Research commercialisation fund welcomed

Science & Technology Australia (STA) has welcomed the $2.2bn research commercialisation fund announced by the Prime Minister earlier this week, saying it will turbo-charge the nation’s commercialisation success through venture capital, new industry scholarships and fellowships.

The organisation says it has made a powerful case for Australia to create a new Research Translation fund (pdf download) that would deliver strong ROI for the country through creation of products, jobs, startups and new income streams.

STA President Professor Mark Hutchinson is one of a new generation of ‘bench-to-boardroom’ scientists — an entrepreneur, innovator and neuroscientist at the ARC Centre for Excellence in Nanoscale Biophotonics. Under his high-energy leadership, the centre has forged more than 30 industry partnerships and seeded 15 startup and spinoff companies from its discovery research.

“This new research commercialisation fund is an exciting development. We see vast potential for it to ‘level-up’ Australian research commercialisation success, and generate stronger returns on investment for the nation from our world-leading research,” Professor Hutchinson said.

“Australia has a wealth of talent, ideas, and expertise in research breakthroughs. But for too long, the country has lacked the support and infrastructure for more of our research to bridge the ‘valley of death’ between research and commercialisation.

“This announcement has the potential to be a game-changer. Australia’s Economic Accelerator will offer seed capital for more research to be taken to proof of concept and prototype, to attract further capital from the private sector, and enable more products to be made in Australia.

“It offers the possibility of turbo-charging Australia’s research commercialisation, by giving researchers support to ‘lean in’ to business, and helping business ‘lean in’ to the brilliant talent pool of scientists in this country. This funding can kickstart the next-generation science capabilities we need to face the next set of complex challenges that will confront our country.

“Science & Technology Australia has been the leading voice for a Research Translation Fund for several years. We are excited by this development and the potential it offers Australia to create the products, services and jobs of the future,” he said.

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