to provide precision, enhanced visibility and transparency to supply chains and enable real-time decision-making and responsiveness, firms to analyse  current  supply chains and restructure flows and networks to build resilience and avoid over-dependency on a particular country or region
• Globalisation: domestic tourism will boom as global travel remains restricted, local businesses will flourish with established Australian companies and new startups compete to deliver new services to address new problems and opportunities.

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