April 22, 2004

NEWS ALERTS

1. PM ANNOUNCES BACKING AUSTRALIA'S ABILITY 2

The Prime Minister, John Howard, has announced funding for science and innovation of $5.3 billion over seven years in under his second `Backing Australia's Ability' statement.

The statement, entitled Backing Australia's Ability - Building our Future through Science and Innovation, targets three themes: the generation of new ideas (research and development); the commercial application of ideas; and developing and retaining skills.

Key elements of the statement include:

• $305 million over seven years for CSIRO's National Flagship Program;
• an additional $251 million for National ICT Australia ($126.3 million from the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, and $124.7 million from the ARC.)
• $200 million over seven years for infrastructure costs for independent medical research institutes.
• $542 million over seven years for the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy;
• an additional $1189.2 million for the Australian Research Council (ARC) to maintain the doubling of funding for the National Competitive Grants Program;
• an additional $390 million over five years from 2006-07 to continue the new elements of the R&D Tax Concession;
• an additional $554.5 million for the Research Infrastructure Block Grants Program
• $55.5 million over five years from 2006-07 for International Science Linkages;
• a further $100 million over the next seven for the Commercialising Emerging Technologies (COMET) program
• an additional $65 million over the six years from 2005-06 for the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program;
• $36 million over the next four years to extend funding for the Building on IT Strengths (BITS) Incubator program;
• over $1 billion over five years from 2006-07 for a new Commercial Ready program which will draw together and replace R&D Start, the Biotechnology Innovation Fund and elements of the Innovation Access Program. An additional $22 million will be provided over the period 2004-05 to 2005-06 and the program will also include the $41 million provided for R&D Start in 2006-07 through the 2003-04 Budget.

Details of the package are at http://backingaus.innovation.gov.au/back_res2004.htm

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Higher education groups have expressed disappointment with the Backing Australia's Ability 2 (BAA2) statement. The Group of Eight universities said that the statement did not appear to continue the thrust of the original Backing Australia's Ability program.

Chair of the Group of Eight universities, Professor Ian Chubb said the package does not deliver programs and funds that will assist Australian universities to be among the best in the world.

"Australia's overall level of investment in R&D continues to lag well below that being made by our competitor nations and while the initial Backing Australia's Ability has lifted investment it has not made serious inroads into the gap between our overall R&D investment and the OECD average," Professor Chubb said.

"In particular, the package fails to address existing challenges facing the university sector such as inadequate indexation mechanisms, the costs associated with matching research grants won through competitive programs, rapidly rising infrastructure costs and how to provide better career paths to keep our best and brightest researchers in Australia.

"However, we acknowledge that the new infrastructure initiative provides some certainty for the major national research infrastructure initiatives that were funded under the initial program. We are also pleased to see an effort to ensure that research quality is the pre-eminent driver of public research funding." Professor Chubb said.

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations said the funding provided in BAA2 was insufficient to keep up with growth in GDP, and neglects speculative research. CAPA President Stephen Horton said that BAA2 was not a vision statement.

" It's a decreasing investment in real terms, and it's about gambling on commercial ventures at the expense of blue-sky research, which is a short sighted vision.

"It looks like Backing Australia's Ability II represents a decreasing investment in Australia's science and innovation over the life of the package. As a share of GDP, it's about 0.126 percent in 2005-06, and drops to 0.101 in 2010-11. Australia needs to increase its investment in research, not let it slip even further."

The health and medical research community has also criticized the BAA2 package. The Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR) said that while the provision of $200 million over seven years for infrastructure in medical research institutes was a positive step, it was a long way from the $1 billion required to maintain the momentum of Australian health and medical research.

The CSIRO Staff Association has welcomed the Flagship funding, but has called for increased funding for the rest of CSIRO in the budget. CSIRO Staff Association President, Dr Michael Borgas, said the Flagships represent less than 9% of CSIRO's total spending in the current financial year. "The other 91% of CSIRO performs important scientific research for the nation and must not be forgotten", he said.

Labor spokesman on science and research, Senator Kim Carr, said that he had figures from DEST which suggested that about $6.8 billion was needed. Speaking on ABC radio, Senator Carr said Labor was considering reform of the R&D taxation concession and ways to lift R&D in the private sector. Overall expenditure on science and research will fall by almost 7 per cent between 2005-06 and 2006-07 from $1076.6 million to $1003.7 million.

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Nineteen of the 52 applications received for the 2004 Selection round of the Cooperative Research Centre Program have been rejected, including a number of long standing and successful CRCs such as the CRC for Satellite Systems and the Australian Photonics CRC.

The Shadow Minister for Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr, has called for the government to issue a list of the 19 existing and prospective CRCs that have not been funded. He said those identified by Labor were:

• Australian Photonics CRC Uni of Sydney.
• CRC for Satellite2 Systems Uni of SA
• Aquifer (ground water resource management) CRC South Australia
• Solar CRC, ANU, Canberra
• Bio-discovery CRC Uni of QLD
• CRC for Hydrogen Energy UNSW
• Synchrotron Victoria
• Learning CRC QLD
• Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area CRC QLD
• Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management CRC QLD
• Coastal Zone Estuary and Waterways Management QLD
  

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CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

The Australian Academy of Science is inviting applications from professional scientists to visit Europe, North America (USA, Canada and Mexico), and North East Asia (China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan), between 1 July 2005 and 30 June 2006 to collaborate with researchers in those countries.

