Innovation and Science Australia 2030 Strategic Plan: Response to the Issues Paper

This submission to Innovation and Science Australia responds to the Issues Paper for its 2030 Strategic Plan, addressing each of the paper’s six challenges. Research Australia maintains that Australian firms have less internal research and development capability and collaborate less than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average, and proposes placing more researchers in business, citing the iPREP WA PhD placement program and Denmark’s Industrial Researcher Programme. It notes that Research Training Program funding grows by less than 2% a year while research degree completions are expected to rise 4.3% a year, and recommends more training funding. It recommends the Government to implement the Productivity Commission’s data availability recommendations and develop an overarching national healthcare strategy. Other recommendations include a whole-of-governments innovation strategy, maintaining and expanding clinical research fellowships, clear measures of success supported by better Australian Bureau of Statistics research and development data, and greater public science literacy. Noting that National Health and Medical Research Council and Australian Research Council funding is declining in real terms and that Medical Research Future Fund disbursements will plateau after it reaches $20 billion in 2020–21, it recommends a plan to grow public and private research investment to 2030, continued openness to researcher migration and deeper research ties with India, China and the Asia Pacific. As a bold initiative, it proposes a National Innovation Fund modelled on the $250 million Biomedical Translation Fund, with the $130 billion Future Fund as cornerstone investor.