In his first major economic statement as Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull has announced a series of measures to foster greater innovation, across 11 different government portfolios.

The government unveiled the plans in the areas of tax, research infrastructure, and education in the STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and maths – in a bid to “kickstart an innovation culture”.

The plans will cost more than $1 billion, seen as a break with the austere Tony Abbott era, although it does have a natty slogan -“Welcome to the ideas boom”.

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It was detailed by Mr Turnbull and Innovation and Science Minister Christopher Pyne at the CSIRO in Canberra on Monday afternoon.

“What is going to drive Australian prosperity in the years ahead? How does our economy transition?” Mr Turnbull said at the launch.

“Our innovation agenda is going to help create the modern, dynamic 21st Century economy Australia needs.

“Unlike a mining boom, it is a boom that can continue forever, it is limited only by our imagination, and I know that Australians believe in themselves, I know that we are a creative and imaginative nation.”

Among the package’s major initiatives are:

– $106 million in tax incentives for “angel” investors, who provide seed funding in the early years of a venture’s creation
– $75m to the CSIRO’s data research arm Data 61
– $30m for a Cyber Security Growth Centre to create business opportunities in cyber security, which the Government spends $5b on each year
– $15m over four years towards a $200m CSRO Innovation Fund
– $10m over four years towards a $250m Biomedical Translation Fund, in partnership with the private sector

The announcement also included a scheme to make it easier to grant visas to “the world’s most talented” entrepreneurs and funding certainty for “world class research”.

Click on the owl to read through the series of new measures.  

Since taking over as Prime Minister, Mr Turnbull has vowed to put innovation at the heart of his government’s agenda, especially in the areas of climate change and increasing productivity and economic growth.

On Friday, Labor had sought to get on the front foot, announcing its own suite of 20 measures to encourage innovation, especially in regional Australia.

“We’ll wait with bated breath, like many people are, to see if the innovation statement lives up to all the hype,” said Ed Husic, Labor’s spokesman on digital innovation and start-ups.

He pointed out that the CSIRO, the location for today’s announcement, has had to cut 140 jobs as a result of budget cuts by the Coalition Government.

Millions of dollars have also been cut from other national science and research institutions, including Cooperative Research Centres, the Research Training Scheme, Geoscience Australia and the Bureau of Meteorology.

– with ABC and AAP