Australia needs better commercialisation, not to do “more of the same” on R&D: Ai Group

Despite “decades of rhetoric about becoming a ‘clever country’”, Australia is no closer to meeting its research and development aspirations, and “simply pouring more funding into a dysfunctional system” won’t matter unless the commercialisation imperative is addressed, according to the Australian Industry Group.

Making its submission to the Strategic Examination of Research and Development (SERD), the employer representative said the nation needs a “fundamentally new approach”, translating R&D into commercial outcomes and productivity gains

“Calls to increase research funding to 3 [per cent] of GDP are divorced from economic reality if the commercialisation imperative is not addressed,” said Ai Group Chief Executive Innes Willox in a statement on Wednesday.

“What Australia desperately needs isn’t more of the same, but rather a fundamentally new approach for how R&D translates into commercial outcomes and productivity gains. The time for incremental change has passed,” Willox said.

“Our nation’s productivity performance has stagnated for too long, limiting wage growth and economic prosperity. Effective R&D commercialisation is one of the most powerful levers we have to reverse this trend.”

The submission (accessible here) emphasises drains on productivity 

The most recent figures for long-term Australian labour productivity growth (covering 2022-23) were 0.9 per cent, down from 1.2 per cent in 2021-22 and 1.8 per cent in 2003-04.

“Our nation’s productivity performance has stagnated for too long, limiting wage growth and economic prosperity,” said Willox.

“Effective R&D commercialisation is one of the most powerful levers we have to reverse this trend.”

The Ai Group’s submission makes recommendations including establishing a Ministerial Council for Innovation Science and Technology, creating a National Prototyping Network, reforming the R&D Tax Incentive, and developing a national IP Bank as a central repository for publicly funded intellectual property.

Picture: credit Marcello Casal Jr/Agência Brasil (CC BY 3.0)

Further reading

R&D should be 3 per cent of GDP by 2045: STA

Towards 3% R&D, Australia’s R&D slide – download our e-book

Towards 3% R&D – government and business leadership

Can the Strategic Examination of R&D solve 2025’s innovation challenges?

We need to perform better in R&D – Ed Husic