Sydney, 23 September 2026 — A major new report on artificial intelligence and productivity was formally launched at Google's Sydney offices on Tuesday, September 22nd. Senator the Hon. Tim Ayres, Minister for Industry and Innovation, launched Turning AI into Productivity, (co-authored by Emeritus Professor Roy Green, Chairman of ARM Hub, and Dr John H. Howard), in a joint initiative between the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the Google Foundation.

Minister Ayres told the launch that Australia's advantage will not come from using AI the most, but from building the skills, institutions and industrial capability to put it to work: "The question facing Australia is not whether artificial intelligence will impact our economy, but how we position Australia and Australians to shape this critical technology," he said.

He pointed to the National Resilience and Science Council as the structure needed to turn the report's findings into action, adding: "This report makes a deeply important contribution to that effort. It locates the artificial intelligence questions in a blue-collar and industrial context, I think, really, for the first time in a substantial way."

The report draws on visits to 12 innovation ecosystems across Europe and case studies of 110 ecosystems in 35 countries. It finds that value from AI comes not from bigger models, but from "complements": skilled workers, trusted data, management capability and local institutions that help firms apply AI to real production problems.

It sets out seven recommendations, including reserving compute for domestic use, rebuilding management capability and treating industrial AI as central to national industrial strategy.

Roy Green said Australia's task now is to translate that research into action on factory floors.

"Turning AI into productivity depends on adoption and use and competence . . . comes back to how we use and how the inference that gets made available is used, as well as having large data centres and training centres," he said, describing the "connective tissue" institutes overseas that carry AI from research into ordinary firms as the model ARM Hub is built to deliver for Australia.

Australia holds genuine strengths in physical AI, data and industrial know-how. The report gives government, universities and organisations such as ARM Hub a shared blueprint to turn that strength into skilled jobs, stronger supply chains and lasting prosperity, provided the country chooses to build rather than simply adopt what others create.