In July 2002 the Barton Group Export Strategy Development Task Force was formed, to assist the Australian environment industry to access the sizeable and fast growing global market for environmental goods and services.

Firms who wish to join the Export Network
are asked to complete the exporters survey which is available at http://www.industry.gov.au/eiaa/ - follow the link under ‘Exporting the Environment Industry'. Those surveyed indicate the form takes only 5 to 10 minutes to complete.

REPORT ON SUCCESSFUL TRADE MISSION TO MALAYSIA AND SINGAPORE,
24 - 26 AUGUST 2005
The Barton Group Export Task Force, Austrade and DITR's environment industry trade mission to Malaysia and Singapore, led by Mr Tim Waldron, CEO of Wide Bay Water Corporation, was a great success in promoting Australia's expertise and innovation in wide ranging environmental technologies, services and equipment. Anticipated short term business of $16.5m and a further $200m in exports is expected to be generated over the next 5 years from opportunities and new business relationships in Malaysia alone. The mission program included meetings with Malaysian government officials and industry representatives, group business matching opportunities, one-on-one business matching meetings on a standard fee-for-service basis and a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, the Hon Mark Vaile MP. For a brief report on this mission by Austrade's Bob Carmichael, with photos and details of participating firms, click here .

Exporter Collaboration and Mentoring Forums, Perth and Adelaide 2005
In 2005 the Export Task Force held two forums for exporters, one in Adelaide and another Perth, entitled: Environment Industry Collaboration and Mentoring to Access Market Opportunities. For a report on the Adelaide event, please click here, and for a report on the Perth event, click here. Each report includes copies of presentations and a list of attendees.

Task Force Membership
The Task Force is chaired by Mr Roger Olds, MD of Coffey International. The membership represents a broad range of firms and other relevant stakeholders. Click here for a list of members and the companies/organisations they represent.

Export Task Force Vision
To encapsulate its primary objectives, the Export Task Force adopted the following vision:

To establish and maintain a network of profitable firms working together with government and other stakeholders to increase Australian environment industry exports.

The key focus of the task force is to act as a facilitator for companies, particularly SME's, who want to export by:

			Networking with other exporters for general support or specific bids
			Helping exporters know about and access Government support systems

Rationale

			The Environment Industry Action Agenda (EIAA) vision sets a target for the environment industry to have "… $40 billion in annual sales by 2011". To achieve this target requires the industry's domestic sales to grow at around 10% pa and exports are assumed to grow at twice that rate.
			Recommendation 15 of the EIAA requests industry and government to work together to develop and implement an export strategy for the environment industry. It suggests that industry and government jointly promote industry success stories in key export markets and ensure that trade missions and other forms of export promotion are co-ordinated with industry needs and priorities.

Action Plan

The Export Task Force has developed Phase 1 of an Action Plan to achieve its vision.
Action Plan Phase 1: Identifying the Market Opportunities and Identifying Our Industry Players

Objective		Key responsibility and actions taken
1. Understand the international marketplace for our environmental goods and services and feed this information to the taskforce and industry at large. Provide rankings on best markets for different products supplied by our industry .		1. Austrade 3. Major Exporters Information on some major export markets provided to Network. Export Matrix of opportunities against environment industry capabilities developed by Austrade and the Task Force.
2. Establish and promote the capability of our industry.		1. Survey of industry – DITR conducted survey, ongoing 3. State Government Agencies 4. Industry Associations 5. Networks/Clusters Invest Australia Brochure on Australian Environmental Industries released.
3. Networking and Communications. Bring companies together as a united industry which sees the benefits of being linked to the Task Force.		1. Task force database and network (DITR) - established and maintained 3. Website (Barton Group) – updates now provided by Australian Technology Solutions 4. Newsletter/Flyer (DITR)

Recent achievements
Whole of Government Support received from all State Governments to pursue and support the task force objectives, particularly through their State development departments sharing of ideas and prospects.

Survey of Environment Industry Exporters The Task Force conducted a brief survey of the environment industry to identify firms that are interested in exporting, and industry priorities such as products and markets, and type of assistance required. Responses are recorded on a central register of current and potential exporters. A summary of aggregated responses to the survey questions is available to Network members.

Export Network Established Exporters who completed the survey form are entitled to become members of the EIAA Export Network, free of charge. The benefits of Network membership include access to information on overseas markets and relevant events, links to other Network members and their products/services and priority export markets, and assistance with co-ordinated inbound and outbound export missions to win identified export market priorities.

Export Matrix. In 2004, a matrix of market opportunities in 12 overseas markets against 10 environment industry sectors in which Australia has recognised capability was developed by Austrade with input from the Export Task Force. The matrix, which identifies products that are considered high, medium and low priorities in each market, is available to all Export Network members, together with other in-market intelligence, events and success stories.

Trade Mission to AchemAsia, Beijing, April 2004. The Task Force obtained a grant from the Innovation Access Program to facilitate Export Network members' participation in a successful Australian environment industry trade mission to the AchemAsia Trade Fair in Beijing in April 2004. Results of the Mission are available online at: http://www.technologypromotions.com.au/achemasia2004/index.htm

Updated Environment Industry Capability Directory. The Task Force obtained a grant from the Innovation Access Program for Environment Business Australia (EBA)and WME magazine to update and expand EBA's Capability Directory. The grant funds enabled a free listing for small firms and distribution of the Directory at Enviro 2004 and other international trade shows. The Directory is available online at: http://www.aeid.com.au

Invest Australia Brochure. In 2004, Invest Australia released a brochure entitled Australian Environmental Industries - the right climate for environment investment, for distribution throughout its overseas network. The publication fulfils an Export Task force objective, to provide some examples of Australian environment industry capability and successful Australian joint ventures that developed world class solutions, across different subsectors, which can be used in promoting Australian expertise and investment attractiveness in a targeted manner. The brochure is available online at: http://investaustralia.hyperlink.net.au/media/IS_SE_EN_EnvironmentalIndustries.pdf

PREVIOUS EVENTS

Australian Water Industry Selling Mission , Vietnam: Hanoi: 31 May, Ho Chi Minh City: 2 June. This event incorporated a seminar about Australian capability, a networking event and the opportunity to exhibit. For information about this event and forthcoming events of a similar nature contact Luke Deacon, Export Adviser - Infrastructure and Major Projects, Austrade Sydney. Tel: +61 2 9390-2103

Australian Environmental Technology and Services Mission to Aichi, Japan, 18 - 21 July 2005. This Mission was conducted to coincide with the World Expo in Japan in July 2005. Led by Ian Kiernan AO, Chairman, Clean Up Australia and Clean Up The World, the Mission included business matching services and a high-profile, industry related activities event. For more information about the mission and event: click here