VENTUROUS AUSTRALIA
In September, 2008, the Australian Government released a report, venturousaustralia, containing a comprehensive review of the national innovation system ("The Review"). It was assembled by Dr Terry Cutler along with an 11-member expert panel, and also incorporates suggestions from over 600 public submissions. It calls for urgent action because over the past decade, Australia has fallen behind its peer countries to a dramatic degree in terms of its investments in education and R&D (Nelson, 1983). This is a source of concern because it is unclear how long the boom in natural resources will continue to fuel the economy; innovation is therefore seen as an important source of future growth.
The Review contains 72 recommendations covering a broad range of areas including: (a) reforming the educational sector, (b) encouraging the private sector to invest in innovation and to take a leading role in the commercialisation process, (c) increasing funding towards universities and research agencies, (d) incentives, fellowships and programs to increase the quality of research, (e) reforming the intellectual property system and improving the flow of ideas among universities, firms and other research agencies, (f) replacing the existing system of R&D tax concessions with tax credits, (g) R&D grants to improve linkages between research institutions and market-oriented firms, (h) attracting international knowledge flows and venture capital to Australia, (i) increasing the level of innovation within the Government, and (j) implementing new institutional structures to manage R&D nationally.
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