Australia suffers from an outdated "fear of failure" mentality that impedes risk-taking and must be shaken off if the country is to create the jobs of the future, according to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's new innovation czar. 
Industry, Innovation and Science Minister Christopher Pyne will on Tuesday announce Bill Ferris, regarded of the father of Australia's venture capital industry, as the new chair of Innovation Australia. The government is preparing to release a major innovation statement - encompassing changes to tax breaks, university research funding and the role of the CSIRO - early next month.
Mr Ferris told Fairfax Media that a cultural shift is needed for Australia to compete with Silicon Valley and other areas overseas where start-up companies are booming.
"There's a fear of failure we could do with a little less of," Mr Ferris said.
"That was understandable when we were a small market removed from the rest of the world, but not with the opportunities we have today.
"In some sectors - health and medical research for example - we are regarded very highly around the world for our research. But we do not have a similar reputation for getting into the marketplace.
"If we don't do better at commercialising our ideas we will squander our intellectual property and squander the opportunities for jobs."
A more entrepreneurial "ecosystem" could encourage more Australians to return from places such as Silicon Valley to create job opportunities at home, he said. 
Mr Ferris, executive chairman of CHAMP Private Equity, founded Australia's first venture capital firm in 1970 and is a former chair of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. Innovation Australia overseas research and development tax incentives, the Cooperative Research Centre program and provides high-level advice to the government.  
Mr Pyne said Mr Ferris had been a key adviser in the development of the government's innovation agenda and this would continue.
"Mr Ferris is the right person to lead Innovation Australia in developing a more innovative culture," he said. Labor's industry spokesman Kim Carr welcomed the appointment, saying Mr Ferris was "eminently qualified" for the role.
Mr Ferris said he would push the government to look at changes to Australia's strict insolvent trading laws. Directors who continue to trade in the face of insolvency currently face potential prison terms and other tough penalties.
Leading figures in the tech-sector have called for Australia to extend the mining sector's "no liability" corporate structure to technology start-ups to encourage experimentation. 
Mr Ferris also said governments should make it easier for companies to access capital for high-risk, high-reward investments. Companies should also be given much greater access to government data to experiment with, he said, with appropriate privacy and security safeguards. 
A recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers found expanding data-driven innovation could unlock billions of dollars in value for Australian businesses.
Mr Ferris backed a push for a greater emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects in schools and for universities to work more closely with industry.
But he warned against "diluting the importance of the liberal arts" or curiosity-driven basic research.
Steve Jobs famously said his experience studying calligraphy explained the major changes to computer typefaces he went on to develop at Apple.