{"id":34383,"date":"2021-02-10T20:44:16","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T20:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationaus.com\/?p=16073"},"modified":"2021-02-10T20:44:16","modified_gmt":"2021-02-10T20:44:16","slug":"nsw-targets-translation-in-industrial-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/02\/10\/nsw-targets-translation-in-industrial-drive\/","title":{"rendered":"NSW targets translation in industrial drive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Startup and SME-focused<\/strong>\u00a0procurement reform\u00a0and a plan to plug R&D linkages directly into precincts like\u00a0TechCentral in Sydney are at the core of NSW government\u2019s industrial policy zeal.<\/p>\n

There is an ambition to the NSW government plans for accelerating research and development outcomes in the state that only comes from the very top of political leadership.<\/p>\n

We saw it at the federal level through Malcolm Turnbull\u2019s National Innovation and Science Agenda \u2013 a policy program that is still delivering for the tech sector \u2013 and we are now seeing it in NSW through Premier Gladys Berejiklian\u2019s personal political commitment to an R&D overhaul, and the whole-of-government response such commitment brings.<\/p>\n

\"Gladys
New ambition: Gladys Berejiklian and a renewed focus on R&D translation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NSW got a head start on developing industry policy to drive growth on the other side of the pandemic-recession when the Premier kicked-off a process in October 2019 \u2013 a full six months before COVID \u2013 that aimed to accelerate R&D in the state.<\/p>\n

The result is the launch of an action plan<\/a> that is focused heavily on translation issues, in creating better economic and social benefits from R&D investments. This is precisely where Australia has a dire track record.<\/p>\n

A recent CSIRO assessment comparing Australia with other OECD countries ranked Australia at 27th out of 29 on large-business collaboration with the university sector or other non-commercial research institutions.<\/p>\n

And worse, Australia ranked 29th out of 29 countries for SMEs collaborating with universities or other non-commercial research institutions.<\/p>\n

The NSW parliamentary secretary to the Premier Gabrielle Upton, who drove the process with NSW chief scientist and engineer Hugh Durrant-Whyte, said the process benefited from the shared sense of mission that was evident through the difficult year of 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur work was emboldened by the fact that we knew there was a more collaborative approach between stakeholders on innovation,\u201d Ms Upton said. \u201cWe saw that through COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou had business working through government to retool from one product to another and a willingness to [work together] to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The R&D spend in NSW is about $380 million spread across many clusters and \u201chas not been called out as an economic lever in the way it should be,\u201d Ms Upton said.<\/p>\n

The spending was not always focused on the industry and research priorities across government, and has not been measured for impact particularly well, she said.<\/p>\n

It is based on those issues that NSW will establish a central government agency that will focus on these translation challenges.<\/p>\n

The Small Business Innovation Research initiative that NSW is looking at is based on the decades-old and highly successful program in the US of the same name. NSW has already allocated $24 million over two years to start from the new financial year.<\/p>\n

The SBIR program lets a department or agency define a specific problem or need, and then to go to innovative startups, SMEs or researchers to come forward with ideas for a solution.<\/p>\n

The SBIR funding enables the development of prototypes, which if it fills the need, attracts a next round of funding to scale up the idea and test the market. The structure of the program aims to provide modest sums of early funding to develop a solution for government that might also have a wider purpose as a commercial product.<\/p>\n

SBIR aims to leverage the procurement power of the state to drive new products and services, based on a small amount of money at the front-end of the process. SBIR has been particularly successful in emerging information technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s a good innovative idea, they [the startup or SME] can come back to us \u2013 and this is the way SBIRs have worked around the world \u2013 where they get money to scale-up and test the market demand for their solution,\u201d Ms Upton said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the third opportunity that has not been connected up before is to say that [government] will be the first customer of that product or service,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt connects things up in a systematic way, so that yes, it might solves a problem for government, but it might also be a world-beating solution that other people outside of Australia might want to access.\u201d<\/p>\n

The five core recommendations of the Accelerating Research and Development in NSW Action Plan are:<\/p>\n