Premier Thomas Playford’s vision lasted just a few decades. He socialised electricity and public housing, attracted business and grew the economy. It was a good program for its time which gave many people jobs after the war and attracted immigrants, but it was only ever going to be temporary because it was based on government support and incentives.

High volume manufacturing in SA came and went, as did communism overseas. After pinning our hopes on Playford’s vision, we are now dealing with the wash-up. Like the communists, we are scratching our heads wondering why it all went wrong, and hanging onto the manufacturing glory days that have now passed. It’s a dead duck.

Twenty years ago it was clear that defying world trends by making large cars without economies of scale, and for a local market, would be unsustainable. The same strategy sent the US industry broke too.

We just don’t have sustainable high volume markets here. Selling overseas is the key, but not products; our brains, imported or exported, are the key.

Aside from the short Playford era, SA has largely been an agrarian economy.

In the 1800s, we had to feed ourselves first, but agricultural innovation and scales of economy in wool and cereals then made SA wealthy and we still export most of our cereal crops.

More than 100 years ago, we pioneered the use of super-phosphate driven by our unique conditions, need and innovation. The first southern hemisphere manufacturing plant was in Adelaide. Ridley didn’t invent his “Stripper” for fun, nor did the Smiths with their “Stump Jump” plough. They were both invented by necessity, and both here.

We make great jam, beer, cheese, chocolate and wine, but so do many others. We shouldn’t pin our hopes on those. Let’s compete using our unique points of difference.

With climate change, we will soon be a world-leader in environmental desperation. Let’s encourage the world to come try their wacky ideas out in SA. Give them low regulation, free land, access to water, sewage or whatever they want.

We have the world’s best political stability, predictable taxation and a corporate governance regime with little or no corruption. With little racial tension, great healthcare, a social security safety net, a unique climate, plenty of land, clean air and seawater, we underestimate the value of our basic things that most other countries just don’t have.

SA was a leader, but now we are so risk averse that we have faltered.

We know how to do things when we have to, partly because we are so isolated. Now we really have to.

Great scientists come from overseas when they want an innovative research environment in a nice place where they can bring up their families. International students come because of our excellent education system. If SA was a really innovative place, we could get a whole lot more.

So let’s make some really brave decisions to lead the world by using our uniqueness to innovate as we used to, rather than follow.

How about making South Australia the easiest place in the world to experiment with GM agriculture, and grow new things? It’s the ideal place to try things out as a showcase for agricultural innovation. Companies don’t come here because it’s all too hard.

We lead uranium mining, so why not store the world’s nuclear waste here in an environment safer than most places? We couldn’t even organise a remote low level radioactive storage facility because of politics, and still store radioactive waste all around Adelaide.

We have some of the biggest mines in the world; coal, oil, gas and uranium. Surely that is a great foundation to lead the world in new ways of mining and novel electricity generation. Maybe we can’t do it, but someone else might like to try to, here.

We “missed the boat” in solar cells. Germany did it even though the sun doesn’t shine there, but maybe someone wants to try new solar technologies in hot sunny SA.

Wind power generation is the same. My grandfather pioneered rural wind technology but it didn’t quite take off in the 1930s. Eighty years later, we claim leadership in clean and green power generation. We are not – we just import others’ expensive technology.

Could the world’s best be trying out water technologies in a uniquely harsh, water-starved environment? Our competitive horticulture industry would love that.

The announcement that we will be allocated massive defence spending to build frigates in SA is absolutely wonderful news for us. But the benefits are not so much for the immediate manufacturing jobs, but because it can give SA innovators a focal point as a global centre for innovation in an area of high technology.

With climate change, we will soon be a world-leader in environmental desperation. Let’s encourage the world to come try their wacky ideas out in SA. Give them low regulation, free land, access to water, sewage or whatever they want.

Government could make it free to come here to innovate with a minimum of fuss or complication then get out of the way. With a stable economy, international companies could access our educated people, a unique environment and then take their technologies away to other ready markets. It’s a world economy.

Who cares if overseas companies make money from what they learned in SA? They will come back for more, and money invested here is money for us.

Recycling money within the Australian economy won’t achieve anything. We need money from outside which should be easy to get because of our uniqueness.

South Australia should be an innovative test-bed for the world rather than following it.

Thomas Playford was an innovator, as were Ridley and the Smith brothers – we can be too.

Michael Gilbert is trained as an engineer and in business. He is the Director of Adelaide Consulting.