Australia has demonstrated resilience against multiple crises over the past few years, including the COVID-19 pandemic and various natural disasters. A common call to action to ‘build back better’ in the aftermath of each occasion has nurtured a culture of resilience against future national crises. Presently, the country faces pressing challenges including digital talent shortages, increasing cybersecurity risks, and growing risks of climate change-induced natural disasters.
Digital technologies can help address key national challenges and help Australia build a strong digital future. Our research has found that Australia stands to gain $56.7 billion in annual economic value in the year 2030 by adopting digital technologies to manage the three emerging societal challenges.
- By reducing labour market frictions and upskilling workers, digital technologies can facilitate higher labour productivity worth $25 billion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2030
- Cybersecurity risks can be reduced by $27.2 billion in 2030 from the deployment of AI and online cybersecurity training
- Up to $4.5 billion of property damage and 591 life years lost can be mitigated in the year 2030 by leveraging technologies to combat natural disasters induced by climate change[1]
In light of these challenges faced by Australia, Google is investing and developing initiatives to tackle future economic and social challenges and build an inclusive digital future for Australians. Google is helping Australia build resilience in four key areas: digital future, skilling and education, cybersecurity, as well as sustainability and disaster preparedness. For instance, Google’s Digital Future Initiative was launched in 2021 to lay key foundations for a robust digital economy in Australia.[2] To enhance cybersecurity, Google has rolled out initiatives such as Google Safe Browsing, which ensures that users of Google’s products are immediately notified whenever they attempt to enter dangerous sites.[3] In addition to these initiatives, our research has found that Google’s products provide $19.5 billion and $47.1 billion in annual economic value to Australian consumers and businesses respectively. It has also supported 133,300 jobs, with a further 186,500 jobs enabled across businesses’ supply chains.
Access the report here.
[1] A loss of one single life year is equivalent to an individual losing one full year of health or life lost. Technical definitions have been given in sources such as the World Health Organization (n.d.), “Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).” Available at: https://www.who.int/data/gho/indicator-metadata-registry/imr-details/158
[2] Google (2021), “How we’re helping build a strong digital future – for all Australians”. Available at: https://blog.google/intl/en-au/company-news/outreach-initiatives/digital-future-initiative/
[3] Google (2020), “Safe Browsing”. Available at: https://safebrowsing.google.com/
