Together, they are key to solve humanity’s most complex challenges – and to forge new opportunities for Australia.

To enable them to play this pivotal role, we need to safeguard and strengthen our sovereign science,  technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) capabilities.

Our competitor nations have a clear-eyed strategic understanding about how a strong STEM system unleashes economic growth and creates jobs, seeds new industries, and leads to major breakthroughs to save lives.

Australia should be every bit as ambitious in its STEM capabilities as other nations across the globe.

In this blueprint, we outline a bold policy vision for how Australia can achieve this.

Through clever strategic investments, leveraged global collaboration, and a coordinated national strategy, we can seize advantages for our nation – and keep pace with the world.

And this will enable us to tackle the next big challenges we face at home and abroad.

Science and technology have been at the forefront of Australia’s approach to managing intensifying bushfire seasons and a global pandemic. They are essential in the urgent rebuilding of our economy.

A stronger STEM capability will help to save and improve lives - and translate more of our world-leading research into products, services, jobs and industries in Australia.

This blueprint offers Science & Technology Australia’s policy vision on:

• A national strategy to extend crucial science and technology capabilities;
• An ambitious target of levelling-up R&D investment to 3 per cent of GDP to keep pace and compete with our international rivals;
• A new $2.4 billion research translation and commercialisation fund to turbo-charge more of Australia’s ideas and innovations into products, services, and jobs;
• A major new initiative to inspire school students to grow their skills, knowledge, and love of STEM in order to arrest the alarming slide in maths and science skills among school students;
• Policy deeply informed by research and evidence;
• Increased and deepened internationally collaborative research and engagement; and
• A diverse and inclusive STEM workforce.

The policies are mutually reinforcing, and of equal importance to the STEM sector.

We commend this policy vision to you.