Together forever

It will be headed by Australian technology entrepreneur Adrian Turner, who said in a statement that Data61 would harness the start-up culture of NICTA and the multidisciplinary strength of CSIRO.

Play without borders

Two further grants will go to researchers who applied under the NHMRC  Californian Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Collaborative Research Grant scheme for projects that will target the development of stem cell therapies.

The two recipients include Professor Colin Pouton from Monash University, who was awarded $903 thousand to develop ways to obtain microglia from human stem cells that can be studied to gain insights into common neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease.

The second grant, worth $881 thousand, was awarded to Professor Andrew Elefanty from Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. Professor Elefanty's research will create new tools to observe the development of hematopoietic stem cells, pluripotent stem cells commonly used in the treatment of leukaemia.

Losing sight of average...

...and never mind the leaders.

Despite expenditure on R&D by Australian businesses rising by around 3% to $18.85 billion in the two years to June 2014, BERD as a percentage of GDP fell - from 1.23% in 2011-12 to 1.19% in 2013-14.

And this weak performance has become a drag on Australia's overall spending on R&D by businesses, government, private non-profit and higher education sectors. Thus Australia's R&D intensity, measured as gross expenditure on R&D (GERD) as a proportion of GDP, also fell slightly - from 2.13% in 2011-12 to 2.12% in 2013-14.

There are some interesting positives in the business landscape, though. While overall growth in spending on R&D has not recovered to pre-GFC levels, businesses are ramping up the amount of human resources they devote in this area. In 2013-14, businesses had almost 79 thousand person years of effort (PYE) devoted to R&D, an increase of 21% from 2011-12

Importantly, there was a 23% increase in the PYE by researchers, suggesting that businesses are investing more in this, by OECD standards, notoriously underrepresented species of workers in Australia's private sector.

Australia's BERD and GERD compared to other countries in the OECD. Click image to enlarge.

The new data reflect the current structural shift in Australia's economy, which until quite recently was heavily dominated by its resources sector.

With the end of the mining boom, the mining sector is spending less on R&D (down 31% in 2013-14), while the traditionally R&D strong sectors, Manufacturing (up 8%) and Professional, scientific and technical services (up 32%) are ramping up their effort.

As a result, Manufacturing has shaken off the challenge Mining posed just two years ago when it closed in for the spot as Australia's top spending sector on R&D. Instead, Manufacturing is now followed by the professional, scientific and technical services sector, while Mining fell to third place in the ranking.

By far the largest relative increase in BERD occurred in activities categorised as pure basic research (up 43%), although these still make up less than 1% of total BERD. Businesses also spent more on strategic basic research (up 4.6%) and applied research (5.3%), which now together account for 38% of total BERD.

By contrast, BERD targeting experimental development, which is typical for Mining, rose by only 1% over the two years, although it still makes up around 60% of total BERD.

The weak growth in R&D expenditure also underscores that much of Australia's decade long catch-up with innovation leaders in the OECD was on the back of a very volatile sector that now comes off the boil.

The fact that our R&D intensity only reduced slightly can be attributed to the higher education sector. Here spending on R&D rose by $1 billion to $9.9 billion in 2013-14, which is 11% more than in 2011-12. It is foreseeable that with the public purse tightening increases of this kind are unlikely to be sustained, which leaves the question who is going to fill the gap left by tottering miners.

Our interactive infographic summarising the latest (2015) update of the OECD's Main Science and Technology Indicators shows that Australia is losing ground against competitor nations. Across OECD countries the trend in R&D intensity is again turning into positive terrain as many innovation leaders, such as Germany, Sweden and Korea, have strongly increased their investments in R&D over recent years.

R&D spending across the OECD rose in 2013 by 2.7% in real terms, with growth driven by strong increases in BERD (up 3.5%). As a percentage of GDP, average GERD remained at 2.4%, which now compares to Australia's 2.1%.

Tangled in the web

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has recently (16 July) released data from a survey of businesses that show that only about half of all businesses in Australia are presented on the web, and between 2012-13 and 2013-14 this share even dropped slightly - from 47.2% down to 47.1%.

Notably, of those that do not have a website, around 58.2% believe they do have a need for it, and this may reflect Australia's large share of very small businesses (micro-businesses with 0-5 employees). Still, the ABS data suggest that around 40% of businesses a lack of need is not a reason why they abstain from marketing themselves through, for example, a website.

Business not presented on the web indicated a lack of technical expertise (20.1%), too high set up (16.2%) and too high ongoing costs (11.4%) as major barriers.

However, another trend is now emerging: businesses are increasingly using social media, and they use it mainly to advertise themselves or their products (78.6%) or to communicate with customers (69.0%).

The ABS data show that between 2011-12 and 2013-14, the percentage of businesses having a presence in social media rose by more than 70%, from 18.1% to 30.8%.

So, do businesses that find it difficult to develop an own web presence take up social media as an alternative route to communicate with customers?

Two years ago, the Forbes website reported on US research which found that especially smaller businesses often understand the importance of having a website but opt for social media as this is deemed easier and cheaper.

ABS figure on business web presence; Click image to enlarge

However, a figure published by the ABS suggests otherwise for the Australian situation. It shows that the vast majority of businesses engaging in social media also have a web presence, and therefore their social media activities appear to be part of a broader online strategy.

This could mean that many, especially smaller businesses abstain from building a web identity altogether, despite having an understanding that they could benefit from it.

According to the ABS survey, one in five (19%) Australian businesses with access to the internet used a paid cloud computing service during 2013-14, most commonly for cloud-based software (indicated by 87% of businesses) and using cloud-based storage capacity. Asked about the benefits they receive from these services, the simplicity of deployment of cloud based solutions and an increased productivity were the benefits most commonly mentioned by businesses that had used the cloud (47.2% and 46.3%, respectively).

While a reduction of costs played a lesser role (34%) across all business sizes, this was more important for larger businesses with 200 and more employees (50%).

Given the significant benefits it raises the question what prevents the remainder of around 80% to access these new services. The ABS found that around 41% of businesses encountered some form of barrier, and across all sizes of businesses, around 20-25% did indicate insufficient knowledge of these services as a major limitation.

However, the relative importance of many other barriers was found to be associated with the size of the business. Especially larger business are still cautious in engaging with the cloud, and suggest that cloud service providers have still some way to go in convincing businesses that their products are safe to use.

Thus, for 30.4% of large businesses a risk of a security breach limited the use of the cloud, whereas this mattered only to 14% of micro-businesses (0-5 employees).

Similarly, issues such as the uncertainty about the location of data, as well as legal, jurisdictional or dispute resolution mechanisms concerned, in percentage terms, large business twice as often than micro and small businesses (0-19 employees).

Interestingly, this was also the case for the high cost of cloud computing services.

Blue dreaming

12 August - Two years ago the Australian Government's Oceans Policy Science Advisory Group led by Professor John Gunn published a position paper Marine Nation 2025: Marine Science to Support Australia's Blue Economy (

covered in our previous story Marine Prospects)

.

Its major recommendation was to develop a ten year plan for improving our marine science capabilities and to develop the 'blue economy' potential of our marine estate.

A National Marine Science Advisory Committee, chaired by Professor Gunn, was formed and with input from 500 scientists and stakeholders the group of experts developed the now released marine science strategy for the period 2015-2025.

A call for increased investments in national research infrastructure and currently under-resourced high-priority science programs underpin the plan.

But the report also highlights the need for more collaboration between scientists, industry , government and the public, which entails an effort to better communicate the importance of marine science to the broader community.

With 13.6 million square kilometres spanning across three oceans we do have the third largest marine estate in the world, but while this brings great opportunities, the sector is also facing major challenges.

The plan's vision is for Australia's marine science to drive the development of new technologies and product innovations, while also providing the evidence base necessary to:

• maintain marine sovereignty and security;
• achieve energy security;
• ensure food security;
• conserve our biodiversity and ecosystem health;
• create sustainable urban coastal development;
• understand and adapt to climate variability and change; and
• develop equitable and balanced resource allocation.

Reaping the economic benefits from our marine assets while addressing these seven core challenges will be a balancing act, exemplified by the proposed development of Australia's tropical north: here the exploit of major resource potential needs to be weighed against the protection of major existing cultural and environmental assets.

To achieve this, the committee put forward the concept of a 'blue economy'. However, the concept is complex (see insert) and its development will require that we narrow the still large existing knowledge gaps, with more than 75% of our marine estate yet to be explored.

Marine science for a blue economy; click image to enlarge

Similar difficulties arise in defining what constitutes our 'marine industry' and, consequently, in measuring its worth.

For example, around the world multinationals are lining up to exploit the rich genetic resource they contain (see also our 2011 dossier 'Ocean Views'). Internationally, such bio-prospecting of marine species is a major area of growth, but it is just one of a number of emerging industries, which also include seabed mining and the harvesting of wave and tidal power (for example the Perth Wave Energy Project, the first Australian project feeding power into the grid).

The 2014 AIMS Index of Marine Industry estimates that the industry's contribution to the economy was around $47 billion in 2011-12. But given the above mentioned limitations, the report makes the point that this estimate may be significantly below the industry's true value, especially as it largely ignores the value of ecosystems services, which the Centre for Policy Development has estimated to be worth in the order of around $25 billion per year.

Australia's marine estate; click image to enlarge

That aside, the 2013 OPSAG report projected further strong growth of Australia's marine economy - possibly three times faster than Australia's gross domestic product over the next decade - and that its value will more than double to around $100 billion per year by 2025

The strategy paper's list of identified growth areas includes:

• the expansion of ocean renewable energy resources (wind, wave, tide);
• growth in the field of marine biotechnology including for the biofuels, bioremediation and bioproducts;
• the discovery and development of new offshore geological basins for oil and gas, and for CO₂ storage;
• increases in the market value of fisheries through sustainable harvesting practices;
• a doubling of aquaculture with the development of new sectors;
• the sustainable development of northern Australia; and
• a sustainable growth of the marine tourism industry.

