Indigenous Innovation and Enterprise

Indigenous Australians have always been innovative. Indigenous inventions and innovations are some of the earliest known to humans and include the boomerang, the woomera, waterbags, weirs and fish traps, the didgeridoo, bush medicines and thermoplastic resins.

First Nations innovative practices are thriving and driving change and building resilience for people and communities. It is also important for the Australian economy with PwC estimating that the Indigenous Business sector contributed approximately $2.2 to $6.6 billion to Australia’s GDP in 2016 (PwC, 2018). Indigenous Businesses are world class and deliver high quality services and products. Most importantly Indigenous Businesses create jobs for Indigenous people. 

Indigenous entrepreneurship and businesses are often created to meet a gap in the market and are heavily influenced by social and cultural aspects. Innovation and entrepreneurship occur through a variety of design and methods but if we use innovation as a tool for entrepreneurships that can improve standards of living or enhance a service or operation or develop new technology, then we can consider that innovation can be classified in three different forms.