RESEARCH COMMERCIALISATION FUND COULD BE A GAME-CHANGER

TUESDAY 1 FEBRUARY 2022

Today’s announcement by the Prime Minister of a $2.2 billion investment in a research commercialisation fund, venture capital and new industry scholarships and fellowships could turbo-charge Australia’s research commercialisation success.

In recent years, Science & Technology Australia has made a powerful case for Australia to create a new Research Translation Fund to deliver strong returns on investment to the nation.

Its role would be to turn more great Australian science and technology into products, jobs, start-ups and new income streams for Australia.

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’ Australia research commercialisation success, and generate stronger returns on investment for the nation from our world-leading research,” said Professor Hutchinson.

“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.

Science & Technology Australia is the peak body representing more than 90,000 scientists and technologists in Australia.

Media contact: Martyn Pearce, STA: 0432 606 828