The experts argue that to this end investments in marine science need to significantly increase from the current $450 million per year, which represents less than 1% of the industry's current estimated value.

However, these increased investments in marine R&D need to come from a broad base of sources, including government, industry and the community, and should support priority initiatives including:

• a National Blue Economy Innovation Fund;
• national marine research infrastructure;
• a National Integrated Marine Experimental Facility;
• a National Ocean Modelling Program; and
• a Marine Science Capability Development Fund.

The committee calls for an explicit shift in focus away from 'business as usual' marine science towards a system supporting a 'blue economy' development (see insert listing the eight recommendations).

They also propose the establishment of a National Marine Baselines and Long-term Monitoring Program, which is to develop a comprehensive assessment of Australia's marine estate.

Further recommended is a dedicated and coordinated marine science program and the expansion of the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS), which is supporting critical climate change and coastal systems research.

Finally, the experts want the government to fund the full use of the national research vessel RV Investigator for 300 days a year instead of just 180 days at present.

Australia's national research vessel, RV Investigator.

Customers in sight

As previously highlighted by the 2008 Review of the National Innovation System and subsequent government reports, there are substantial inefficiencies in our innovation system, including a poor knowledge transfer from the public into the private sector.

The need for greater collaboration between publicly funded research organisations and industry is also a core aim of the current Australian Government's Industry Innovation and Competition Agenda, with the establishment of Industry Growth Centres a key initiative addressing Australia's poor record in this area.

CSIRO's plan is following the government's push that its investments result in less 'blue sky' research and more applied research focussed on industry needs. Or in the words of the CSIRO's chief executive officer Dr Larry Marshall: "We must form new bonds and collaborate across disciplines, sectors, science and business. That is where profound innovation happens  at the intersection of these areas."

Accordingly, the language used in CSIRO's new mission statement emulates that of its courted prospective business partners: "Create value for customers through innovation" ... is followed by the 'greater good' afterthought ... "that delivers positive impact for Australia".

Notably, for measuring its success "impact return on investment" and "customer satisfaction" are then topping the list.

In a media statement, Dr Marshall referred to a new CSIRO ON program, which is currently established to support 'breakthrough innovation' by accelerating the process of getting new technology and ideas into the market.

CSIRO also will aim to foster collaboration and better co-ordination through increased co-location with universities and other research organisations and a greater emphasis on international connections.

CSIRO's new strategic actions include (selected and edited):

• Customer first: CSIRO will create deeper relationships with customers through focussing on customer experience and delivering innovative solutions.
• Collaboration hub: CSIRO will enhance the exchange between research, industry and government. It will deepen its relationship with universities and other research organisations, improve its property footprint through capital city consolidation and increased co-location, and increased engagement in education and training.
• Global outlook: CSIRO will accelerate its international engagement, operations and collaboration, and prioritise key regions for sustained presence.
• Breakthrough innovation: CSIRO will implement a transformative innovative program, new investment models and funding; it will deepen its support for Australian technology start-ups and SMEs; it will create digital innovation capability; and it will encourage people to take commercial and scientific risk, tolerate positive failure and promote a learning culture.
• Excellent science: CSIRO will only invest in science projects that are aligned with its objectives and strengths of the organisation. It will increase investments in a portfolio of Future Science Platforms with higher technical risks and potential for new industries in Australia.

Further strategy actions include:
• Deliver on commitments;
• Inclusion, trust and respect; and
• Health, safety and environment.

For a complete description of strategy actions, see report.

Three dimensional play room

Four industry partners have already signed up, and CSIRO has been involved in a project, in which its Arcam 3D printer was used to create a titanium heel bone implant for the treatment of a cancer patient, a mouthguard for treating sleep apnoea and a customisable 'orthotic' for horses suffering laminitis.

Titanium heel bone

image: courtesy Anatomics

In October last year, CSIRO reported that it had collaborated with Australian biotech-company Anatomics to produce a heel bone made of titanium using the Arcam 3D printer.

The bone was then successfully implanted into a elderly patient who was facing amputation of the leg as a result of cancer.

The time it took from the first contact with the company to surgery was just two weeks.

In addition to the Arcam A1 3D printer, Lab 22 additive manufacturing equipment also features the Concept Laser M2 for laser heat treatment, the metal 3D printing system Optomec LENS MR-7, the universal 3D printer Voxelject VX1000, and the Cold Spray Plasma Giken, which creates coatings by bombarding substrates with a wide range of materials.

Linked up

An example for a project involving university-industry collaboration is a project led by Professor Michael Djordjevic from the Australian National University, who will work with Monsanto Company to reduce the reliance of crop production on nitrogen fertilisers.

But it is not only big commercial players that will benefit, there are also many smaller innovative companies engaging with university research.

One of those is Seagull Technologies, an Australian company specialising on developing a novel method for the delivery of drugs through biological tissues based on a combination of nanotechnology, electric fields and ultrasound. The company will collaborate with Professor Greg Qiao from the University of Melbourne to study ultrasound-assisted biomacromolecule transport within polymeric gel systems. These partners are also involved in a larger NHMRC development grant awarded earlier this year, and which focusses on the treatment of a degenerative eye condition.

This round of Linkage Projects had a success rate of 35% with two universities standouts in the number of approved grants: The University of New South Wales and the The University of Melbourne with 32 and 30 approved grants, respectively.

The spread of expertise that will be supported is broad, including one grant targeting Philosophy and Religious Studies. However, Engineering is by far the most supported field of research, targeted by 74 projects.

Heavenly peeks into the past

2 June 2015 - The 11 international partners of the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) project have signed off on the construction of the first generation of the telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert.

Giant Magellan Telescope GMTO Corporation

The agreement will now unlock over US$500 million of the around US$1 billion the project is estimated to cost. Only two nations outside the American continent participate (Korea and Australia), while seven of the 11 partner organisations are from the US.

The lack of European participation is explained by their own, fully tax payer funded project, the 40-metre European Large Telescope, which will also be at a site in Chile.

And a third giant telescope project is going to be built at a site in Hawaii, with participation from the US, China, Canada, India and Japan.

Australia's stake in the GMT project is based on a $93 million contribution provided by the Education Investment Fund and the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy. This secured Australian National University (ANU) and Astronomy Australia Limited (AAL) a 10% share of the project and thus access for Australian astronomers and scientists to the telescope. Australian industry will also be able to contribute to the telescope's high-technology equipment.

ANU researchers and engineers at the ANU Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics also designed and built a key component of the project, a GMT Integral Field Spectograph, which will record spectra from each point across the field of view simultaneously and so allow researchers to take full advantage of the telescope's light-collecting power and high resolution.

Expected to be fully operational by 2014, the GMT is on course to be the first of a new class of extremely large telescopes, capable of producing images that have ten times the resolution of those captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Researchers will use the facility to search for Earth-like planets around nearby stars and the tiny distortions that black holes cause in the light from distant stars and galaxies. The research could reveal the faintest objects ever seen in space, and capture the light emitted by ancient and now extremely distant galaxies shortly after the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago.

Innovation highways for the nation

14 May 2015 - The Australian Government won praise from the research community for its decision to keep the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) going for another two years, with $300 million allocated in the May budget. However, the funding is only meant to bridge the time until the government's review of research infrastructure is finalised, and a long term funding strategy is developed.

In 2015-16, NCRIS will provide $136.9 million for 27 facilities supporting a wide range of nationally significant research outcomes. These include new cancer testing methods, advances in quantum computing, a better understanding of the oceans, weather and climate, as well as improved crop productivity and more detailed environmental monitoring.

The new funding will also support international research initiatives like the Square Kilometre Array.

The 27 funded projects are:

• Australian Animal Health Laboratory;
• Astronomy Australia;
• Atlas of Living Australia;
• Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Facility;
• Australian National Data Service;
• Australian National Fabrication Facility;
• ANSTO Nuclear Science Facilities;
• Australian Phenomics Network;
• Australian Plant Phenomics Network;
• Australian Plasma Fusion Research Facility;
• Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network;
• AuScope;
• Biofuels;
• Bioplatforms Australia;
• EMBL Australia;
• Groundwater;
• Heavy Ion Accelerators;
• Integrated Marine Observing System;
• National Computational Infrastructure;
• National Deuteration Facility;
• National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources;
• National Imaging Facility;
• Pawsey High Performance Computing Centre;
• Population Health Research Network;
• Research Data Storage Infrastructure;
• Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network; and
• Translating Health Discovery into Clinical Applications.

Measuring success

New carrot from the boss

The 2015 Prime Minister's Prizes for Science will for the first time also recognise the practical and commercial successes of Australian scientists with a new award.

The new Prime Minister's Prize for the Commercial Application of Science will be awarded with the intend to encourage entrepreneurship in the research community and better collaboration between researchers and industry...read full story

This problem was also highlighted with the Australian Government's Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda (see our dossier 'Reinventing a nation'.

Click infographic to explore: Collaboration of firms with the public research sector in the OECD

While the ARC's Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) evaluations demonstrate that the research capacity of Australian universities is very competitive internationally, it fails to capture their engagement with the private sector. As a result, it provides little incentive for such cross-sector collaboration.

ATSE's findings underscore that research is an important but not a sufficient driver of innovation.

And the report shows that it is feasible to rank universities on their cross-sector collaboration in defined research disciplines using already collected data.

