6.6.3.3. Development of Intellectual Property Local universities and institutes are widely praised for their research and technology. The application of this research and development into local industry to maximise the benefits locally is not as successful as it could be. There is an opportunity to integrate universities and industry into a business cluster, serviced by universities and a CRC focusing on the New Energy Industry. This will assist in the process of technology transfer between academic and industrial parties while ensuring high quality and evolving products are produced. There is currently a lack of information on New Energy metals and related products particularly in the processing and application markets. Without sufficient information gathering and analysis, then decision making by government and industry will be sub-optimal. If greater emphasis is placed on information gathering and analysis this will enable better decision making and resource allocation. There is also an opportunity for Australian Bureau of Statistics and Geosciences Australia to prioritise exploration research, enhanced data assemblies, identified economic reserves, extraction rates, processing rates, export rates and all prices and incentives to better identify, capture and manage WA’s finite strategic resources for domestic reservation. 6.6.3.4. Increased Mining Investment WA has many local advantages including supply reliability, logistics, local skills, local research and development, access to domestic and international markets, rapid approvals, transparent regulatory system and more. However, WA does not have any existing operations that deliver key value-add to new energy components such as batteries or permanent magnets. Building on the work of this report, there is an opportunity to identify and engage with the prospective key processing companies at the most senior level possible. This engagement includes clearly summarising the offering of WA, how WA can assist the companies to grow and surpass their competitors while also mitigating supply chain, geopolitical or raw material sourcing risk. Particular attention
Infrastructure Western Australia is tasked to resolve this issue as part of a strategic infrastructure plan. While there may remain incremental capacity and efficiency improvement opportunities at Fremantle Port, the Fremantle Port effectively reached its optimal economic capacity years ago and is strategically limited by rail access and stranded by urban encroachment, both of which cannot be reversed. What remains are higher costs, diminishing returns and lower international competitiveness. Most of all, Fremantle no longer has the industrial land available to enable an initiative like Lithium Valley or any other large scale industry to develop. It is imperative that the State looks forward to the modern, fully integrated, internationally competitive new port in Kwinana. 6.6.3.2. Develop Western Australia’s soft power Soft power is the ability to influence the behaviour or thinking of others through the power of attraction and ideas. This is vital to WA’s international policy. A defining feature of soft power is that it is non-coercive; the currency of soft power is culture, political values and foreign policies. WA’s democracy, rule of law, strong economy, quality education, cutting- edge science, food and agricultural standards, multiculturalism, and environmental protections are all sources of influence. These facets underpin WA’s ability to attract capital and talent from around the world. This is especially important considering WA has the complete list of Critical Raw Materials published by the EU (apart from coking coal and natural rubber, which can be grown in WA). The State Government has the opportunity to build a greater presence in Europe, Africa and India so that WA becomes an international supplier of choice that will help both parties to diversify. There is an opportunity to build upon WA’s soft power advantages so that exporters can develop new markets or expand existing ones. The notion of Lithium Valley can become part of WA’s branding and hence part of this soft power approach.
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