{"id":57947,"date":"2021-06-29T08:00:27","date_gmt":"2021-06-29T12:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=57947"},"modified":"2021-06-28T17:05:21","modified_gmt":"2021-06-28T21:05:21","slug":"want-more-research-commercialisation-then-remove-the-barriers-and-give-academics-real-incentives-to-do-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/want-more-research-commercialisation-then-remove-the-barriers-and-give-academics-real-incentives-to-do-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Want more research commercialisation? Then remove the barriers and give academics real incentives to do it"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Research commercialisation in Australia has been getting more attention\u00a0recently<\/a>, but researchers face major obstacles to achieving this. If Australia wants to get serious about commercialising research knowledge, then we have to look seriously at the obstacles and incentives for researchers.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s gross spending on research and development (R&D) funding has been in the\u00a0lower half of OECD nations<\/a>\u00a0for the past 20 years. It peaked in 2008 and has been\u00a0declining since<\/a>\u00a0then. This is the important context of recent\u00a0federal budget announcements<\/a>\u00a0encouraging research commercialisation.<\/p>\n

Universities and quality research production are suffering as part of this decline. It also helps to explain why international student income has been so important to modern day Australian universities and\u00a027% of all university revenue in 2019<\/a>\u00a0before COVID.<\/p>\n

What are the obstacles for academics?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Research commercialisation can\u2019t occur without research being completed first. Universities are now at\u00a0increased risk of losing critical research capacity<\/a>. They are facing a compounded COVID-induced crisis of\u00a0falling international student revenue<\/a>, sliding research funding,\u00a0increased competition for available funding<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0insecure employment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Universities are\u00a0no longer treated<\/a>\u00a0as valuable public institutions of public good despite legislation enshrining this status. Academia today, particularly in research focused positions, is like being self-employed in a large institution. The current senior academic is unlikely to have tenured secure employment. The workforce is\u00a0increasingly comprised<\/a>\u00a0of casual and fixed-term appointments.<\/p>\n

The majority of their time is now spent\u00a0writing grant applications and applying for research funding<\/a>\u00a0at the cost of actually producing innovative, high quality research. The largest source of industry-focused federal funding, through\u00a0Australian Research Council linkage grants<\/a>, don\u2019t even support the salaries of chief or partner investigators.<\/p>\n

This is in sharp contrast to other OECD nations. It\u2019s no coincidence that Israel, with the\u00a0highest proportion of research and development funding<\/a>\u00a0in the world, has one of the\u00a0most successful research commercialisation models<\/a>. Sales of products based on research by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem alone\u00a0exceeds A$2 billion a year<\/a>. Coincidentally,\u00a0over 50% of the population of Israel<\/a>\u00a0has also been vaccinated for COVID-19 and the country is one of the first to approach herd immunity.<\/p>\n

It is critical to understand good research is the foundation for any future patent development. \u201cPatent box<\/a>\u201d tax incentives with reduced tax rates are too far downstream to support development of research innovation and commercialisation.<\/p>\n

Provide more direct support for commercialisation<\/strong><\/h4>\n

There is currently no direct federal research funding to support research commercialisation in Australia. Universities must direct their own funding into start-up support or research commercialisation activity. That\u2019s on top of funding teaching and internal research grants.<\/p>\n

Uniquest\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0record of commercialising research at the University of Queensland shows all research (not just biomedical or STEM) can be successfully commercialised with proper support. It\u2019s a research commercialisation company specialising in global technology transfer. Supporting this activity are professional staff with expertise in business, legal, copyright, intellectual property and partnership development.<\/p>\n

This sort of expertise is critical for connecting research knowledge to industry. In the case of UQ, it might also have influenced the Australian government\u2019s decision to invest in the COVID vaccine trial.<\/p>\n

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BREAKING: Clinical trial results show the aborted University of Queensland COVID-19 vaccine would have been among the best in the world, generating an immune response in 99 per cent of patients it was tested on. https:\/\/t.co\/4bGqxpAvzZ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 The Australian (@australian) April 19, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n