The data collections, obtained from the ARC, were detailed enough to distinguish between university income awarded to research-led investigations and income linked to cross-sector participation (such as industry). Importantly, the report's findings indicate that the new metrics system could rate additional collaborative activities in universities

New carrot from the boss

The new PM's Prize for the Commercial Application of Science will be awarded with the intend to encourage entrepreneurship in the research community and better collaboration between researchers and industry.

With this new prize the total prize money has risen to $700,000 across six prizes:

• The PM's Prize for Science recognises a significant advancement of knowledge through science.
• The PM's Prize for the Commercial Application of Science is awarded for the translation of science knowledge into a substantial commercial impact.
• The Frank Fenner Prize for Life Scientist of the Year and the Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year acknowledge the work of our best early to mid-career scientists.
• The PM's Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools and the PM's Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools recognise excellence in science teaching with prize money shared equally between the recipient teacher and their school.

Medical research was already the big winner in last year's budget, but with the funding boost from the MRF uncertain the year ahead will also bring slightly reduced health and medical research funding from the NHMRC, with expenses for grants estimated at $934 million compared to $949 million in 2014-15.

Enhancing Australia's capacity in dementia research will continue to be a focus in 2015-16, including through the establishment of a NHMRC National Institute for Dementia Research

And the agency will have a new funding initiative in which it will collaborate with the Austrade. The Developing Northern Australia budget measure, which is listed at a total cost of $15 million over four years, aims to position the north as a leader in tropical health. The program will commence in 2015-16 and support collaborative research on tropical disease and its translation into health policy and practice.

The government's overall annual investment in science and research will be maintained at around $9.2 billion. This includes funding for the CSIRO, which was hard hit in last year's budget with a reduction in funding of $111.4 million over the years 2013-14 to 2017-18.

The organisation expects to top this up with $527 million ($516 million in 2013-14) from other independent sources, lifting its total budget to $1.29 billion. This compares to 1.31 billion it had at disposal two years ago.

The overall reduced funding is also reflected in the agency's lower staffing levels, which in 2013-14 averaged 5,523 people compared to an average of 4,970 people estimated for 2015-16.

Over the forward estimate, the Government has allocated a total of around $3 billion to the agency.

Across other areas of non-medical research and innovation there is little to be cheerful about.

By comparison, the ARC's special appropriation budget, through which it provides grant support, was $884 million in 2013-14, but was then reduced to $869 million in last year's budget, and is now down to just $790 million in 2015-16.

The reductions especially affects the Linkage program, for which funding reduced by $51 million to $287 million.

Its estimated total revenues of $161 million are $25.4 million less than in the previous year.

The CRC program is currently under review with a final report expected in June 2015. Also under review is the Australia-China Science and Research Fund, which was initially set up with $9 million (matched by China) for the three years from 2011-12 to 2013-14.

The National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) will receive $150 million in 2016-17 to extend its operation to 30 June 2017.

A lifeline also for the Australian Synchroton in Melbourne, which is managed by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). The government will contribute $20.5 million to keep the Synchroton's doors open in 2016-17.

Related to this is the plan to establish a National Radioactive Waste Management Facility for the long-term storage and disposal of waste from the production of medicines, and science and industrial activities.

However, there are a number of strategic priorities that indicate a big year ahead for the sector, notably the focus on developing the agricultural potential of Northern Australia, supported through a new $100 million fund for Improving Northern Cattle Supply Chain.

Strategic priorities for the year ahead include:

• the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper;
• the White Paper on Developing Northern Australia;
• water infrastructure through the Water Infrastructure Taskforce; and
• the implementation of the Biosecurity Bill 2014.

The previously announced Rural Research and Development for Profit program is also on train to invest $100 million over four years in rural research (from 2014-15).

The government has also earmarked $100 million over four years for the Mobile Black Spot program, which is to extend mobile phone coverage and competition in regional Australia (successful locations will be announced by 30 June 2015).

While the Department of Communication will have a significant increase in total program expenses from 2015-16, this is entirely due to 'Special Account Expenses' associated with the transfer of functions from the Telecommunications Universal Management Agency (TUSAMA) to the Department of Communications.

Other program expenses will decrease in 2015-16 and across the forward estimates.

There will also be $95.4 million for a new Digital Transformation Office, which from 1 July will run as an 'executive agency' within the Department of Communications.

Cooperative review

The Australian Government has accepted all of its 18 recommendations, which means the program will continue despite the renewed funding cuts detailed in the 2015-16 budget (another $26 million over the next four years). The government has also already put in place a new CRC Advisory Group, as was recommended by Mr Miles, and it will strengthen the commercial focus of the program.

In its broader conclusion, the report by Mr Miles is in line with previous assessments of the CRCs, including the Collaborating to a purpose review by Professor Mary O'Kane, which in 2008 determined that there was an ongoing need for such a large-scale program bringing research providers and end users together.

However, Professor O'Kane also found that the program, then in its 18th year, had lost some of its appeal to research providers and had not attracted firms in sufficient number to generate innovation on a whole-of-industry basis. Her recommendations aimed for a refreshed and modified program with a strong focus on end-users.

But in line with the broader public good objective pursued by the government at the time, she included as potential end-users the public as well as private sector.

Seven years later, the government has narrowed its policy aim towards promoting commercialisation as a prime objective, as was outlined in the recent Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda (see our dossier 'Reinventing a nation).

Accordingly, Mr Davis states in his report that the focus of his CRC review was to "determine the effectiveness of the program in supporting government's priorities for applied science and research". Hence, he recommends to put a stop to the 'dilution of funds' and put industry again 'front and center'.

The Government's new Growth Centres will now play the pivotal role in promoting collaboration and developing ideas that target industry needs in priority areas. Mr Davis suggests that the CRC program is complementing this as an 'engine of innovative research' by developing commercial products based on these ideas.

However, while there were concerns that this could limit the scope of the CRCs to priority areas targeted by Growth Centres, Industry and Science Minister Ian Macfarlane has indicated in a speech at the annual CRC Association Conference that this would not be the case.

As have previous reviews, Mr Miles also recognises that small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), which account for around two thirds of GDP, face significant barriers to collaboration, including often lack of funds. To boost their participation in CRC projects, he proposes a new more industry-focussed advisory body providing a more streamlined administration, with simplified selection and review process, shorter project timeframes and smaller budgets. This new body should also identify potential links with Growth Centres, and assess the progress of projects against expected outcomes.

Projects found to not progess as expected should not receive further funding, Mr Miles recommends.

Mr Miles' also recommends more flexible organisational structures and governance models, and changes to the lifespan of CRC, which should typically be between four to seven years, but not exceed ten years. And he also proposes to restrict funding to a maximum of $45 million.

However, the CRC Association has welcomed the review and its recommendations, although in a media statement it expressed its concerns with the exclusion of the 'public good' as a target of CRC activities:

"We prefer to use a term like 'national benefit' to describe some CRCs where the ultimate goals are not necessarily commercial goods or services. Many CRCs aim to provide significant and focussed 'national benefit' without aiming for commercial goods or services. For example, the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC produces highly packaged and sought-after information on each fire season. The CRC Association would deem it a poor outcome if CRCs such as this were excluded from the bidding process."

The CRC Association is also critical of restricting the CRC lifespan to 10 years, which it says should be determined on merit.

Northern delightenment

Click image to enlarge

The north is not an economically undeveloped region by any means. At present its accounts for around of 12% of Australia's gross domestic product (GDP). Over half of our sea exports exit from its ports, and over the past decade the volume of goods shipped from Darwin Port grew thirteen fold. Indeed, the region generates much of the nation's income from minerals and energy, and there are still major ongoing investments including one of the world's largest natural gas projects, the $54 billion Gorgon Project in northern Western Australia.

In addition to minerals and energy, there is also substantial agricultural activity. Notably the cattle industry contributes around $3 billion to Australia's GDP, and a major initiative detailed in the White Paper will build on this strength: through the $100 million beef roads initiative, which will be supported by CSIRO's TRAnsport Network Strategic Investment Tool, the government aims to reduce the substantial costs associated with transporting cattle across the vast distances in the north.

The region also produces substantial amounts of sugar cane and bananas, together worth around $1 billion each year.

Nevertheless, diversifying industrial activity in the north and increasing the population outside its capital centres has remained to be a major challenge.

The strategy presented in the White Paper, which has a 20 year outlook, aims to lay the foundation for rapid population growth to between four and five million people by 2060. The economic case for this builds on the Asia's economic expansion: two thirds of the global middle class could live in Asia by 2030, with opportunities for Australia that already enthused the former Australian Government in its Australia in the Asian Century White Paper.

The north's proximity and climatic similarity to many growth areas in Asia has obvious advantages but at the same time being part of the tropics, where at present around 40% of the world's population lives, harbours major challenges - notably extremely variable rainfalls across wet and dry seasons, and high evaporation rates.

The availability of water will be a defining issue for the government's expansion plans to succeed. And while climate change does not feature much at all in the White Paper, the available evidence suggests that it will raise the hurdles even higher. During the 20^th century Australia's north warmed between 0.7 and 0.8 degrees celsius and this trend is set to continue. According to CSIRO research, the number of days above 35 degrees celsius is projected to increase, as is the frequency of intense cyclones and coastal inundation events due to sea level rises and storm surges (see also our story It's the climate, stupid".

Monsoonal flooding in Darwin;

Image by Bidgee

Australia's north accounts for more than 60% of Australia's total rain falls, but it is largely concentrated along the far northern coastal areas. The average annual rainfall ranges from 300 mm to over 1,000 mm across the region, with around 60% of the rain coming down in the lower reaches of the river basins, close to the sea, where it is hard to capture.

Less than 3% of northern Australia's rain falls inland, according to the CSIRO. Compounding these challenges are the very high evaporation rates across the region, which over large parts of the year can exceed rainfall rates.

