Last year’s National Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA) introduced long overdue measures to boost entrepreneurship and energise collaboration between business and universities. But it only restored $1 billion of the research and innovation spending that was cut by $3 billion under the Abbott government.

The question now is whether and to what extent the 2016 budget makes a further contribution to the NISA vision and the development of a competitive and dynamic knowledge based economy. Clearly the small and medium business tax cut through the “10 Year Enterprise Tax Plan” will stimulate activity in the mid-market. But it will just be more of the same.

Budget does little to help transition the economy