When the Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic revealed the latest budget estimates for R&D he claimed that ‘Gov’t R&D (was) up’. A detailed analysis of the figures by Dr John Howard confirms that government investment in R&D as a proportion of GDP was, in fact, down, with worrying trends also apparent in higher…
As shown in @AuManuracturing News’s Towards 3% R&D editorial series, Australia’s innovation effort is tanking, with a lack of national policy co-ordination a key issue. Here Dr John H Howard, puts the case for a National Innovation Council. In an era where innovation drives economic growth and global competitiveness, Australia’s fragmented approach to industrial strategy…
R&D spending in Australia is falling partly because a failure in the capital markets makes investors wary of investing in innovation, according to Dr John Howard, a speaker in our latest webinar Towards 3% R&D – Where to from here? (information and sign up here) Innovative companies find it hard to list or gain support…
The obsession of universities with growth through international rankings that attract fee paying foreign students has let Australia fall behind in its ability to create new, breakthrough scientific knowledge. Here Dr John Howard argues that universities talk about ‘punching above our weight’ in publication output, but they have generated only four breakthrough discoveries in the…
By Dr John Howard The Acton Institute for Policy Research and Innovation’s latest study examines the institutional settings for research systems in Australia, Canada, Germany, Israel, South Korea, the UK, and the USA, focusing on their interaction with innovation ecosystems and with the broader innovation ecosystem. The report finds that Australia’s research system is heavily…
By Peter Roberts If @AuManufacturing’s editorial series – Towards 3% R&D – Turbocharging Australia’s Innovation Effort – has taught us anything, it is not the national myth of plucky Australians being an inventive people battling to commercialise their ideas. Towards 3% has taught us that unlike leading nations, Australia doesn’t have a supportive innovation ecosystem…
Today we conclude our editorial series – Towards 3% R&D – Turbocharging Australia’s Innovation Effort – in which @AuManufacturing has exposed the issues eroding Australian R&D. In this edited excerpt Dr John Howard proposes A National Business R&D Strategy and Action Plan. Download the full paper at the foot of this article. The structure of…
A National Business Research and Development Strategy and Action Plan is the logical conclusion of our editorial series – Towards 3% R&D – Turbocharging Australia’s Innovation Effort. In this edited excerpt, Dr John Howard lays out the elements of the strategy. The full paper can be downloaded below. Australian business investment in R&D collapsed during…
Faltering business expenditure on R&D is a major factor in Australia’s poor innovation performance. Today in our editorial series – Towards 3% R&D – Turbocharging Australia’s Innovation Effort – Dr John Howard identifies businesses’ failings. This is an edited excerpt (full paper link below). From 1981 to 1995, Australian businesses made steady progress in lifting…
Today @AuManufacturing launches its latest editorial series – Towards 3% R&D – Turbocharging Australia’s Innovation Effort – with the bad, in fact the very bad news. After steadily rising since the 1980s, Australia’s innovation effort as measured by R&D spending has slumped dramatically in the past decade. Peter Roberts sets the scene. Innovation is the…