In its Green Paper, the government still pondered on the idea of special tax arrangements to attract businesses to the north, but this option is now soundly off the table. Instead, reducing regulatory burdens, including changes to native title arrangements, and improving the region's infrastructure are now the main tools to provide the necessary incentives.

The White Paper details initiatives worth in total $6.2 billion. This includes the new $5 billion Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) already announced in the 2015-2016 budget. This facility will provide concessional loans for the construction of major projects such as ports, roads, pipelines, and electricity and water supply.

Of the remaining $1.2 billion set aside for new initiatives, $600 million will support the building of priority road projects.

The north's water infrastructure is the next biggest focus, targeted through a $200 million Water Infrastructure Development Fund. This new scheme, complements the ongoing Great Artesian Basin Sustainability Initiative, will co-contribute to projects of national significance and interest and thus rely on additional state/territory or private investments.

Major planned water infrastructure projects; click image to enlarge

The government sees building new dams as key to overcoming the challenge of rainfall variability, also as this infrastructure is far less developed in the north than in the south. High priority projects to be examined for economic feasibility include the Nullinga Dam near Cairns and the Ord Stage 3 in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

The fund will also support projects investigating surface and groundwater resources, and in some areas, aquifer recharge may be found more cost-effective than water storage options.

While these major infrastructure investments target broader enablers for business development in the north, there are a series of less costly initiatives, including a major northern investment forum the government plans to hold late in 2015.

A new $75 million Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Developing Northern Australia will drive commercially focussed R&D projects, initially in the areas agriculture, food and tropical medicine. Tropical medicine will also be the target of a $15.3 million Tropical Health Strategy, as are $2 million towards strengthening the links between institutions researching tropical health.

Other initiatives reflect the government's vision of removing barriers to investment and business by reducing regulatory obstacles, limiting government involvement and overall improving governance, including by moving the Office of Northern Australia, which at present has its central office in Canberra, to northern Australia.

Consistent with its pursuit of one-stop shops for environmental approval processes, there will be a 'single point on entry' for investors in major projects to get help through all regulatory hurdles. Also discussed are possible changes to Indigenous native title and landright arrangements and the government will provide around $110 million a year over the next four years to finalise all existing native title claims within a decade.

But it may be access to a skilled workforce that could be the most significant challenge to the plan of expanding the northern economy. This is also because of the environmental contraints imposed by the wet-dry season cycles.

Labour market reform is difficult beast to tame, while the government argues for a more flexible labour market system in the north to fit the special needs of businesses. It has asked the Productivity Commission to look into this issue and it plans to make access to skills from outside of Australia easier, including through changes in the Designated Area Migration Agreements (DAMAs), which allow businesses to address a shortage of skills by sponsoring skilled and semi-skilled overseas workers.

Unforgettable commitments

The new institute is to boost Australia's capacity in dementia research while ensuring that it is well integrated with international developments.

To this end, the institute is expected to align Australia's dementia research effort with the work of the World Dementia Council, which was founded at the G8 dementia summit in December 2013 with the stated ambition to identify a cure, or a disease-modifying therapy, for dementia by 2025.

The NNIDR will also promote a rapid translation of research outcomes into practice.

Dementia priority areas; click to enlarge

As part of its $200 million commitment to dementia research, the Australian Government has also announced $35.6 million for six Dementia Research Team Grants.

The selected projects include a to date largest dementia clinical trial with people aged 55 to 75 to test an online tool designed to reduce the risk of dementia.

Other funded project aim to uncover early warning signs of Alzheimers' and non-Alzheimers' disease related dementia.

The grants address five key research priority areas that were highlighted in a new NHMRC National Dementia Research & Translation Priority Framework. It was created to inform the process of coordinating dementia research through the NNIDR towards positive outcomes in the following key domains:

• Living with dementia - supports the dignity, independence and self-determination of people with dementia;
• Prevention - aims for effective interventions to reduce the risk and lower the incidence of dementia by age;
• Assessment/Diagnosis - optimises the timely, accurate and supported diagnoses;
• Intervention/Treatment - develops new treatment interventions to delay the onset of dementia; and
• Care - establishes expected levels of high quality care and quality of life.

Location, location, location...

Click image to explore National Innovation Map

The research paper "Australian geography of innovative entrepreneurship" also underscores how much of Australia's innovative capacity depends on location. The paper, which will feed into the Innovation System Report 2015, explores the patterns of innovative entrepreneurship in Australia for the period 2008-2014. It found a high concentration of IP generation and entrepreneurship in Australia's metropolitan areas, and that these indicators of innovation were strongly associated with ?expenditure on R&D: for every 1% increase in R&D expenditure, the researchers found patent applications and trademarks increased by 0.35% and 0.40%, respectively, and this correlated with an increase in the number of business entries.

During the examined period, NSW and Queensland were hot-spots of innovation activity, with a large number of businesses generated in?the Professional, Scientific and Technical Services industry.?

Another significant finding of the paper is that the presence of publicly funded research organisations appears to strongly stimulate innovation outcomes. Thus, the researchers found that in regions with Centres of Excellence and Cooperative Research Centres the levels of patenting and trademarking were three and a half times higher than the national average, and they also had twice as many businesses in the Professional, Scientific and Technical Services industry.?

Hubs for the future

Gold, base metal copper and uranium will be the primary focus of the research, along three broader themes:

• detecting proximity to ore;
• quantifying geometallurgical characteristics; and
• predicting geoenvironmental behaviour.

To this end, the hub will work together with partners across industry and public research, including Newcrest Mining Ltd; AMIRA International Ltd; BHP Billiton Olympic Dam; Corescan Pty Ltd; Laurin Technic Pty Ltd; National ICT Australia; and the University of Exeter.

Established within the ARC Centre of Excellence in Ore Deposit, the new hub received close to $4 million from the ARC, with a further $4 million pledged by industry partners.

The second new hub, established at the University of Adelaide, will support Australia's $5 billion per year wheat industry.

It's main focus will be to deliver advanced technologies, breeding material and information to produce new varieties of wheat that are tolerant to stressful environments.

The ARC Research Hub for Genetic Diversity and Molecular Breeding for Wheat in a Hot and Dry Climate received $4.3 million from the ARC, with its research partners including Australian Grain Technologies; InterGrain Pty Ltd; Longreach Plant Breeders Management; and the Grains Research and Development Corporation. The University of South Australia; and The University of Sydney are participating in the project.

Sunny diesel

Weipa Solar Plant; image ARENA

The project, now in its first phase, uses 18000 First Solar's FuelSmart™ modules that produce electricity from photovoltaic (PV) solar power in combination with a fossil fuel engine generator.

The plant has a peak output of 1.7 megawatt (MW) electricity, which is estimated to produce on average 2800 megawatt hours per year and to deliver up to 20% of the township's daytime electricity demand .

Up to 600,000 litres of diesel will be saved each year that would otherwise be required to fuel Rio Tinto's 26MW power station.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) contributed $3.5 million to the project's first phase, which is to demonstrate that PV-diesel hybrid projects can be as reliable as stand-alone diesel-powered generation. If successful, the agency will further invest up to $7.8 million in a second phase, in which the system's capacity will be increased to 6.7MW and a battery storage system added.

Innovator manna

14 September - The Australian Government has announced another round of Commercialisation grants worth in total $14.6 million.

The grants were offered to 24 companies, which each will receive up to $1 million as a dollar for dollar co-investment.

The Commercialisation grant scheme are provided under the Accelerating Commercialisation element of the government's Entrepreneur's Programme. Since its first round in April this year it has provided over $30 million to 55 companies.

Not so sweet youth

Type 1 Diabetes;

graphic modified from NIH

The ARC is supporting clinical research into the disease through a $35 million Special Research Initiative for Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes, which has the objective to accelerate the development of new therapies.

The initiative is administered through the Type 1 Diabetes Clinical Research Network (T1DCRN), a program led by the JDFR (formerly known as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation).

In September, the ARC announced that the first round of T1DCRN grants will provide a total of $9 million, including for clinical trials of new therapies that will be open to 1,532 Australian patients.

Rayful thinking

Click image to enlarge

However, current initiatives by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) aim to bring down these costs and target cost parity between large-scale solar and wind energy by 2020.

The agencies are investing $350 million in new large-scale solar farms accross Australia to support the construction of between four and ten projects. This could establish an additional 200 megawatt in new large-scale solar capacity in Australia, which would almost double the 211 MW capacity established through Australia's to date largest solar projects, AGL's solar farms in Broken Hill and Nynghan (combined capacity 155 MW) and Fotowatio Renewable Ventures PV plant at Moree in NSW (56 MW capacity).

The ARENA $100 million large-scale solar competitive round is now open for applications and will provide selected major photovolatic projects with a minimum capacity of 5 megawatts (MW) with grants of up to $30 million.

Complementing this initiatives, the CEFC will support projects selected for ARENA funding through its $250 million large-scale solar financing program.

It's collaboration, stupid

To this end, the Department of Industry , Innovation and Science and IP Australia have developed a new toolkit through which researchers and business can more easily establish links and exchange, expertise and knowledge.

Especially targeting small to medium enterprises, the Australian IP Toolkit for Collaboration contains guides and tools for how to use and manage intellectual property (IP) in collaboration. It also has model contracts that can be used as a neutral starting point for research collaboration.

Defensive high-tech

However, it was not set up as a grants program but rather the program supports a collaborative activity between Defence and industry or research organisations.

Among the successful proposals is a low-cost, high-G centrifuge for simulators used in pilot training.

