Dec 15 (NBD) -- "Australia is well-placed to partner with Chengdu, and southwest China more broadly, to fully seize opportunities under RCEP, particularly in food & beverage, health, professional services, logistics and education, where existing connections are strong, " said Nicole Cooper, Deputy consul-general of Australian Consulate-General in Chengdu when receiving the exclusive interview of National Business Daily on World Cities Culture Forum held 14^th Dec.

"Australia and China's complementary economies and shared interest in developing our respective digital creative industries create opportunities for collaboration, "she pointed out.

Photo/Provided by the organizer

Digital economy, an overriding trend

NBD: The vitality and innovation in the digital economy have become crucial to a city's transformation and competitiveness. Could you please share your observation on the trends or progress of Chengdu's digital economy in recent years, especially in terms of the digital cultural and creative industries?

Nicole Cooper: China has gone from lagging behind on digital development, to producing some of the world's most integrated digital platforms. China has clearly embraced digital life because e-commerce, digital payment and social media apps are all a critical part of my daily life here in Chengdu. Many people leave home with nothing more than a mobile phone, because almost all aspects of life administration are supported by online platforms – from making payments in a location from small mobile food carts to high-end shopping precincts, managing your social life and keeping connected with friends and family, business communications, paying for shared meals, shopping, booking flights and trains, taking taxis and much more.

In addition to life administration, creative industries are increasingly hosted on and supported by digital platforms. It is evident China is investing in digital creative industries, excitingly this is happening right here in Sichuan. I recently attended the Second Digital Panda Festival in Aba prefecture where participants modelled a range of technologies that allow them to integrate the creative arts with the digital world. Chengdu is already integrating digital creativity with public infrastructure, which makes for a striking cityscape after dark, with the many buildings lit up with digital imagery. 

NBD: In fact, we have observed that the Australian government has been accelerating the transformation of the digital economy in recent years. Please introduce about Australia's unique advantages in this sector. Could you please name a few companies in the SaaS field?

Nicole Cooper: Australia's population is small, but we are a nation of innovators. Australia's National Science Agency, CSIRO's invention of Wireless LAN technology is a great example of Australian ingenuity! It's true that Australia has been accelerating the digital economy – it's evident in our electronic payment innovations which include contactless e-payment, and the population's embrace of device-based payment options. As a nation, we were forced to consider new ways of working together, while geographically dispersed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. Most Australians quickly became familiar with using digital platforms to find new ways to conduct business, socialize and entertain during long periods of isolation. 

Given this experience, I appreciate your question on SaaS. Australia's SaaS market value will be worth an estimated A$57 billion by 2030, climbing by A$54 billion since 2018. An example of SaaS permeating the daily lives of Australians is media streaming services. The Australian service Stan remains very popular among the population, despite a growing number of similar services in an increasingly crowded market. We as a nation are turning more to the cloud-storage option and relying on SaaS offerings to keep our lives, and businesses agile; Remote software that integrates processes and lowers costs. Australian businesses are transitioning from traditional in-house servers to scalable cloud-based business intelligence (BI) systems that efficiently combine infrastructure and applications.

Great potential for bilateral cooperation

NBD：After RCEP coming into force, Australia is improving and expanding market access, promoting cross-border investment and regional value chains, and strengthening cross-border e-commerce. At present, what are the key areas for Australia-Chengdu cooperation? What are potential areas you think the two sides could collaborate and complement each other?

Nicole Cooper: I was pleased to present at CCPIT's RCEP International Forum last week in Chengdu.  RCEP is an important development toward growing regional trade. Australia, as an open and free market economy, is eager to fully operationalize the Agreement and realize its full benefits. We anticipate RCEP will deliver a range of improvements over our existing FTAs with RCEP partners, especially in services, investment, and digital trade. As we all work to recover from the pandemic, one thing is clear – recovery will be harder, longer, and weaker if we do not work constructively together in areas of shared interest. Australia is well-placed to partner with Chengdu, and southwest China more broadly, to fully seize opportunities under RCEP, particularly in food & beverage, health, professional services, logistics and education, where existing connections are strong.

NBD: More specifically, where does collaboration opportunity lie in the digital cultural and creative industries (ie., digital gaming, e-sports and screen production)? 

Nicole Cooper: Australia and China's complementary economies and shared interest in developing our respective digital creative industries create opportunities for collaboration. The gaming industry is a great example; Australia is a burgeoning center for the global games-development industry. Australian-made games are grabbing international headlines, winning awards, and rocketing to the top of global sales charts. Australia is home to cutting-edge games studios led by bright, dynamic and multicultural entrepreneurs. Our digital games industry supports more than 400 businesses with over 200,000 software developers choosing to call Australia home – 2,000 of which are employed solely in our innovative games industry. The industry's growth is further fueled by the 3,000 game-development and 100,000 IT and creative arts graduates each year from our renowned education institutions. The Australian Government is backing the industry over the long term. The upcoming Digital Games Tax Offset will provide a 30% refundable tax offset for Australia-based companies to develop games. This empowers global creatives to scale Australia's digital industry and export our games to the world.

Email: tanyuhan@nbd.com.cn