Breakthrough actions for innovation released

Australia’s Chief Scientist Professor Ian Chubb has released five breakthrough actions governments could take to make Australia a more innovative nation. They include the establishment of an Australian Innovation Council and helping business access publicly funded research.

The Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council (PMSEIC) agreed that the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) would prepare the advice on enhancing productivity through innovation. The OCS consulted organisations, peak bodies and individuals across the government, industry and science sectors.

“There was a consistent view on what the breakthrough actions should be. We were told it is not just the effort that is important, but also the scale. Australia already has many support or incentive programs, which are considered useful,” Professor Chubb said.

“The proposed actions offer the chance of doing things differently to increase the chances of success.”

The five breakthrough actions are:

1. The establishment of an Australian Innovation Council.
2. Strengthening business access to publicly funded research expertise, infrastructure and data.
3. Encouraging mobility of researchers between academia and business and other enterprises.
4. Harmonising intellectual property frameworks across the publicly funded research sector.
5. Emphasising the role of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education in changing the culture.

You can download a copy of the PMSEIC paper on the five breakthrough actions here.