The successful proposals in the program's latest round were from the Armor Composite Engineering, CSIRO, Micro-X Pty Ltd, Ocius Technology, University of Canberra, the Bureau of Meteorology and Deakin University. They include:

• a low-cost, high-G centrifuge for simulators used in pilot training;
• a low profile body armour for better soldier protection;
• a miniaturised wide-band, low-noise radio frequency antenna;
• mobile x-ray imagers for use during field deployments and detecting improvised explosive devices;
• a stealthy unmanned surface vessel to track submarines and torpedoes;
• a tactile flight display that improves helicopter safety in poor visibility and threat environments; and
• technology to securely transmit three-dimensional geospatial data to ships at sea.

Lots of fruit, little juice

Consistent with other similar assessments such as the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index, the GII discerns so-called innovation input factors, which enable innovation, and output factors, which are the results from input investments. The ratio between them indicates the efficiency of an innovation system.

Consequently, a poor country with low innovative capacity can still have a great innovation system efficiency. For example, the GII 2015 ranks Angola as the country with the highest innovation efficiency, which reflects that while this country makes low investments relative to rich nations, it gets a pretty good return for it.

Since 2013, Australia's efficiency ratio determined by the GII has actually not changed (0.7). And as we show in our accompanying infographic, within the group of the top 20 most innovative countries - all high-income economies - Australia's innovation efficiency even fell from 16th to 17th position.

The infographic also reveals that Australia lags behind other countries in this group in the generation of knowledge and technology; these variables are traditionally associated with successful innovation.

Global Innovation Index 2015: Australia's performance; click image to explore interactive infographic

Creative outputs include intangible assets, such as domestic trademark applications and the use of ICT in business or organisational models. Creative goods and services, and general online creativity, including Wikipedia edits by residents and YouTube uploads, are also considered creative outputs.

In the focussed summary on Australia, the GII report notes that the country is in the top ten in three input factors, which are human capital and research, its infrastructure and its market sophistication. Minor positive shifts in its ranking were found in comparisons of ICT infrastructure, ecological sustainability of its economy and its business sophistication. However, is has lost ground in its human capital and research capacity and in the outputs of knowledge and technology.

The question is, of course, how significant is all this?

As part of our recent 'Reinventing a nation' dossier, we examined how Australia's innovation system is standing up internationally using a range of Australian and international reports.

We found that among the many reasons that underlie Australia's apparent weakness in translating generated knowledge into tangible outcomes the most notable were associated with the leadership and the organisational culture in Australian businesses.

However, we also pointed out that broad assessments of the innovation capacity and competitiveness of countries are based on the selective and weighted use of performance indicators, and that even for countries at similar stage of economic development assessments comparisons based on benchmark performances are difficult as every country has unique broader economic settings.

Australia is a case-in-point. We still generate most of our export income from commodities yet nevertheless belong to a select group of highly-developed and innovation-driven economies. Obviously, the innovation system of such an economy operates differently to an economy that generates export income mainly from high-tech goods or services.

For example, by contrast to most innovation leaders, Australia's mining sector accounts for a large share of business R&D expenditure (BERD). Hence our economy's R&D intensity tends to follow the cyclic up- and down-turn typical for this sector - and at the moment the trend is downward (see our story 'Losing sight of average'). This is a very different context to that of the Swiss or Swedish economies, where the export of commodities play a minor role.

It is therefore not surprising that Australia's innovation performance is more closely aligned to that of other highly-developed yet still commodity based export nations, such as Canada (ranked 16) and Norway (ranked 18).

The question is how government policy can best support this process.

And here the GII report contains a warning that, while primarily directed at emerging economies, may have validity for Australia.

The overall risks associated with policies aimed at fostering national champions or pockets of excellence are high, it says:

"The number of announced high-tech clusters that remain empty shell and of strategic 'national priority' sectors that never took off is a vivid reminder of such risks. Top-down approaches in designating clusters or picking champions and priority sectors might come at the expense of fostering true bottom-up entrepreneurship that thrives on the creation of an open and competitive level playing field that gives space to potential local innovation."

To illustrate this: according to the GII 2015, the UK and the US are among the five most innovative countries, largely because of the quality and output of their world-class universities. Germany does not even make it into the top 10, yet it is Germany that is a world leader in exporting high-value goods.

The value of Germany's exports, which is predominately made up of high-tech manufactured products, was almost three times that of the UK in 2014.

While many reasons account for this discrepancy in assessed innovation capacity and an economy's success in world markets, there are striking differences in how both countries invest in innovation.

In contrast to the UK, much of Germany's research and development is performed within its business sector. In 2013, BERD as a percentage of GDP was 1.1% in the UK and 1.91% in Germany.

It suggests that compared to the UK, investments made in Germany are more closely aligned with competitive product developments, a potential lesson for Australia as it moves towards a knowledge-intensive economy.

Great funding divide

2016 ARC Discovery Projects: the great funding divide; click infographic to explore

However, as shown in our infographic, a top tier of just six Australian universities accounted for around 65% of the available funding under the Discovery Projects scheme. This was as much a result of the number of applications submitted as also the superior efficiency of their application process. Thus, at the top end of the spectrum the Australian National University achieved a success rate of 25%, while universities such as the University of Wollongong or RMIT were much less efficient in their applications, achieving a success rate of only around 5-6%.

Four of the top six universities had success rates above 22%, while only two unversities outside this tier, the University of Adelaide and the University of Western Australia, demonstrated comparable efficiency with their applications.

Successful female CIs were underrepresented across all levels of experience. In the earlier stages of career development (up to 20 years after they have finished a PhD) male CIs were twice as often part of a successful proposal than female CIs, while in the group of researchers with at least 25 years of post-PhD experience the male to female ratio was more than 5:1.

This persistent gender gap in research funding success is an ongoing concern, which the ARC seeks to address with its Gender Equality Action Plan 2015-16, released 16 November.

The plan includes a series of action items for 2015-16, which are:

• monitoring and evaluating the impact of changes to the eligibility requirements under the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award scheme;
• improving the gender balance of membership on ARC selection committees relative to the overall gender balance in particular research fields;
• raising awareness of the option for recipients of fellowships and awards to utilise parental leave and part-time arrangements for caring responsibilities;
• encouraging the development of a Centre-specific equity plan within the Funding Agreement for ARC Centres of Excellence commencing in 2017;
• investigating options for unconscious bias training for ARC College of Experts and/or assessors; and
• monitoring leave provisions under fellowships to ensure continued consistency.

Resourceful nursery

It is set up as a not-for-profit company (METS Growth Centre Lt), and will be led by Elizabeth Lewis-Gray (chair) and Daniel Sullivan (CEO).

Among the centre's main activities will be the development of a 10 year strategic plan for the METS sector focussing on the following four key objectives:

• reducing regulatory burden;
• increasing collaboration and commercialisation;
• improving international engagement capabilities, and
• enhancing management and workforce skills.

New piggies kicked to market

• Advanced Agricultural Systems Pty Ltd ($999,712) - the company, which is trading as SwarmFarm and chaired by former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman, is developing small, lightweight robots for farming and weed control.
• Agersens Pty Ltd ($250,000) - the company develops a fenceless farming system called eShepherd, through which farmers will be able to control their livestock's health and location, including using a smartphone or tablet.
• Blamey and Saunders Hearing Pty Ltd ($985,330) - the company is commercialising the world's first modular hearing aid.
• Euclideon Pty Ltd ($1 million) - the company is commercialising Holographic Entertainment Centres. Euclideon has created hardware and designed software that allows people to experience real world environments in hologram rooms. The objects in the hologram room are not just projections on walls, they appear to be solid and float in front of the user.
• GRD-Franmarine Holdings Pty Ltd ($1 million) - the Western Australian diving company has developed an inwater, no contact hull cleaning system called Envirocart, which is capable of cleaning and encapsulating marine biofouling from vessels over 40 metres.
• Osler Technology Pty Ltd ($1 million) - the company's Osler Technology Clinical Performance Platform provides a performance enhancing clinical and procedural report card for students, doctors, nurses and paramedics.
• StraxCorp Pty Ltd ($1 million) - the Melbourne-based start-up is commercialising a web-based CT Image Analysis for diagnosis and monitoring of bone health, used for the early detection of osteoporosis.
• Yield Technology Solutions Pty Ltd ($957,000) - the Yield is an Internet of Things (IoT) AgTech product company. The grant will support its technology for the Oyster Industry, which reduces unnecessary harvest closures, improves labour scheduling and tracks food safety.
• Wilson Pastoral International Pty Ltd ($949,954) - the South Australian company is producing pellets from drought resistant saltbush as a low cost source of nutrients for livestock.
• xLabs Pty Ltd ($357,403) - the start-up's EyesDecide Realtime eye gaze tracking web platform can work out what users are looking at on the screen using only a webcam with no additional hardware required.

Industrially transformative

Professor Shajwalla is renown for an invention that uses car tyres as a replacement of traditional coke in the manufacturing of steel in electric arc steel furnaces.

Her polymer injection technology is now licensed to Australian manufacturer OneSteel (now Arrium Limited), which was collaborating in the project.

Building on this, the UNSW-based hub will target transformational technologies that can convert complex automotive waste into metal alloys, integrate agricultural waste into ferrous processing and use waste plastic to make green ceramics. The research will also aim for on cost effective solutions for e-waste.

The ARC has funded the hub with $2.1 million over four years. A further $6.7 million in cash and in-kind support will be from its industry partners Brickworks Building Products Pty Ltd, Arrium Mining Consumables, Jaylon Industries Pty Ltd, and Tersum Energy Pty Ltd.

Its research will target the entire supply chain - from mines to markets - to ensure that the mining products have the properties required by the market.

One element of the hub's research program is so called iron ore beneficiation, which maximises the recovery and reduces the content of ultrafine slimes.

Professor Galvin is an expert in the field of fine particle beneficiation.

