AI Human Capital Investment Index
23.07.2023 - 10:40
Mandala's new AI Human Capital Investment Index measures how companies are investing in hiring workers with AI-related skills.
Measuring investment in AI skills
Mandala used data from job ads to construct an AI Human Capital Investment Index, a measure of how intensely companies invest in hiring workers with AI-related skills.
There was a 5x investment growth in human capital investment between 2017 and 2021
Companies have been steadily increasing their investment in AI skills over time. Between 2017 and late-2021, the index in Australia grew by 5 times. This investment fell in 2022 during the global technology downturn as many companies froze hiring but it’s started to accelerate again as we’ve seen new investments in generative AI and other applications.
Human capital Investment was dominated by universities and has flowed to services
As AI technology matured and its applications proliferated, investment in AI skills is flowing across the economy. Current investment is dominated by professional and financial services companies with some contributions from mining, logistics, manufacturing, and healthcare. There is opportunity to identify sectors that would benefit from the productivity gains provided by AI technology.
Human capital investment is geographically concentrated in NSW and Victoria
Organisations in NSW and Victoria contributed 76% of Australia’s total investment in AI skills. Encouraging investment across the country will ensure that productivity gains and benefits from AI technology are more evenly spread.
Read our latest posts
Unlocking Australia's R&D potential
Our research in collaboration with Atlassian, the BCA and Cochlear sets out a path forward for Australia to realise its R&D potential. Australia’s productivity growth is at a 60-year low, driven in part by declining business investment in R&D. Our latest report highlights the critical role large businesses play in Australia’s innovation ecosystem and the urgent need for policy reform. Despite strong talent and institutions, Australia underperforms global peers due to high costs and uncompetitive incentives. The report outlines six targeted reforms - including simplified R&D tax incentives and a commercialisation premium - that could together generate $7.7 billion in annual economic output and lift productivity by 0.1%, with a fiscally neutral impact. With the Strategic Examination of R&D underway, this is a pivotal opportunity to restore Australia’s innovation edge.
28 Jul, 2025
Digital platforms and competition in Australia
Our latest research in collaboration with Apple examines proposals to introduce an ex ante competition framework for digital platforms in Australia by assessing digital platform regulations in international jurisdictions. We find that jurisdictions that have implemented ex ante regimes have experienced implementation challenges, with consequences for users and the economy. This study highlights that the need for regulatory regimes to preserve the benefits delivered by platforms while maintaining the flexibility to adapt to rapidly evolving technologies.
24 Jul, 2025
Climate Risk Index for the European Energy Sector
Mandala Partners in partnership with Zurich Resilience Solutions has produced Europe's first comprehensive Climate Risk Index for renewable energy infrastructure across five major European markets. This groundbreaking analysis reveals the scale of climate vulnerability facing Europe's clean energy transition and provides actionable insights for building resilience across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK. Nearly half of Europe's renewable generation capacity is in critical climate risk categories, threatening the foundation of the continent's energy security and economic stability.
16 Jul, 2025
Shock Resistant
Shock Resistant outlines novel insights into the ways that platform workers in the US used platform work as a strategy for mitigating the impacts of the pandemic and cost of living crisis.
2 Jul, 2025