Needed change

The online marketplace initiative has been welcomed by start-ups, who often feel overlooked for big government contracts.

Chief executive of Divvy Parking Nick Austin said the marketplace was the kind of initiative the startup community needed to be put in place.

"It's traditionally been a huge task for newer companies just to prove they should be considered, which ultimately means the government settles for more archaic, traditional, and costly options," he said.

"Given the government just awarded a $400 million plus contract to a giant like IBM, it's good to see it's also opening up to smaller, innovative start-ups who have a lot to offer."

inister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Christopher Pyne said the online marketplace would be a catalogue of services, people and technology to assist government with service transformation. Andrew Meares

Video production start-up Shootsta has worked with the government before and chief executive Mike Pritchett said applying for government tenders was often more rigorous than applying for research and development grants.

"But, it's an invaluable source of business for budding companies. So anything that can streamline the process to work with the government is a great for the startup sector," he said.


"There's a groundswell of innovative companies in Australia creating new ways to solve old problems. This panel will hopefully pave the way for the government to examine these solutions and take on the best qualities of our booming startup sector."

Wider strategy

But chief executive of digital identification company TikForce, Kevin Baum, said the marketplace needed to be part of a much wider strategy.

"Too often we see platforms and other initiatives fail because the development has been overcapitalised and insufficient resources have been allocated to ensuring uptake and training," he said.

"Data should be collected arising from this initiative around the positive and negative outcomes and user experiences. In this way the investment can become a basis for continuous improvements in the future, as opposed to a one-off headline."

The online marketplace is just one of many digital initiatives underway by the government.

The federal government is undertaking a review of Australia's cyber security policies and are working on giving citizens control of their own data using blockchain methodologies, similar to a system currently in place in Estonia.