Comments on the National Research Investment Plan Discussion Paper

This submission comments on the National Research Investment Plan (NRIP) Discussion Paper, which proposed a national framework for directing Australia’s research investment around a research fabric of enabling domains and Fundamental Research Elements. Research Australia supports the Plan’s general direction and its emphasis on collaboration, but maintains that collaboration should be explicitly recognised across the Fundamental Research Elements, including public and private sector investment, shared infrastructure and researcher careers that support mobility between sectors. Citing the Monash Vision Group bionic eye project, it submits that the convergence of disciplines should be recognised as a fundamental research element, or that collaboration be defined to include work across disciplines. It also maintains that the Plan overlooks the role of philanthropy in funding health and medical research, and recommends that philanthropy be added as a separate Fundamental Research Element or included in the definition of public research investment. Drawing on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) model of health innovation as an iterative five-stage process, the submission describes the ‘valley of death’ between publicly funded research and commercial proof of concept, where activities are often eligible for neither research grants nor commercialisation support. It recommends that the NRIP define ‘Research’ and ‘Innovation’ so that there is no funding gap between them, and that the Plan fit within the broader innovation framework.