The Productivity Commission is undertaking an Inquiry into the availability and use of public data. Research Australia’s submission in response to the Issues Paper emphasises the importance of improved access to public data as a means of facilitating Australian health and medical research. It highlights the importance of linked datasets and identifies a number of cultural and legislative barriers to the greater use of data for research purposes. It also provides some case studies and makes some recommendations for improvement.
Entrepreneur’s infrastructure programme
In the May Budget the Federal Government announced that it was replacing a range of existing industry support programmes, including Commercialisation Australia, with the Entrepreneur’s Infrastructure Investment Programme. In June 2014 the Department of Industry launched a discussion paper on the Programme, and Research Australia made a submission. Research Australia’s submission emphasised the importance of building collaboration between publicly funded research organisations and private sector entrepreneurs, the importance of viewing researchers both as a resource to entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs in their own right, and suggested a number of measures which would support the successful commercialisation of Australian public research.
Social Impact Bonds – Submission to the SA Government
The South Australian Government issued a discussion paper seeking on the suitability of Social Impact Bonds to fund innovative new programs. Research Australia’s submission proposes the use of Social Impact Bonds to address the well recognised problem of translating research outcomes and discoveries into practice in the health system. Specifically, Research Australia believes that Social Impact Bonds could be an effective mechanism for funding and evaluating pilot projects and clinical trials designed to implement and evaluate new evidence based practices and interventions. The benefits of implementing successful new interventions are improved patient care and efficiency gains in the South Australian health care system.