Productivity Commission calls for refocusing of R&D support

The Productivity Commission has found that public support for science and innovation in Australia needs to be refocused to maintain a better balance between pure basic research and commercial product development. It has recommended that the objectives of Cooperative Research Centres should be re-aligned to the broad attainment of economic, social and environmental goals, not just commercial ones.

In its draft report, Public Support for Science and Innovation the Commission found no reason to make large changes to the overall level of public spending on science and innovation, but identified a need for incremental shifts in how it is spent.

Releasing the draft report, Commissioner Mike Woods said "There has been a trend to focus more on commercialisation, but in most cases the private sector is best placed to fund the R&D that leads to marketable goods and services, and to reap the rewards from their sale. Little extra is gained from the taxpayer subsidy of that process."

The study found that the CRC program is suited only to longer term collaborations with big research users and suggested that arrangements could be designed to encourage more 'nimble' options for business collaboration with public sector research agencies and universities. The report suggested that the original objectives of the program — the translation of research outputs into economic, social and environmental benefits — should be reinstated, and that the share of public funding should be aligned to the level of social benefits provided by each CRC, thereby reducing some of the large rates of subsidy to business collaborators.

The report also calls for an improvement in the effectiveness of the R&D Tax Concession by orienting the program more towards its 175 per cent incremental component; relaxing the beneficial ownership requirement and the expenditure and turnover thresholds for the tax offset for the incremental scheme alone; changing the base on which the incremental subsidy is paid to a firm’s ratio of R&D to sales at a given, fixed date; and allowing access to the incremental scheme to start-up firms.

The report found that while strong public support of Rural R&D Corporations with a public good orientation is justified, level of government subsidies for some more narrow industry-focused arrangements may crowd out private activity and produce only weak external benefits outside the supported rural industry. However, it recommended that no changes should be made while persistent drought conditions remain.

The Commission also warned of 'significant costs' from implementing the Research Quality Framework and suggested that its adoption should be delayed while further investigation is undertaken of:

• indicators of the quality and impact of research dependent on block funding;
• whether current procedures within institutions are sufficiently rigorous to promote the quality and impact of block funded research;
• what benefits, if any, fine tuning of existing block-funding formulae could bring; and
• the merits of externally applied, risk-minimisation approaches to enhancing the quality and impact of block-funded research applied in conjunction with formula-based approaches to funding.

Amongst the study's other draft findings were:

• Several impediments to innovation should be addressed: major publicly funded research infrastructure should be priced to maximize utilisation, while avoiding congestion; there should be national consistency in the application of privacy regulation and in ethical review of multi-centre research; published papers and data from ARC and NHMRC-funded projects should be freely and publicly available; and there should be greater flexibility in pay structures for teachers to help address science and maths teacher shortages.

• Decision making within universities in relation to the transfer, diffusion and utilisation of research outputs should not focus unduly on an objective of commercialisation to the detriment of maximising the social return from the public’s investment.

• the current real level of public appropriation funding for CSIRO should not be reduced. Aspects of its approach to priority setting and performance management may have wider applicability to other parts of Australia’s innovation system.

• The effectiveness of DSTO research is heavily dependent on the effectiveness of the procurement practices and the research directions set by the Australian Defence Organisation.

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DSTO in US deal on hypersonic flight research

The Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) has signed an agreement with the United States Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to jointly undertake a US$54 million project to advance research into hypersonic flight.

The eight-year Hypersonic International Flight Experimentation (HIFiRE) project will be led by DSTO and will involve researchers from the University of Queensland and the Australian Defence Force Academy at the University of New South Wales.

The US participation will be led by the US Air Force Research Laboratory, with additional contributions from NASA, US industry and US universities.

The University of Queensland's Centre for Hypersonics was the first in the world to successfully test hypersonic flight, launching its Scramjet in 2002 under the HyShot Flight Program.

In April this year, an $8.5 million partnership in scramjet development was announced between the University of Queensland, the Queensland Government and Boeing to build advanced scramjet prototypes and undertake prolonged flight tests at speeds of more than Mach 8, or 8000km/hour. The Queensland Government contributed $2 million towards the project under its National and International Research Alliances grants, and Boeing committed $2.03 million over three years. The Alliance also includes UQ contributions of $970,000 and an Australian Research Council Discovery grant of almost $1.4 million.