Together with commercial partner Ludowici he invented the Reflux Classifier, which separates fine particles on the basis of either density or size, improving the efficiency of the process. And his latest invention, the Graviton, is poised to radically transform the recovery and concentration of fine particle resources across the mining industry.

Other elements of the hub's research program are:

• the handling of iron ore material, which will address challenges arising when high moisture, sticky ores are transported though bins and chutes and onto ships; and
• the properties and end-use functionality of iron ore, which targets the relationship between fundamental ore properties and performance during sintering and in the blast furnace;

The ARC Research Hub for Transforming the Mining Value Chain at the University of Tasmania will focus on making the exploration, discovery, and characterisation of ore deposits more efficient, through to environmental assessment, mining, ore processing and waste rock disposal.

Gold, base metal copper and uranium will be the primary focus of the research, along three broader themes:

• detecting proximity to ore;
• quantifying geometallurgical characteristics; and
• predicting geoenvironmental behaviour.

To this end, the hub will work together with partners across industry and public research, including Newcrest Mining Ltd; AMIRA International Ltd; BHP Billiton Olympic Dam; Corescan Pty Ltd; Laurin Technic Pty Ltd; National ICT Australia; and the University of Exeter.

Established within the ARC Centre of Excellence in Ore Deposit, the new hub received close to $4 million from the ARC, with a further $4 million pledged by industry partners.

The second new hub, established at the University of Adelaide, will support Australia's $5 billion per year wheat industry.

It's main focus will be to deliver advanced technologies, breeding material and information to produce new varieties of wheat that are tolerant to stressful environments.

The ARC Research Hub for Genetic Diversity and Molecular Breeding for Wheat in a Hot and Dry Climate received $4.3 million from the ARC, with its research partners including Australian Grain Technologies; InterGrain Pty Ltd; Longreach Plant Breeders Management; and the Grains Research and Development Corporation.

The University of South Australia; and The University of Sydney are participating in the project.

NHMRC Hunger Games

In 2010, the success rate for Project Grants was still 23.4%, even then presenting a very inefficient process. But over recent years the outlook for applicants has further deteriorated as the number of applications rose (3397 in 2010; 3758 in 2015) and less projects were chosen for funding (802 in 2010; 516 in 2015).

The chances for receiving NHMRC support are only slightly better for fellowships: In 2015, the main support schemes provided by the NHMRC - Career Development Fellowships, Early Career Fellowships, and Research Fellowships - had a combined success rate of just 18.5%.

This is not just a matter of inefficiency, there is also a massive social cost attached.

In a country that has a comparably small industry base, entire careers established over years will depend on continued funding success, as career breaks caused by missing out means less chance to publish, and this in turn means less chance of receiving a grant in future.

This is a situation made worse by the slow responsiveness of the system, with many months passing by before researchers even find out whether they are among the lucky few.

The question has to be asked if this is a desirable outcome for a nation that wants more young people to embrace a research career.

The difficulty of finding a more effective way of funding science is also subject to discussions overseas.

In 2012, the journal Nature published a series of comments on this, including from Paula Stephan, professor of economics at the US Georgia State University. In general terms, she says that science is full of perverse incentives that reduce efficiency and encourage bad financial choices, such as hiring too many temporary scientists employed through short-term grants.

Hers is a US centred perspective, but it could easily be applied to Australian conditions: if a postdoc doesn't get a research job, taxpayers do not get a return on their investment. While cheap and easily dispensible in the short term to fix tight budgets, "in reality, postdocs are not cheap: substantial resources - both their own and society's - have been invested in training them."

In Australia this may be especially a problem as it does not have a significant industry base capable of providing 'safe havens' for scientists who do not succeed in academia.

Answers don't come easy. But in many countries, including Australia, the ratios of staff scientists to temporary employed postdocs have continuously been falling in universities, and in Australia budding researchers face a double whammy of also having their chances diminished attracting a grant.

This should raise concern whether this is the best road to take in the long term.

Paula Stephans puts forward some potential solutions, such as better balancing the production of PhDs against the limited number of research jobs, and making graduate students and postdocs more costly to universities.

And another issue is worthwhile noting.

Victoria is the clear centre of Australian health & medical research: Relative to its population, the state attracted almost twice as much NHMRC funding as any other state (see below). But the NHMRC data suggest that more generally researchers are far more likely to be selected for NHMRC funding when they apply in the more densely populated states (Vic, Qld, NSW) than in less populated states (SA, WA, TAS).

Thus, researchers from Victoria, Queenland and New South Wales achieved success rates of between 16.4% and 18.4%, while only between 12.1% and 12.8% of applications from smaller states (SA, WA, TAS) were selected for funding.

Less funding means less chance to maintain research capacity, and this is likely to reinforce a trend of concentrating Australia's medical research in the major centres.

It includes $25 million for a single grant awarded under the Targeted Call for Research into Preparing Australia for the Genomics Revolution in Health Care scheme to the Australian Genomics Health Alliance (AGHA).

This second largest grant ever delivered through the NHMRC is meant to set Australia up as a global leader in genomic medicine. The expectation is that as genomics becomes better integrated into our healthcare system it will for many diseases speed up the process of diagnosis, and lead to drug therapies that can be better tailored to the individual needs of patients.

There is also a potential that genomic medicine will result in significant savings across the spectrum of health care delivery.

Project grants accounted for 55% of total funding. In total, almost $420 million were awarded to 516 projects at a success rate of 13.7%.

Included in this year's round were also $82 million for grants targeting dementia research as part of the Australian Government's $200 million over five years Boosting Dementia Research Initiative. Almost half (46%) of the funding was awarded to researchers at The University of Melbourne ($16.3 million) and the University of Sydney ($21.3 million).

The 2015 NHMR round also included $36.8 million for 15 new NHMRC Centres of Research Excellence, with five each established in the area of Clinical, Health Services, and Population Health.

With competitive grants worth $295 million Victoria again trumped all other states, with New South Wales' researchers attracting just $208 million. The success of Victoria is becoming even more notable when compared relative to its population: per resident, the state attracted almost twice ($50.2) the funding than its northern rival ($27.6).

And there is also little change in the gender gap, with male researchers again attracting far more funding than female researchers ($436 million versus $284 million). By contrast to grants delivered by the ARC, which do not show a significant difference in the success rate between genders (see ours story 'Great funding divide', the gender gap with NHMRC grants is both a result of less females applying and their lower chance of being selected for funding (16% for females versus 17.3% for males).

Case for the space

Professor Freeland has been asked to take the global regulatory setting for the civil space sector into context, and to address issues like stimulating industry innovation and entrepreneurship.

"We need to appropriately manage space activity across the full life-cycle from launch to re-entry and end-of-life disposal, Mr Pyne said."

The review will commence public consultations from February to April 2016

Printed future

Due to the high capital costs of the equipment, a major barrier especially for smaller manufacturers, Australian industry has been slow to adopt these new additive manufacturing technologies.

But to remain globally competitive Australian companies increasingly need to innovate their manufacturing processes, and having access to CSIRO's Lab 22 could substantially lower the investment risk.

Since May, the centre has brought on nine Australian businesses as industry partners, and has recently created printed products such as a mouthguard for treating sleep apnoea (with dental company Oventus), customised lugs (with bike manufacturer Flying Machine) and titanium heel bone and rib implants (with biomedical device manufacturer Anatomics)

For example, Perth-based bicycle company Flying Machine used to import certain parts for their bicycles.

Partnering with Lab 22, the company can now customise printed titanium parts to produce bicycles that fit the exact measurements and riding style of customers.

According to CSIRO, from receiving the designer files from the company it took under 10 days to produce and ship prototypes, which compares to 10 weeks for more conventional parts.

Play with me

Australia's 40 university commercialisation/technology transfer offices host content on Source IP along with the Commonwealth organisations ANSTO, CSIRO, DST Group and NICTA (DATA61).

Australia's medical research institutes will be contributing content as part of a second wave information release in December this year.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Telstra, Deloitte, Ernst and Young and KPMG along with industry bodies like the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, state business councils/chambers and the state chief scientists are also supporting Source IP.

Paying for our sins

The strategy examines current adaptation and resilience initiatives across a range of sectors including:

• coasts;
• cities and built environment;
• agriculture, forestry and fisheries;
• water resources;
• natural ecosystems;
• health and wellbeing;
• disaster and risk management; and
• a resilient and secure region.

Among the key initiatives is the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, which the Australian Government continues to support with $9 million over three yeas from 2014-2017.

Established in 2008 with $47 million at Griffith University, the facility advises decision-makers how to prepare for the risks of climate change and sea-level rise.

Now in its second phase of funding, it will also develop and online tool to help local governments and other relevant organisations understand and deal with sea-level rise, storm surges and other coastal hazards.

On a regional scale, the Pacific-Australia Climate Change Science and Adaptation Planning (PACCSAP) program previously promoted climate change adapation and resilience, involving 14 Pacific Island countries. The program involved the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology, and ran between 2011 and 2015.

More baby food

Since its first round in April/May 2015, the scheme has supported 102 projects with grants worth more than $54 million.

Examples in the latest announcement include Melbourne-based Semitech Semiconductor which develops product solutions that enable the transformation of the electricity grid into a smart grid. The company was offered $1 million, the maximum assistance available under the Accelerating Commercialisation scheme, to support the marketing of its single-chip microcontroller for solar inverters and other SmartGrid applications.

The company says on its website that such controllers are key to more efficient energy generation and usage, but that their adoption has been slow primarily due to cost concerns.

These costs could reduce significantly with the company's single-chip micro-inverter, as it provides a complete platform to implement all of the functions in both the control and the communication paths.

The latest announcement also included $780,000 for Amaero Engineering, which is commercialising research from Monash University in the field of metal 3D printing or metal additive manufacturing.

