Only 46% of Australian businesses active in innovation

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) recently published its Innovation in Australian Business report, unveiling that less than half (46%) of businesses were innovation-active over the two-year period ending 30 June 2023. Additionally, 16% of businesses indicated that a lack of skills within the labour market was a significant barrier to innovation.

This period coincided with a surge in generative AI (gen AI) tools becoming accessible to companies, although their adoption has become more pronounced in the following months. Grant Case, Regional Vice President, APAC at Dataiku, expressed optimism about the future of innovation in Australia, attributing it to the increased democratisation of AI tools.

Case stated, "Innovation in Australia will reach unprecedented levels in the years to come, but only if business leaders can democratise AI." He emphasised that "companies who delay taking their first steps to develop gen AI capabilities out of fear that they are not ready or that they need to resolve other issues first are allowing their competitors to gain what may become an insurmountable lead."

According to Case, the democratisation process includes the introduction of new technologies, developing new skills, and designing new operating models to stay competitive. One key concern he highlighted is the disparity between the potential applications of generative AI in large enterprises and the limited number of experts capable of building such systems. "More people need to be involved in order to see success," Case said.

In related news, Gartner has positioned Dataiku in the Leaders Quadrant of the 2024 Magic Quadrant for Data Science and Machine Learning (DSML) Platforms. This recognition marks the third time Dataiku has been named a Leader, previously earning the title in 2021 and 2020.

Florian Douetteau, CEO of Dataiku, commented on this achievement: “We have always focused on building strong partnerships, including for data, machine learning, and now Generative AI, and were proud to be in the Leaders Quadrant along with others from our ecosystem.” He added, “Dataiku is focused on being one of the unique, infrastructure-independent vendors, and we believe this solidifies our position to capitalise on the Enterprise AI market opportunity.”

Dataiku's commitment to supporting enterprise-wide AI transformation is evident in its platform design, which aims to connect to existing infrastructure and integrate with the latest technologies. The platform provides a range of features catering to everyone, from data novices to domain experts, including no-code, low-code, and full-code options. Furthermore, the platform ensures processes are underpinned with the necessary governance and oversight to leverage AI at scale, enabling informed decision-making about risks and resources.

With the rise of generative AI, Dataiku has introduced the LLM Mesh. This innovative, enterprise-ready approach is designed to integrate large language models (LLMs) within the enterprise, addressing the essential need for an effective, scalable, and secure platform to build generative AI applications.

Dataiku’s platform has garnered positive feedback from users, achieving an overall rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars based on 314 reviews on Gartner Peer Insights. The high rating reflects the diverse use cases, including analytics, machine learning, and generative AI, supported by the platform.

The recent accolades from Gartner come after a three-year hiatus of the Magic Quadrant for Data Science and Machine Learning Platforms, during which the data and AI market has seen rapid evolution.