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Geoscience Australia to get ion microprobe facility

Geoscience Australia has signed a 15-year agreement to share the use of a new high-resolution ion microprobe for dating rocks developed by Australian Scientific Instruments (ASI).

Under the agreement, Geoscience Australia will have use of the new ion microprobe, while the ASI tests new hardware and software and conducts customer demonstrations. The equipment is being built at ASI's Fyshwick laboratory in the Canberra and will be installed at Geoscience Australia next year.

Geoscience Australia currently obtains all of its geochronology data through ion microprobe instruments located in external laboratories. The new, in-house facility will allow greater control over the quantity of, and timing for, collecting age data for the organisation as well as delivering information to its partners in the State and Territory geological surveys.

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Council of Deans of Science to study future of tertiary science education

The Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education has awarded the Council of Deans of Science a $250,000 grant to undertake a study of how university science education should evolve to provide science graduates suited to the workforce, and to assess the understanding of employers and the wider community of the skills that students gain from university degrees in science and technology.

The study will be undertaken by Professor Sue Thomas, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice President of the Division of Health, Design and Science at the University of Canberra, and Professor John Rice, Dean of Science at the University of Technology, Sydney and recently elected Chair of the Council of Deans of Science.

The Council has warned that universities and governments need to take urgent action against the exodus of well-qualified science teachers from the workforce in Australia as they reach retirement age.

Professor Rice said there was no evidence of any serious workplace planning by state and territory education departments to ensure that well-trained science and mathematics teachers were available.

He said the Council had sought a meeting with Federal Minister for Education, Julie Bishop, to present a new report on the preparation of mathematics teachers in Australia. The report found found that 8% of school mathematics teachers studied no mathematics at university. He said the Council would be asking the Minister to back the development of a national science and mathematics teacher workforce plan.

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Asia-Pacific Clean Development and Climate Partnership funding announced

Funding of $60 million has been awarded to 42 collaborative projects as part of the Asia-Pacific Clean Development and Climate Partnership (AP6).

The funding is the first installment of Australia's pledged $100 million, of which 25% is to be allocated to renewable projects. The inaugural meeting of the Partnership, which involves Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and the United States was held in Sydney in January this year. Since then the governments, industry and research organisations from the Partnership have worked collaboratively to develop Action Plans and projects.

Eight task forces developed action plans and over 90 project proposals were developed for their areas.

The task forces and total funding allocated are:

• Cleaner Fossil Energy Task Force (19.32 million)
• Renewable Energy And Distributed Generation Task Force ($17.56 million)
• Power Generation & Transmission Task Force ($1.15 million)
• Aluminium Task Force ($2.47 million)
• Building And Appliances Task Force ($5.9 million)
• Cement Task Force ($1.55 million)
• Coal Mining Task Force ($10.9 million)
• Steel Task Force (0.1 million).

Some of the projects to receive grants include:

• $8 million to carry out testing of the CSIRO’s mobile Post Combustion Capture plant under various conditions to develop the technology for commercial application;
• $5 million under the Renewable Generation and Distributed Energy Task Force to support the pilot of solar concentrator photovoltaic technology and facilitate planning and approval processes for deployment of the power stations across Partnership countries, in particular China and the United States;
• $5 million for C02 enhanced coal bed methane;
• $3 million for C02 Capture and Storage Program;
• $1 million for High Silica Bauxite processing under the Aluminium Task Force;
• $2 million to support an Integrated Coal Production and Methane Extraction project;
• $1.15 million to establish a Cement Centre of Excellence; and
• $2 million to align national stand-by power approaches across participating countries.

Further information is available at http://www.dfat.gov.au/environment/climate/ap6/ and http://www.asiapacificpartnership.org/

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CSIRO signs resource mapping satellite program research agreement with China

CSIRO and the Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping (CASM) have signed a research agreement to collaborate on China’s resource mapping satellite program.

The advanced satellite program will gather land and marine observation data which will be used for monitoring climate change impacts in both countries. The program will also advance China’s progress in space technology.

Dr Murray Cameron from CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences said that China and Australia have many environmental problems in common, such as highly variable rainfall.

“One of the projects we’ll be working on over the next five years is putting our heads and our data together to work out in detail what’s happening with climate change and how best to deal with it.”