The company is producing components for use in aerospace and defence markets, and together with Monash University exhibited the world's first jet engine produced by metal additive manufacturing at the Avalon Airshow in 2015.

Another example is a $800,000 grant offered to Bluedot Innovation.

The Adelaide-based startup is working on the next generation of location-based services, a market projected to grow to $39 billion by 2019. The company has developed a high-precision technology which can be used by mobile apps to trigger certain actions - for example opening a store website on a smartphone - when a user is crossing a defined location.

Successful project in the December 2015 announcement further include:

• NewSouth Innovations Pty Ltd was offered $250,000 for the advanced manufacturing of reliable cheap high efficiency silicon solar cells;
• Kinetic Elements Pty Ltd was offered $1,000,000 for the direct manufacturing of textured titanium rolls for the printing industry;
• FloLevel Technologies Pty Ltd was offered $589,304 for the FloLevel level sensing and analysis technology for minerals processing;
• Resolution Systems Pty Ltd offered $687,170 for MaxMine: Enabling Lean Mining within the haul fleets of the global mining sector;
• Curtin University of Technology was offered $147,495 a project leading to an improved carbon measurement and management for the gold industry;
• Cohort Solutions Pty Ltd was offered $485,000 for its Cohortflow product for managing recruiting in the global international education sector;
• Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology was offered $243,111 for its Human Gas Monitoring Capsule, a novel diagnostic device;
• Vector International Pacific Pty Ltd was offered $500,000 for a real-time, cloud based, data management platform;
• Glass Terra Pty Ltd was offered $250,000 for its Glass Terra geospatial software;
• Plan2Profit Agri Pty Ltd was offered $252,549 for a software and training platform called P2PAgri for the agribusiness sector;
• Etrain Interactive Pty Ltd was offered $398,781 for cost effective 3D training simulations;
• MiCare Global Pty Ltd was offered $199,800 for an intelligent and networkable communications portal and compliance platform;
• Change Studio Pty Ltd was offered $133,400 for Ralleo, an enterprise change management software; and
• Jemsoft Pty Ltd was offered $69,316 for Monocular API, a product focussed on the prevention of crime through the use of artificial intelligence and computer vision.

One direction

December 2015 - The Australian Government's new guidelines for Cooperative Reserch Centres (CRC) complete a shift towards an even more industry focussed program.

This is in line with recommendations from the 2015 review of the CRC Program by David Miles, who concluded that the program should continue with a narrowed focus on industry partners and complement the government's Growth Centres initiative.

The review also called for an additional funding stream that could provide for smaller collaborations, primarily targeting small to medium sized businesses (SMEs).

Accordingly, the new funding arrangements are split into two streams that include:

• conventional Cooperative Research Centres that provide for long-term industry-led collaborations; and
• CRC Projects (CRC-P) for short term industry-led collaborative research.

The new CRC-P stream will require that the Lead Participant is from an industry entity, while at least one of the participants is an SME.

Applications for conventional CRCs will require at least one participant to be an industry entity.

Announcing the guidelines, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Christopher Pyne emphasised that the reforms will see "CRCs take centre stage in Australia s innovation economy by focusing on solving industry problems, developing and commercialising new products and services, driving emerging technologies and exploiting global supply chains and new markets .

He also foreshadowed that funding would be prioritised to applications aligned with Industry Growth Centres and the nine Science and Research Priorities.

Funding rounds for both CRCs and CRC-Ps will open in February 2016 with further detail available soon.

Appreciated value

Launching the Academy's reports, outgoing chief scientist Professor Ian Chubb acknowledged the difficulty of conducting such an analyses, but he was positive in the robustness of the obtained data:

The Academy split its analyses on the contribution of science to the Australian Economy into two reports: one focussed on the importance of recent advances in the biological sciences, and another combining the impact of biological sciences with previous research on the impact of mathematical and physical sciences.

Key findings include that advances in physical, mathematical and biological sciences over the past 20 to 30 years had significant impact on the Australian economy including:

• they amount to more than a quarter (26%) of the Australian economic activity - or around $330 billion per year - either through direct or flow-on impacts;
• direct impacts alone relate to 14% of economic activity or $185 billion); and
• direct and flow-on impacts associate with exports worth around $84 billion per year (equivalent to 25% of Australia's total exports in goods and services).

Advances in the biological sciences alone account for 3.6% of economic activity and health improvements worth up to $156 billion a year.

Nuclear dreaming

Ahead of his final report due in May 2016, commissioner Kevin Scarce took the somewhat unusual step of releasing his 'Tentative Findings', providing a five-week feedback period for the community to reflect on the presented evidence.

The decision takes into account that the Australian community is torn over the nuclear issue, and as the world's third largest exporter of uranium has not yet developed a nuclear industry.

The commissioner emphasises that community consent will be essential to the successful development of any nuclear fuel cycle activities.

South Australia has most of the nation's known uranium resource and it is home to the world's largest known uranium orebody at the BHP's Olympic Dam mine. While there could be significant economic advantages in expanding the state's nuclear activities, according to the commission's report they are mainly in the storage and disposal of used nuclear fuel. This could meet a major global need and potentially deliver substantial economic benefits.

A highly profitable integrated storage and disposal facility could be established by the late 2020s.

Developing capacity for storing uranium waste could also open up opportunities for 'fuel leasing', linking the processing of uranium with its eventual return for disposal.

Some economic benefits could also be gained by an expansion of the state's uranium mining. However, royalty payments resulting from uranium production would remain small compared to the state's total revenue: In 2014/15 the uranium production in the state was valued at about $346.5 million, earning the state royalty payments of just $15.9 million, which compares to a total state revenue of around $17 billion.

The report also looked into thorium as a potential fuel source, as there are numerous deposits in the State. However, the commissioner found that at present their exploitation is not commercially viable, nor is it expected to be in the foreseeable future.

To be used for nuclear power, uranium oxide needs to be processed into uranium fuel, through processes that convert the oxide to uranium hexafluoride (UF₆), enrich the content of the radioactive uranium-235 type in the uranium mix, and finally fabricate fuel.

The commissioner could not establish an economic case for developing more uranium processing capabilities than are already present in South Australia - at least for the next decade - as the international markets for such services are heavily oversupplied.

Notably, he also dampens enthusiasm for nuclear power, finding that it is not commercially viable to generate electricity from a nuclear power plant in South Australia in the foreseeable future. High upfront capital costs and also the long lead time for new capacity to become operational are among the significant barriers. In the special case of South Australia, there is also the long distance to the National Electricity Market, which would make it difficult to export electricity.

Nevertheless, he recommends keeping the option open should it be required as a low-emissions power source in the future. To underscore this, the commissioner's report refers to recent peer-reviewed studies concluding that across its lifecycle nuclear power greenhouse gas emissions are equivalent to wind and solar, and it can balance the impact of intermittency from renewable sources.

Among the various elements of the nuclear fuel cycle considered in the report, storage and disposal of used nuclear fuel (high level waste) present the only big economic drawcard for the state - provided the community can be convinced that this is a good idea.

The challenge is considerable, though. Such fuel comprises ceramic uranium material sealed in its metal cladding, and while most of the contained radioactive elements decay within 500 years, residual radioactivity will require isolation from the environment for hundreds of thousands of years.

Two countries, Finland and Sweden, have been successful in advancing projects to store spent fuel in deep geological repositories. After 30 years of development they are expected to become fully operational in the 2020s.

The facilities are located in an extremely stable geological environment and include sophisticated engineered barriers that delay a potential exposure of fuel to groundwater. According to Mr. Scarce, South Australia could meet similar requirements for a safe, long-term disposal of used fuel in the Gawler Craton, a large block within the western and northern parts of South Australia that has been geologically stable for millions of years.

Australia could not only gain financially but reap reputational benefits from providing storage options, as used nuclear fuel is a global concern, with many countries yet to find a solution for the disposal of their waste.

The project would require an integrated disposal concept with an above-ground interim storage facility for the metal or concrete casks that contain the fuel. A separately located, secure, underground repository facility would then have to be established, comprising a series of tunnels into which specially designed canisters containing used fuel and intermediate level waste are permanently deposited.

The report includes a range of cost and revenue assumptions. Under one possible scenario highlighted by the commissioner, such a facility could produce total revenue of $257 billion over a period of 120 years. The associated costs of the project are estimated at $145 billion, and include supporting infrastructure, such as a dedicated port facility, airport and freight line. A $32 billion Reserve Fund would cover maintenance costs over the whole life of the facility.

Over the first 30 years of operation the revenue generated for the State is estimated to be more than $5 billion per year; the project could also provide around 1500 full time jobs during the 25-year construction process.

The commissioner proposes a State Wealth Fund as an attractive option to accumulate and equitably share the profits from such an industry. He makes the case that if 15% of gross revenue and all profits were invested in such a fund, and 50% of resulting interest retained, it could generate more than $6 billion each year over a period of more than 70 years, and in total accumulate $445 billion.

Digging it down under?

ARDR analysis: Dr Gerd Winter

The worry is this: if experts with a supposedly deep understanding of this vexed issue cannot agree on accepting even the basic findings let alone the commission's conclusions, how can this be expected from the broader community - and in proxy its political leaders? But precisely this will be required if this Royal Commission can avoid being just a waste of money.

Before having a look at these comments, lets remind ourselves that what the commissioner has put forward as SA's best option is to establish far reaching services which in one way or another will affect the state or the nation for the next century and beyond. If the state is going to offer the storage of spent fuel it will take at least until the end of 2020 to implement a facility at a substantial cost. Importantly, though, the stored fuel will be with us pretty much forever.

Politicians around the world have managed to support nuclear power in breathtaking avoidance of the fact that the inevitable spent fuel has to go somewhere.

