Australia: new innovation policy links science with industry
Published 27 October 2014
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1. This publication was archived on 4 July 2016.
1.1 This article is no longer current. Please refer to Overseas Business Risk - Australia
1.2 Summary
Australian government launches a new industry innovation policy. Highlights are five new Industry Growth Centres, on similar lines to the UK’s Catapult Centres, and an industry-heavy science advisory council. Tax incentives for start-ups, reduced regulation and reform of business visas also feature. Opportunities for UK companies to join consortia.
1.3 Detail
Less than 5% of Australian businesses work with the scientific research community – ranking the country last in the OECD on this measure. On 14 October, PM Tony Abbott and Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane (responsible for science) announced an A$400m (£220m) Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda. The policy aims for less regulation, a more skilled labour force, better economic infrastructure, and industry policy that fosters innovation.
Science and industry collaboration
The core announcement was A$188.5m for new Industry Growth Centres over four years (2015-2018). These Centres are explicitly modelled on Innovate UK’s Catapult Centres and similar US and Canadian programmes. They will focus on five of Australia’s ‘competitive strengths’: food and agribusiness; mining equipment, technology and services; oil, gas and energy resources; medical technologies and pharmaceuticals; and advanced manufacturing. The Centres will be industry-led consortia, receiving up to A$3.5m each per year plus additional project grants. Structured as non-profit companies, however, they must become self-funding by 2018. The fate of the decades-old, academia-led Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) is unknown. They are under review and Macfarlane admits that says some will be terminated, others folded into the Industry Growth Centres, and others allowed to see out their contracts.
The policy also redesigns the process for innovation advice to government. The PM’s long-dormant Science, Engineering and Innovation Council has been replaced with a new Commonwealth Science Council. Chaired by Chief Scientist Professor Ian Chubb, it will meet twice a year, with PM Abbott pledging to attend at least once annually. Its other members include the Ministers for Industry, Education and Health and five eminent scientists, including a Nobel Laureate. Unlike its predecessor, the Council will also boast five industry members including the head of the Business Council of Australia and executives from major banks, Cisco, big gas extractors Woodside and Santos, and local biotech Starpharma. The Council will develop a cohesive science strategy for Australia, working from the Chief Scientist’s recommendations released in September.
Business in schools
Programmes to improve STEM and ICT literacy in schools received A$12m. This includes A$0.5m for a pilot programme modelled on P-TECH (Pathways in Technology Early College High School) in the US where companies co-fund science education and encourage students toward a research career in industry.
Business incentives
There is A$200m in tax breaks to encourage employee share ownership. Options given to workers in start-ups will be taxed only when options are exercised, not immediately on issue, reversing Labour government policy.
A new Premium Investor Visa offers permanent residency after 12 months to migrants, screened by Austrade, who have A$15m or more to invest. The existing Significant Investor Visa for those bringing in A$5m is tightened, with investment now tied to the five growth centre areas. Renewal of 457 visas to holders working in start-ups is extended from 12 to 18 months. To cut regulation, imported goods and services certified by regulators in other trusted jurisdictions will not require domestic approval, just registering with the local regulator. EU-certified medical devices are the first to benefit.
Academia welcomed the increased role for science in industry, and school support for STEM, but say that funding is probably insufficient to deliver major economic outcomes. Industry is also supportive. The research community said the growth centres differ little from Labour’s Industry Innovation Precincts, which included advanced manufacturing and food technology.
1.4 Comment
The new agenda sees a new government putting its stamp on innovation policy, further increasing the focus on business involvement in R&D. The similarities between the UK’s Catapult Centres and the new Australian Centres offer scope for partnerships in shared access to SMEs and research (our High-Value Manufacturing and Cell Therapy Catapults will have virtually identical counterparts). Other Australian Centres covering mining, resources and agriculture offer opportunities for locally-based UK firms to access Australian funds. We will continue to pursue these opportunities.
1.5 Disclaimer
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