Dr Cameron signed the agreement of behalf of CSIRO. Mr Weisen Lu, Vice-Director General of the Chinese State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, will witness the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding.

Professor Jixian Zhang, President of CASM, has welcomed the agreement and said that Australia and China had a lot to offer each other with respect to satellite-based resource mapping.

“We will be developing sophisticated maths-based information products from the satellite data that will help both countries better manage their environments on the ground,” he said.

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Tropical research projects launched

The Tropical Landscapes Joint Venture and the Australian Tropical Herbarium at James Cook University’s Cairns campus have been launched and will be housed in the new $9.6 million Australian Tropical Forest Institute due to be completed by June 2007.

The projects are funded by the Queensland Government, the Federal government, CSIRO and James Cook University, and the Australian Tropical Forest Institute is being funded by a $7.8 million 30-year, interest free loan awarded by the Queensland Government to James Cook University under the Smart State Research Facilities Fund.

The Tropical Landscapes Joint Venture has been established as a vehicle for developing a collaborative program of research to underpin the sustainable management of tropical landscapes, including the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Area.

The Herbarium will combine collections from the Australian National Herbarium in Atherton, the Queensland Herbarium in Mareeba and James Cook University campuses with state-of-the-art molecular science laboratories essential for modern plant research

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Trading Ideas - the Future of IP in Asia Pacific

Landmark Intellectual Property Event

28 - 30 January 2007, Hilton Sydney, Australia

The Australian Government will host a major landmark intellectual property symposium in January 2007.

Trading Ideas – the future of IP in Asia Pacific will highlight emerging IP issues, stimulate discussion, provoke debate and provide a forum to explore the future direction of intellectual property in the region.

Trading Ideas Fast Facts:
• More than 30 expert speakers from the leading and emerging APEC economies and beyond.
• Session topics include: IP Commercialisation Valuation and Licensing IP and Doing Business in APEC economies, IP and Regional Trade Agreements, International IP Asset Management, Copyright and the Challenges Posed by Digital Technologies.
• This event will bring together for the very first time the IP profession, business from the APEC region and global IP policy makers.
• The cost of registration is $700.00 (an early bird special open until October 30).

ON-LINE REGISTRATION NOW OPEN AT www.tradingideas.org  

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Technology Parks and Incubators Australia Annual Conference

R E G I S T E R  N O W

30 November – 1 December
La Trobe University R&D Park, Melbourne

- Celebrating 20 Years of La Trobe University R&D Park -

Includes workshop on the Do’s and Don’ts of Technology Park Management

Bringing together Australian Technology Park and Incubator Players to discuss park planning, development, operation, management, and local and international trends.

An event for Australian and New Zealand representatives of:
• Technology Park, Innovation Centre and Incubator Management
• The science, technology, innovation and commercialisation community
• Local, State and Federal Government representatives involved in economic development and science and technology initiatives
• University Commercialisation Units
• Technology Park Support Organisations
• Research Organisations

Targeting those interested in:
• the expanding Technology Park network in Australia and the innovative technology based activity within the country
• learning about best practice models for the effective planning, development and management of Technology Parks and Incubators;
• attaining the right mix of organisations within Technology Parks;
• the business development activities that help drive the growth of Technology Park tenants;
• creating strategic alliances with Australian and New Zealand Technology Park and Incubator players;
• addressing issues faced by start-up organisations; and
• emerging trends of Technology Park planning, development and operation from a global perspective.

Registrations:
Down load a registration form here or contact D.Mackie@latrobe.edu.au  or on 03 9479 3662

Conference programme enquiries:
Carmel.Lyttleton@doir.wa.gov.au  or on 08 9222 3333.

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PricewaterhouseCoopers R&D School

Following the unveiling of Labor's "Innovation Blue Print", there has been much debate about the best practice approach for Australia's innovation policy and incentives. Labor's policy proposes to reform the R&D Tax Concession and Offset and implement a selective grants and loans scheme of some $800m.

While the value of reforming the current system is under debate, there is room for improvement in the existing incentive delivery mechanisms, which could include:
- extending the R&D Tax Offset expenditure and turnover thresholds to more realistic levels, tapering the benefits when these levels are exceeded and providing better assistance to those companies moving from the R&D to commercialisation phase of their life-cycle;
- a more targeted approach to innovation, including support of specific industries outside the existing grants structure through additional industry specific expenditure incentives within the R&D Tax Concession; and
- further easing of the regulatory burden to allow companies to concentrate more of their efforts on what they do best - innovation.

