Business View Oceania l February/March 2023

33 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA VOLUME 5, ISSUE 2 AIIA supports hundreds of company members, equating to over 750,000 workers in industry and vendor communities, through advocacy, community, education, networking, innovation development, and information and resource provision. The AIIA’s full and associate memberships are 87% small to medium businesses, but also include global and multinational corporations, national organisations, start-ups, digital incubators, and innovation labs, universities, TAFEs, and technology schools, and government agencies. Members are welcome from all areas of the industry; telecommunications, software, hardware, AI, data, analytics, machine learning, communications, networking information services, cloud and data centre infrastructure providers, strategy and planning professional services, cyber security, government services, HR, talent acquisition, workforce planning, and non-ICT-related organisations. We welcome Ron Gauci, CEO of AIIA, to speak on behalf of the association and its members. “We are the oldest association of our kind in Australia and the only one that still represents the entire depth and breadth of our industry. We came into being all those years ago to provide a representative organisation for the industry and solidify its role in the Australian economy, and from that point of view, our purpose hasn’t changed. Foundational members remain with us today, and our importance has never been more significant. Over the years we have successfully advocated for Australia’s National Skills program, the digitization of the Australian economy and digitalization of both private and public sectors, the building and development of the national broadband infrastructure, the commercialization of AI, major reforms to tax incentives, investments in the startup community, the development of domestic credibility, and we’ve AUSTRAL I AN INFORMAT ION INDUSTRY ASSOC I AT ION (A I I A)