Australia is squandering its intellectual wealth through a federal system of short-term grants rewarding publication of academic papers ahead of long-term research to develop and manufacture new products, a leading scientist says.
Cooperative Research Centres Association chief executive Professor Tony Peacock has called for an urgent shake-up of federal funding to encourage more PhD graduates to work in industry and use their skills to boost Australia's declining productivity.
The call comes as new figures show Australia's manufacturing industry continues to slide, with exports dropping almost 4 per cent last month. Manufacturing performance index figures released yesterday by The Australian Industry Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers show a further decline during September, the 11th decline in the sector over the past 13 months. Australian Workers' Union national secretary Paul Howes has urged the Federal Government ''to face the reality of the manufacturing crisis that is before us,'' before a national jobs summit in Canberra later this week.
Professor Peacock said Australia was not optimising its investments in research, development and innovation because of a funding system skewed to favour ''publication over innovation.'' As a result, Australia was doing well on paper, but performing poorly as a global innovator capable of taking new products and patents into the global marketplace.
''Too much of Australia's intellectual wealth is wasted on the peer review process to determine distribution of small grants to academics. It takes a program of [research] activities to achieve innovation, not an individual or an individual project,'' Professor Peacock said.
''Australia has only a small proportion of our research workforce working in business.''
Almost 60 per cent of those with doctoral training in Australia work in the higher education sector, about double the OECD [the global Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development] average.''
In a submission to the Federal Government outlining the CRC Association's funding priorities for next year's budget, Professor Peacock said Australia's economic performance could be strengthened through greater support for later-stage research ''that will generate direct community benefit.''
The submission calls for a ''re-branding and revitalisation'' of the CRC program, which was introduced by the Hawke government to drive stronger industry involvement in research through joint federal and industry funding. Professor Peacock said federal funding for the program had declined since 2007, with the number of research centres declining ''from above 75 to below 45.''
Cuts to the program by the Rudd and Gillard governments had resulted in success rate of ''just above 10 per cent'', with the average cost of preparing a bid for the competitive assessment process estimated at about $250,000.
''Industry can't spend two years participating in a bid and putting their dollars on the table with only a 10 per cent funding success rate,'' Professor Peacock said. ''The time, cost and effort of bidding for a CRC are significant and provide a disincentive to participation, particularly to small businesses and emerging industries ... knowing that less than half the applications will even receive an interview and less than a quarter will receive a funding offer.''
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