"Innovation policy is a difficult juggling act, and we shouldn't be too quick to discount the system that has worked well for some 20 years," Garry Waugh, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers said. "It is not beneficial to implement a more complicated system which is more onerous, as this may stifle good ideas, especially from smaller companies, and may even see us lose our best technologies to other countries. Our focus needs to be on supporting innovative companies which in turn promotes an innovative Australia."

PricewaterhouseCoopers' provides technical and financial staff involved in the R&D planning and claim preparation process with practical knowledge and tools necessary to effectively manage their company's R&D planning, documentation, and claiming processes.

PricewaterhouseCoopers conducts a R&D School to assist financial and technical staff involved in the R&D tax claims process to increase their awareness of compliance with the R&D rules and how to maximise the benefits available.

The workshop includes active learning, case studies and take away information. Topics include a definition of Tax R&D, clarity around the R&D planning rules, what expenditure can be claimed and an understanding of other R&D eligibility issues. Further information on R&D School can be obtained at http://www.pwc.com/au/rdschool.

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Postgraduate courses from Education Centre for Innovation and Commercialisation

Information Evening – Sydney CBD – on Tues 21 November. Registration is essential. Call our office on (02) 9209 4111 or email ecic.syd@adelaide.edu.au.  

If you’re a budding entrepreneur, if you’re interested in technology commercialisation, or if you’re driven to manage projects profitably, our uniquely tailored programs could be for you.

Intensive courses to Masters level will give you the skills, knowledge - even the network - to create wealth, social and financial - for you, and your community. Make a difference. Have an impact on your career and your field of activity.

With participants from across Australia, the ecic is an important national hub of knowledge sharing, creation and dissemination - part of the essential infrastructure driving innovation and wealth creation. You will share experiences with like-minded people, from different academic, industry and professional backgrounds.

Enjoy the flexible, applied nature of our programs. Create and exploit synergies across your work, learning and innovating activities.


“It’s all about creating wealth
... for you, your organisation, your community.”

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Research Higher Degree Scholarship Opportunities with CIEAM

The CRC for Integrated Engineering Asset Management (CIEAM) involves Australia’s leading researchers in engineering, IT, business and the humanities from 5 universities, 2 government research labs and 6 industry participants.

A range of attractive higher degree scholarships are on offer for emerging scientist, engineers and social scientists, and for industry professionals to undertake research in one of CIEAM’s 5 key research fields.

Fields of research available:
▪ Models and Decision Systems
▪ Advanced Sensors
▪ Intelligent Diagnostics and Remnant Life Prediction
▪ Systems Integration and IT
▪ Strategic Human Dimensions

Applications for scholarships commencing in 2007 close on Friday, 1 December 2006.

For more information, including how to apply, visit website here. For enquiries, email scholarships@cieam.com or call CIEAM head office on 07 3138 1471.

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Pave the way for outstanding research

Pharmaceutical R&D insight from Thomson Pharma

All over the world, professionals working at all stages of the drug lifecycle rely on Thomson Pharma for the essential data that can justify and speed their decision-making, meet their critical business challenges, and keep them abreast of the market.

Thomson Pharma combines a comprehensive global pharmaceutical database with unique abstracts, commentaries and analysis prepared by our team of industry experts.

• More than two million unique chemical structures
• Over 24,000 drug monographs
• Approximately five million unique gene and protein sequences from 1980 to the present day
• More than 3,000 biologically-relevant drug targets
• Comprehensive patent information
• The latest news stories, meetings and conferences

Using Thomson Pharma, you can:

• gather critical data on investigational and marketed drugs
• study information on approved drug uses, dosages, clinical trials, and the latest techniques and innovations
• receive updates of relevant new drugs and compounds
• stay informed on the latest trends in research
• identify gaps in the market
• get to market quicker

No other data source puts so much knowledge at your fingertips. In place of your legacy indexing systems, multiple interfaces, and complex data sources, imagine how Thomson Pharma can simplify the information needs of your researchers.

To find out more, go to website here

You can e-mail us at: ts.info.asia@thomson.com  
Or call us at: +61 2 8587 7948 or 1 800 007 214 (from Australia)

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