France and Germany are notable examples: In the 70s German politicians gave the nod to nuclear power in the belief that geologically stable salt domes in Gorleben, an area in the Lower Saxony would be an assured way to get rid of the waste, not only from German but also French reactors.

Only, it was not, as the community increasingly resisted the transport and storage of the high-level radioactive waste.

It also appears that some of the assumptions on the suitability of salt domes were overly optimistic.

Now, in 2016, there is still no solution in sight, and high-level radioactive fuel is kept above ground in intermediate storage creating an ongoing headache.

Australia has avoided this problem - we are indeed a lucky country - but by exporting the fuel we are part of the problem, whether we like it or not. Somewhere high-level nuclear waste needs to be put away. The commission's report tells us now that we could become part of the solution, and not only that, South Australia could financially benefit a lot from it.

A way forward is possible, with Sweden and Finland showing how it can be done. There storage facilities will come online in the 2020s, the first in the world.

However, the decision making process in Nordic countries is famously slow but consensus driven, whereas other countries - including Australia - tend to have a more polarised discourse with one side then simply winning. That is until the other side gets the upper hand and decisions are overturned.

The potential money that could be made, at least according to the commission's estimate, is a siren call few politicians will be able to rationalise without immediately succumbing to a state of profuse salivation.

Take SA state Labor MP Tom Kenyon who in an piece in Adelaide's InDaily conjured a land of milk and honey - "We will be able to build a spectacular state" - all paid for by the nuclear waste of others.

Some in the wider community will take the bait. Trouble is, as the commissioner rightly points out, to pull this off we will need a broad consensus across society. This cannot be just a matter for SA alone, and it has to be inclusive of the concerns that our indigenous community may bring forward.

It is not just a matter of bipartisan agreement by our policy makers.

Indeed, the Gorleben example highlights what happens when political parties agree but large segments of the society, who feel not represented by the major parties, do not and resist.

The quality of public debate and the expert advice that can inform this debate will be crucial, but if the responses experts provided the AusSMC are anything to go by, it is going to be a hard ride.

Lets have a look:

Four experts rejected the commissioner's conclusions regarding a proposed storage facility for high-level nuclear waste from other countries.

Notably, three of these experts broadly rejected not only the conclusions but the basic assumptions underlying these conclusions.

Thus, Professor Jim Falk, a professorial fellow at the University of Melbourne and an emeritus professor at the University of Wollongong said: "Given this [the widespread concerns across the globe about the safety of storing nuclear wastes], it would be fair to characterise any government which sought to open the way to waste storage and disposal in Australia as at best 'courageous' and perhaps less politely, as 'very politically foolish.'"

Ian Lowe, former president of the Australian Conservation Council and emeritus professor at Griffith University referred to a recent report from the Australia Institute, which questions the assumptions the commissioners findings are based upon and finds that the storage of high-level radioactive waste from countries like Japan, Taiwan and South Korea would probably not be profitable.

In very much the same way, Dr Mark Diesendorf, associate professor and deputy director of UNSW's Institute of Environmental Studies refers to the Australia Institute report, saying the commissioner failed to raise points made in that report, including why nuclear countries would pay to export their waste when it may be cheaper to manage it at home. "The economic analysis justifying this scheme is a single 2016 study, most of whose assumptions are not stated in the Commission's report. The Commission discusses the alleged benefits of this scheme, while failing to acknowledge the economic risks of Australia managing high-level wastes for hundreds of thousands of years by means of unproven technologies and social institutions."

Associate Professor Reza Hashemi-Nezhad, a nuclear physicist from the University of Sydney and Australia's only expert in the field of Accelerator Driven Nuclear Reactors which uses thorium as fuel, rejects a key finding of the commissioner that there is international consensus about geological disposal being the best technical solution for the disposal of used fuel.

"If it is so, why after about 70 years is there still continuous debate about the viability and safety of geological disposal".

Unsurprisingly, he then goes on to promote the establishment of a nuclear incineration facility based on thorium fueled accelerator driven systems (TFADS), which is contrary to the commissioner's finding that "Energy generation technologies that use thorium as a fuel component are not presently commercial, nor expected to be in the foreseeable future.

Other experts with various backgrounds have neither problems with the commissioner's conclusions nor with the evidence these draw upon.

Here as one example: Associate Professor Nigel Marks from Curtin University, an expert in radioactive waste, welcomed the report, saying that all four findings were "spot-on". He says: "Kudos to the Weatherill government for facing down the fear-mongers and looking to the future for South Australia." He also points out that Australia has accquired considerable expertise in nuclear storage technology through ANSTO's Synroc program. (It may be mentioned that A-Professor Marks has an employment history with ANSTO).

I agree with Professor Lowe, who points out that at present it seems difficult to see how lasting political, and importantly broad community consensus can be achieved in support of such a major and far reaching endeavour. This is irrespective of how favourable the general conditions for it may be, and how much some parts of the community will trump up the potential economic benefits for the state.

It is also going to be a test whether the community can come together and put all facts, one by one, on the table to then work towards a decision all can live with.

Australia has grappled more than most countries in developing a coherent climate change mitigation strategy, with people refusing to get across the usual carved out trenches (some will say we still haven't got one). Yet on climate change the scientists were at least more or less one voice in their advice (while conveniently ignored).

However, here we have a topic that is equally emotionally loaded, with experts divided on even the basic facts - looks like a tough ride to me but maybe one worth having.

Inhibited potential

February 2015 - It's a deal worth up to US$0.5 billion (around $700 million), and this does not even include potential earnings through royalties and sales:

On behalf of the Melbourne-based Cooperative Researcher Centre for Cancer Therapeutics (CTx), a UK based agency has entered a licensing agreement with global pharma giant Merck to further develop and commercialise a new type of drugs for the treatment of cancerous and non-cancerous blood disorders.

And CTx will be the main beneficiary of the potential returns.

The licence relates to a new class of drugs that inhibit a protein involved in many cellular processes, including in cancer - the arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5).

The protein is one of the cell's tools to modulate the activity of genes.

PRMT5 does this by chemically modifying key proteins that interact with DNA, including histones and a group of proteins involved in the prevention of cancer formation (tumour surpressor p53).

The levels of PRMT5 have been found increased in many cancers, and hence it is an attractive drug target.

This motivated researchers from the CTx and its research partners to screen a diverse library of 350,000 small compounds for their inhibitory activity against PRMT5.

And as they recently described in a paper in Cancer Research, the set of potential inhibitors they obtained was then used to develop classes of highly selective inhibitors of PRMT5.

In addition to their potential as a treatment of cancer, the new inhibitors were found to also increase the activity of important genes involved in the replenishing of blood. Therefore, the new PRMT5 inhibitors could provide new treatment options for both patients with cancer and patients with blood disorders like sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia.

NHMRC grants: Lucky who works in Victoria

At the other end of the spectrum, Western Australia and Tasmania received the least funding relative to the size of their population. To put this in perspective, per capita Victoria attracted twice as much NHMRC competitive grant funding as NSW and around four times as much as Western Australia or Tasmania.

The dominant position of Victoria becomes even clearer with non-competitive grants: per capita Victoria received almost four times as much funding ($4.3) as second-placed Queensland ($1.16).

As we have previously pointed out in our story NHMRC Hunger Games, there are several factors that determine the inequity in funding across states and territories, with the most important factor being success rate.

The states can be split into two tiers, with the top tier led by Victoria (19.6% success rate) followed by Queensland (18.2%) and New South Wales (17.2%).

The gap to the bottom tier is significant, which includes South Australia (13,3%), Tasmania (12.4%) and the least efficient state Western Australia (12.2%).

However, South Australia still manages to be competitive with Queensland and New South Wales on a funding per resident basis, which is explained by the much higher rate of applications coming from this state. This also contributes to Victoria's overall dominance: the state outclasses all other states in the number of applications lodged. It is testimony to the sheer size of its medical research capacity, which is also reflected in the large amount of non-competitive funding allocated to this state comprising mostly infrastructure support for independent medical research institutes.

(A previous ARDR article, NHMRC Hunger Games, has raised concern, though, about the overall low success rate of NHMRC grants and the potential social as well as overall economic cost of this lack of efficiency in the system, as well as the apparent strong regional concentration of health research funds in Australia).

Another issue of concern relates to gender, and not much has changed to previous outcome, which the ARDR has illustrated in a previous infographic on the 2014 funding round. In 2015, the success rate of male project leaders was again slightly higher than of females (18% versus 17%), but more importantly, as in previous years far less females than males are project leaders on an application and hence males control almost twice the funding compared to females ($550 million versus $298 million).

Boarded innovators

March 2015 - The Australian Government has announced seven new members and one reappointed member of the Innovation and Science Australia (ISA) board, which is due to commence 1 July 2016.

The new board will include key figures from the innovation and science sectors with deep commercial and research expertise across a diverse range of areas.

ISA was set up as an independent statutory board with broader functions than its predecessor, including advising the Government on strategic innovation and science priorities and investment.

It is expected to play a key role in delivering the Government's $1.1 billion National Innovation and Science Agenda, and will complement the Commonwealth Science Council.

The newly appointed (reappointed) members of the new ISA board include:

• Dr Alan Finkel (deputy chair), chief scientist;
• Maile Carnegie, CEO Google Australia and New Zealand
• Scott Farquhar, Co-founder and CEO Atlassian;
• Daniel Petre, partner AirTree Ventures;
• Paul Bassat, Co-founder Square Peg Capital and co-founder SEEK;
• Chris Roberts, non-executive director ResMed; and
• Michele Allan, Chancellor Charles Sturt University (reappointed).

Bill Ferris, founder and co-chair CHAMP Private Equity Group, was previously appointed chair of the board.