Deloitte Private has released a new report identifying 3 of reasons business innovation in Australia may be slower then in other economies. The Deloitte report indicates that innovation may be slower in Australia because of lack of corporate and government support, access to capital and a culture that is afraid of risk.

Deloitte partner Josh Tanchel, who coordinated the report named “Startups: Playing it Safe is the Biggest Risk” said that the panelists who took part in the report unanimously agreed about the potential and presence of innovation in Australia, but said Australia needed to get better at commercialization.

Pete Cooper, founder of SydStart, Australias largest tech start-up event; BlueChilli founder Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin, the executive general manager at the Commonwealth Bank Kelly Bayer Rosmarin; Lisa Messenger, publisher of renegade COLLECTIVE and Southern Cross Venture Partners founder Bill Bartee, where the five leaders from Australia’s start-up community that took part in the panel.

All of the panellists saw greater opportunity for Australian innovation to move forwards and to change the ways we do things. They weren’t saying there was a lack of business innovation in Australia, but that we needed to be better at commercialising that innovation”

Tanchel has been quoted saying “The attitude in the US is that failure is part of the entrepreneurial journey”. He said “Australia’s attitude to risk and failure is a major issue and Australia needs to catch up with this approach”.

Business innovation is limited because of the Australian culture, when you have failed you are perceived to have a black mark against your name. It tends to hold Australian entrepreneurs back because they are less likely to go for global ideas and settle on targeting a smaller niche. This is holding business innovation in Australia back because our entrepreneurs don’t want to fail.

This issue affects the entire business landscape in Australia and has a direct influence on the economy. Tanchel says corporate and governments need to step up to the issue and support business innovation in Australia.

Business Innovation in Australia doesn’t have to be all about taking risk, the government could step in and support investment in structured, de-risking programs like incubators and business hubs.

Tanchel’s report also indicates the importance for business innovation in Australia to support more women founders.