{"id":46847,"date":"2023-10-20T15:51:31","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:51:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/australia-has-always-had-an-ideas-boom-what-it-will-take-to-boost-the-business-of-science-and-tech-down-under-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:51:31","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:51:31","slug":"australia-has-always-had-an-ideas-boom-what-it-will-take-to-boost-the-business-of-science-and-tech-down-under-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/australia-has-always-had-an-ideas-boom-what-it-will-take-to-boost-the-business-of-science-and-tech-down-under-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia has always had an ideas boom: What\u00a0it will take to boost the business of science and tech down under – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

There has been some talk in recent weeks that Australia\u2019s much-vaunted \u201cideas boom\u201d may be over before it\u2019s really begun.<\/p>\n

But the truth is Australian ideas were booming long before the Turnbull government coined the term \u2013 and will continue for a long time to come.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s finding better ways to dry clothes or keep food cool; extracting precious metals more efficiently; creating banknotes that are harder to forge or barrels that monitor wine as it ages; developing spray-on skin cells or real-time maps in your phone; developing ways to see unborn babies in the womb; or helping to make air travel safer \u2013 Australia has always been a nation of inventors, innovators, and explorers.<\/p>\n

Our great ideas come from throughout society, and from all sectors of the economy.<\/p>\n

But while scientists, engineers and technologists certainly don\u2019t have a monopoly on innovation, they are responsible for most advances in our understanding of the natural world and in developing new technologies.<\/p>\n

Yet it\u2019s also fair to say that academia hasn\u2019t always walked hand in hand with the cultures of venture capital, entrepreneurship and commercial competition.<\/p>\n

Academics are driven to publish and replicate experimental success, in a long and laborious process that values collaboration over competition.<\/p>\n

Academic establishment can sometimes believe that entrepreneurialism should be resisted.<\/p>\n

There is truth to the clich\u00e9 of the humble scientist striving for knowledge for its own sake, for the greater good.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s also true that entering the world of business, commerce and entrepreneurship can require a completely different mindset.<\/p>\n

More publishing than patenting<\/h2>\n

A quick look at some relevant numbers supports this contention. According to data from Scopus, Australian researchers published more than 54,151 papers about drugs (excluding the topic of addiction) in the area of medicine and pharmacy during the period 2000-13.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an avalanche compared with the number of pharmaceutical patents taken out by Australian publicly funded researchers: 1,197 over the same period.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true that not all research publications describe new, patentable products.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also fair to say Australian scientists do much more publishing than patenting.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a similar story in the agricultural and veterinary sciences, where according to data from Scival, 7,866 academic papers were published by Australian researchers last year.<\/p>\n

While Clarivate Analytics reports that 948 patents were lodged by academic and government organisations, and 2,112 by corporations.<\/p>\n

Of course it\u2019s a huge generalisation to say that academics need to get better at turning inventions into investments; indeed, there are plenty of examples of this going very well.<\/p>\n

Over the past 20 years, the rate of Australian patents originating in Australia has grown for all technology fields except metallurgy and mining technology.<\/p>\n

According to Clarivate, computer and general IT technology have shown the fastest growth in this area, increasing by 8.8% a year.<\/p>\n

The story is even stronger when it comes to Australian academics collaborating with top international companies.<\/p>\n

Clarivate\u2019s data shows Australia\u2019s research collaboration rate with the 400 top multinationals grew five fold between 2000 and 2015, second only to Singapore.<\/p>\n

Making ideas work<\/h3>\n

We have always had the ideas. And many people who came up with those ideas also want to patent their work, and to collaborate more closely with business.<\/p>\n

The key challenge is helping them to do it.<\/p>\n

To that end, Science & Technology Australia (STA) \u2013 Australia\u2019s peak body in science and technology, representing some 60,000 specialists – and of which I am Vice-President – is holding its second annual \u201cScience meets Business\u201d conference in Melbourne today.<\/p>\n

It will bring together science, technology, engineering, maths and medical (STEMM) researchers of all stripes who are keen to collaborate with the corporate world.<\/p>\n

It will also feature leaders from across the spectrum of Australian business, from successful startups to multinationals.<\/p>\n

The meeting has been hugely oversubscribed \u2013 an indication of the eagerness on both sides of the academic\/corporate fence to form stronger connections and find better ways to work together.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also an indication of the need to equip our STEMM graduates and workforce with business and entrepreneurial skills.<\/p>\n

We have heard many stories from academics who would like to strike out on their own and start a business, but don\u2019t know how to take the first step.<\/p>\n

The Australian Early- and Mid-Career Researcher Forum has recently released a consultation paper with tips for \u201cStarting the Conversation between Academia and Industry\u201d.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve also heard many stories of academics who\u2019ve successfully made that transition \u2013 people like Ross Smith, the founder of environmental consulting company Hydrobiology, and drone pioneer Catherine Ball, whose business leadership accolades keep piling up.<\/p>\n

And as academics watch more of their peers successfully become entrepreneurs , they\u2019re more likely themselves to give business a go.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the Ideas Boom is welcome.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an opportunity to build stronger and more effective business structures, policies and regulations to capitalise on the speed of technological and scientific innovation that\u2019s occurring in our universities and research institutes.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an opportunity to turn Australia\u2019s geographic isolation, its \u201cjust get on with it\u201d attitude and its spirit of invention, to our best advantage.<\/p>\n

It is a chance to equip our STEMM pioneers with the skills to bring their research and technology to the world, and to strengthen our strategic long-term investment in research and design (R&D).<\/p>\n

The recent Review of the R&D Tax Incentive recommends tax break premiums for companies that actively collaborate with publicly funded research organisations.<\/p>\n

This move would be a welcome addition to other more formal initiatives to encourage cross-sector collaboration, such as the Cooperative Research Centres and Industry Growth Centres.<\/p>\n

This is not to say that \u201cpublic good\u201d research and \u201cblue sky\u201d research won\u2019t continue to be the foundation of society\u2019s knowledge base; underpinning our critical requirements for sustainability, and fulfilling our innate human desire to explore.<\/p>\n

Indeed, \u201cblue sky\u201d discoveries are often the first step towards a patent, a product, a process, or a prize.<\/p>\n

A rejuvenated Australian economy in which all intellectual endeavours are valued and rewarded, will be one that supports every connection in the innovation chain.<\/p>\n

And so we say: bring on the Ideas Boom.<\/p>\n

Bring on a culture of better communication and collaboration.<\/p>\n

Bring on more meetings of minds and an expectation that science and technology innovators should work hand-in-hand with business and economic success stories.<\/p>\n

Bring on a world in which intellect, imagination and bravery are recognised and rewarded.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation and was co-authored by Science & Technology Australia CEO K<\/em>ylie Walker. <\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter, LinkedIn and iTunes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There has been some talk in recent weeks that Australia\u2019s much-vaunted \u201cideas boom\u201d may be over before it\u2019s really begun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,24,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46847"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}