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The innovation department
Award-winning astrophysicist says Australia needs an agency to help guide government towards pro-science policy.
By James Wells
A leading Australian professor is calling for the establishment of a national agency to address Australia’ s poor track record when it comes to innovation in science and technology.
Australia is falling behind in world rankings in these areas. The nation ' s Chief Scientist professor Ian Chubb has given repeated warnings that lack of scientific and technological innovation could have dire consequences for the economy.
“ Innovation is central to building jobs, increasing productivity and generating wealth,” Chubb said to last year’ s Senate inquiry into the innovation system.“ But Australia’ s innovative capacity remains limited by structural and cultural barriers.”
Now, a year later, professor Brian Schmidt, 2011 Nobel laureate and astrophysics professor at the Australian National University, is calling for a national innovation agency to help develop an entrepreneurial culture and review Australia ' s system of innovation support.
Speaking at the recent Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering ' s( ATSE) Clunie Ross awards, Schmidt argued that Australia’ s corporate governance laws strangle innovation, as
Brian Schmidt
they discourage company directors from investing in risky programs. He says the risk for start-up programs is unnecessarily high due to punitive bankruptcy laws and that in universities, the price of failed innovation could be a researcher’ s career.
He proposes a national innovation agency that could monitor and make recommendations for the Australian innovation system, improving on what he calls the government’ s“ piecemeal approach” to improving and maintaining Australian innovation. He points to the 72 recommendations made by a 2008 Senate inquiry into innovation, none of which have been acted upon.
At the same time, Schmidt does praise recent government efforts to promote science and technology, though he says an independent body would help prevent this issue from becoming a political football.
“ I am heartened by the government’ s announcements focused on innovation,” Schmidt says.“ But I think we still need a large well-resourced group focused on this issue – a national innovation agency – that can cut across the silos of government, with a long-term life and bipartisan support.” He also says this innovation body would help promote debate surrounding innovation and help the products of Australian research break their way into commercial markets. But Schmidt says for innovation to properly benefit the Australian economy, it must remain domestic, and policy must make research and innovation in Australia attractive.
“ Many of our successes have left
Australia in search of talent, capital and more favourable regulatory environments,” Schmidt says.“ Government policies that help ensure Australian companies stay in Australia are fundamental for the country to receive long-term benefits from its innovation.”
Schmidt also suggests loosening visa regulations for people seeking to conduct research and innovation will help Australia in the long run, and also says there are certain tax disincentives that discourage successful innovators who’ ve moved overseas from returning home. He says it is regulations such as these that prevent innovation from becoming a major contributor to the economy.
These calls for investment in innovation have been echoed by Alan Finkel, president of the Australian Academy of Technology Sciences and Engineering, who told Campus Review government funding must extend to“ risky ventures”, as he considers them to be at the heart of innovation. He compares a lack of innovation to an untapped resource that is not being used for community benefit, and while he is unsure of the specifics of Schmidt’ s national innovation agency, Finkel says there are several models that could work.
“ One of the things we can do about it is work to put researchers in publicly funded research institutes in touch with, and working closely with, their counterparts in industry,” Finkel says.“ A national innovation agency, depending on how it’ s conceived, could really help with that. Another model is what they do in England, which is the TSB, the Technology Strategy Board, which is a well-funded government organisation that nurtures the relationship between industry and publicly funded researchers. It sets up hubs and collaborations and has a long-term mandate with bipartisan support to do that, and that seems to be working quite well.”
Finkel also says an innovative and entrepreneurial culture needs to be fostered in Australia and this could be set up through teaching entrepreneurship in universities, along with government funding for young entrepreneurs. He also says the workforce landscape in Australia is developing an increasing prevalence in self-employment and, as such, innovative culture needs to be encouraged.
“ One of the best ways to learn how to be an entrepreneur is to try a few things and fail and try a few more – and eventually you’ ll be successful,” he says. n
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