NIIN's response to the Australian Government's National AI Plan
The AI Adoption Moonshot Report sets out a national pathway to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence across industry, government and the broader economy.
Developed through the National Industry Innovation Network (NIIN), the report brings together insights from across industry, research and policy to identify how Australia can move from AI ambition to implementation at scale — translating capability into productivity, competitiveness and real-world impact.
Challenge
Australia has strong research capability and growing momentum in artificial intelligence, but adoption remains uneven and fragmented across sectors.
While the opportunity is clear — from productivity gains to new industries — organisations often face barriers in skills, infrastructure, investment and implementation. Bridging the gap between innovation and widespread adoption is critical to ensuring Australia remains competitive in a rapidly evolving global landscape.
Approach
The AI Adoption Moonshot brings together industry, universities and government to define a coordinated, scalable approach to accelerating AI adoption.
The report outlines two key pillars:
- AI capability at scale — enabling access to infrastructure, platforms and tools to support innovation and deployment
- AI skills and workforce uplift — building the capabilities needed to adopt and apply AI across sectors
Grounded in real-world use cases and ecosystem engagement, the Moonshot focuses on practical pathways to move beyond pilots and into sustained, large-scale implementation.
Impact
The AI Adoption Moonshot moves beyond insight to define a coordinated national response to accelerating AI adoption at scale.
At the centre of this approach are two proposed initiatives:
- A sovereign NIIN AI Cloud, providing shared infrastructure to support research, innovation and real-world deployment
- A national AI Skills Challenge, designed to upskill 200,000 Australians in AI and digital capability by 2028
Together, these initiatives address the critical barriers to adoption — enabling access to technology, building workforce capability and supporting organisations to move from experimentation to implementation.
By aligning stakeholders across industry, government and academia, the Moonshot provides a practical pathway to strengthen Australia’s AI capability, accelerate productivity and support long-term economic growth.
Explore the report
Discover the roadmap for accelerating AI adoption across Australia.