industry & research ng
eme ty
8- DSTO 9- ANSTO 10- AIMS 11- Cooperative Research Centres 12- Australian Academy for Science 13- Australians 14- Education
“ These cuts are profoundly counterproductive, and will reduce national capacity to conduct world-leading research, which fuels the economy and ensures we hold our place among advanced nations,” Jackson says.
The government has defended its position on CRCs, promising to provide millions in funding for the program over the next four years.
Speaking recently at the annual CRC Association conference in Perth, Bob Baldwin, the parliamentary secretary for the minister for industry, said although there won’ t be funds for round 17 of CRCs, the government will invest roughly $ 70 million over forward estimates, following a review of the system.
Baldwin told delegates that the government is not walking away from the scheme, despite CRCs taking an $ 80 million cut in the Budget.
“ We are investing in them,” Baldwin said, promising“ there will be more rounds”.
“ We’ re also looking at bringing CRCs together that provide a greater benefit, such as we have done with advanced manufacturing.
“ Industry and others need to know that the funding that has been provided isn’ t there forever,” Baldwin said.“ We support CRCs, but we also have to provide a pathway for them to become more self-sustaining in the future,” he added.
The CRC program was established to support industry-led collaboration between publicly funded researchers, business and community groups – to deliver practical breakthroughs and to improve the productivity and sustainability of industries across all sectors.
Former Labor prime minister Bob Hawke, who introduced the program when he was in government, also spoke at the conference, and expressed disappointment over the intended cuts.
“ Amongst a number of bad decisions in the Budget, this is probably the worst,” Hawke told the audience.“ Australia needs to increase its funding for education and particularly for research – applied research, which is the speciality of the CRC programs.”
Hawke condemned the move to cut $ 80 million from a program that he said was given a“ glowing report about the contribution it had made” by an independent review in 2012.
CRC Association CEO Tony Peacock also expressed frustration over the decision, tweeting on the night of the announcement that he was“ gutted”.
“ I’ d hoped we had done enough to show the government the value of the CRCs, and I do believe they understand their value,” Peacock says.“ CRCs deliver applied research that has been demonstrated to boost GDP. $ 80 million is a lot, and I feel terrible for those people who have been working so hard on the current funding round.”
CRC Association chairman Tony Staley says,“ The coming review will be critical to our future. Every time we have been reviewed in the past, we have shown that co-operative, large-scale collaboration with the end-users in the driver’ s seat is effective. Seeing the amazing outcomes from the current CRCs, I’ m confident we can show that value to the government”.
LONG-TERM STRATEGY Catriona Jackson says a long-term plan for science infrastructure is desperately required, explaining that“ short-term promises make it very difficult for researchers to get on with the job”.
Field agrees, saying that apart from the plan to establish a future fund, most of the proposals have only a short-term focus, covering off immediate needs without addressing long-term goals for science and research.
“ Significant research problems don’ t get pushed over in a week or months, they take years or decades,” Field says.“ We need a vision and a plan for where we are going with the science and research sectors and the plan needs to extend well beyond the normal budget cycle and the forward estimates.
“ Ideally, a government would have a broad framework for Australia’ s future science and research effort, bridging from our immediate needs to well into the future.”
The framework, Field says,“ would identify the problems we must address, the capacity, skill base and expertise we must build and maintain, the facilities and infrastructure we need to put in place to properly cater for the country’ s needs”.
He says the government’ s long-term strategy needs to recognise that research and innovation are drivers of new industries as well as existing ones, for future economic development of the country.
Dr Will Grant, science researcher and lecturer at the Australian National University, says there a number of measures the government can take to protect the sector’ s future.
“ We are doing a lot of good things now – but we need to find a way to provide more secure long-term funding, for projects and for younger researchers,” Grant says.
Ways to achieve this include reducing the unnecessary burdens, such as lengthy accounting and form filling exercises, which keep scientists and academics away from doing their actual jobs.
Grant adds,“ We need to expand the relationship between the sciences and industry, so our science gets used straight away, and so that our PhD graduates look at a range of sectors – academia and research but also industry and business – as providing valuable and rewarding careers”. ■ campusreview. com. au | 17