Proposals in any field of natural science, basic and applied, including mathematics and engineering science, will be considered.

Applicants must propose a collaborative research project, or a specific activity, which has been developed in consultation with host scientists. Under this scheme, applicants can request travel support to access international leading-edge small to medium research facilities and equipment.

Support will not be provided for costs associated with the use of these facilities or when the primary purpose of the visit is to attend a conference. The duration of the visits must be between two and six weeks.

These programs are administered by the Academy and funded by the Department of Education, Science and Training's International Science and Technology Networks, a component of the Innovation Access Program announced in the Government's Innovation Statement, Backing Australia's Ability.

Information, deadlines and application forms are available on the website at: http://www.science.org.au/internat/index.htm

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MEETING

5. DINNER MEETING: MAPPING AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE & INNOVATION

Australian Industrial Research Group (AIRG)

AIRG is holding a dinner meeting on Thursday 20 May. On this occasion a presentation will be given by Grahame Cook, Deputy Secretary, Department of Education, Science and Training and will be titled :
"Mapping Australian Science & Innovation"

Grahame Cook has almost 30 years experience in the Australian Public Service. His current position is Deputy Secretary in the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST). His responsibilities include oversight of the Science, Innovation and Research Systems, Procurement, Assurance and Legal and the Information Services Groups.

Prior to his transfer to DEST, Grahame was Head, Innovation and Science Division, Department of Industry, Science and Resources from January 2001. In 1996 Grahame headed the Secretariat to the Small Business Deregulation Task Force in the Department of Industry, Science and Tourism for which he was awarded a Public Service Medal. Grahame has a Bachelor of Economics degree from the Australian National University.

In a speech to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia on 20 November 2002, the Prime Minister identified science and innovation as a vital area of government strategic policy interest. He announced that the Federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, Dr Nelson, was to map (i.e. to describe and assess) Australia's science and innovation activities across the public and private sectors. The study was to lay the groundwork for future policy development by identifying:

• Strengths that should be maintained and developed
• Weaknesses and gaps in science and innovation performance that need to be addressed
• Complementarities and areas of possible greater cooperation between activities of the national government and those of the states and territories.

This presentation will report on the outcome of this innovation mapping and give us a deeper understanding of the lessons and implications for Australian industry.

If you are interested in attending this meeting, further details can be obtained from,

Dr Allan Clark
AIRG
Email: airg@zip.com.au
Ph: 61 7 3378 0248
Fx: 61 7 3378 0238

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SHORT COURSES

6. STRATEGIC BUSINESS PLANNING

YOU HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY......
BUT CAN YOU TAKE IT TO MARKET SUCCESSFULLY?

Melbourne University Private and the Australian Institute for Commercialisation offer a five-day intensive course in Strategic Business Planning. Learn how to commercialise new products and services

* Find out how to secure finance

* Polish your business planning and strategic skills

If you apply your skill to the completion of a commercialisation plan for your business, you can gain an accredited award at the same time.

It's an intensive experience that will challenge your knowledge of the technology commercialisation process, involve you in some hands-on learning and teamwork and give you skills and self-awareness that will apply immediately to your work situation.

Here's what some of the participants have said:
"I liked being able to see a bigger picture and how things link together"
"It puts business frameworks into the technology commercialisation space"
"I would recommend this course absolutely... the content is superb and of immediate relevance"

Next delivery date is:
* Sydney May 24th to 28th 2004
The cost for the intensive program is $3200 + GST
For more information go to http://www.muprivate.edu.au/commercialise or contact Gemma Lane, 03 9810 3174 g.lane@muprivate.edu.au

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7. VALUE CHAIN MAPPING

Recognising value and where is created or destroyed in your organisation or industry is a core competence for any successful manager in today's globally competitive markets. This one-day program introduces you to a process which will enable you to firstly map your value chain and secondly recognise your value sources and sinks. This will then allow you to identify opportunities for value optimisation and identify areas of potential risk.

The principals are illustrated through interactive workgroup sessions where participants will work together to map value chains for their respective businesses.

This program is broadly applicable to all business areas and in particular managers concerned with optimising the value of existing operations and identifying opportunities for future value creation.

The cost of the program is $695.00 per person plus GST.

Date: Tuesday June 8th
Venue: Melbourne University Private
Hawthorn

For more information go to http://www.muprivate.edu.au/commercialise or contact Gemma Lane, 03 9810 3174 g.lane@muprivate.edu.au

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FURTHER EDUCATION

8. DISTANCE DELIVERY DRIVING GROWTH IN POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION

Probably the strongest growth category in postgraduate education in Australia over the past 10 years has been for management education by distance learning systems. One in two MBAs conferred in Australia is now through distance education providers and with the Internet and email being used to deliver content and shape new learning systems.

The Association of Professional Engineers, Scientist and Managers, Australia (APESMA) is one of the largest providers of formally accredited management education programs in the Australasian region, delivering all postgraduate programs by distance.

There are around 6500 students enrolled in APESMA courses and 3000 of these are in study streams leading to the MBA (Technology Management) qualification. Sequencing is an important feature of APESMA's approach and on their way to an MBA, APESMA students obtain a Graduate Certificate and Graduate Diploma after specific course milestones have been reached. Postgraduate awards in the MBA study stream are jointly conferred by APESMA and La Trobe University.

Enrolments are currently open for Study Period 2, until 21st May, and the period begins on 28th June.

For further information on the APESMA Management Education program visit http://www.apesma.asn.au/education

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