The Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda was announced on 14 October 2014. It focuses on providing the right economic incentives to enable businesses, big and small, to grow. It contains immediate reforms which will boost competitiveness and a range of proposals for public consultation.

The Agenda is organised under four overarching ambitions:

• A lower cost, business friendly environment
• A more skilled labour force
• Better economic infrastructure
• Industry policy that fosters innovation and entrepreneurship.

Key initiatives under the Agenda are:

• Encouraging employee share ownership
• Reforming the vocational education and training sector
• Promoting science, technology and mathematics skills in schools
• Accepting international standards and risk assessments for certain product approvals
• Enhancing the 457 and investor visa programmes
• Establishing Industry Growth Centres

There are a range of other initiatives that the Department has some role in progressing including enhancing commercial returns from research, streamlining certification of medical devices, streamlining industrial chemicals assessment, and streamlining construction regulation.