As Australians prepare to head to the polls, we need our politicians to commit to investing in innovation from research and development, writes STA CEO Ryan Winn.
In a volatile and rapidly changing world, sure bets on the future are hard to find.
And when times are tight – for the national economy and everyone in it – investing for the future can take a backseat to dealing with present day challenges.
But if we don’t invest now for a prosperous future powered by innovation from research and development, we will fall further behind our international economic rivals, end up as a consumer, not a creator of new products, and lose our best ideas and brightest innovators to overseas.
We also risk further environmental collapse. Beyond the moral imperative in addressing this, the impacts of sea level rise and high temperatures are already leading to higher insurance premiums, loss of arable lands, tourism impacts and threats to life due to extreme heat events.
As Australians prepare to head to the polls, we’re getting to see what kind of future the country wants for itself, and the competing visions of how to get there.
Australians expect our elected representatives to be able to walk and chew gum – to put in place measures that not only tackle today’s toils, but also set up the kind of future we want for ourselves and our children.
It’s not an easy task, especially in the current political and financial climate but this is true political leadership.
What’s best for all our futures is investing deeply and strategically in science, technology, engineering and mathematics – developing our sovereign capability, building our own supply chains, educating and training a highly-skilled workforce, and leaning into Australian smarts to develop products and services we can sell around the world.
Every dollar invested in Australian research returns a dividend of between $3 and $5 – a very healthy rate of return for our future.
It’s a sure bet for an economy in need of a boost.
Australia’s businesses know this. A $6 million five-year investment by the Commonwealth Bank into the Australian Institute of Machine Learning at the University of Adelaide last year paid for itself in less than three weeks, after researchers suggested a tweak to the bank’s AI systems.
The country’s decision-makers know this, too. Around one third of the Federal Parliament was engaged in our recent Science Meets Parliament event, seizing the opportunity to hear from our brilliant sector about the work it is doing and how it can turbocharge Australia’s economic future.
Even our political parties know this. The previous Coalition government delivered more than $2 billion in funding to strengthen connections between university research and industry application.
The current Labor government is seeking to strengthen the nation’s economy through the National Reconstruction Fund, and the Future Made in Australia initiative.
All these programs have a common theme – building Australia’s sovereign capability, strengthening our resilience to global shocks, lessening our dependence on external supply chains, and keeping Australia’s brightest innovators in Australia.
Our R&D system is the foundation of that future wellbeing.
The Government’s Strategic Examination of R&D is due to report by the end of 2025. It offers a chance to rethink and reimagine a system that has grown overcomplicated and lacks clear focus. Implementation of this important work must have bipartisan support.
The Strategic Examination of R&D is an important part of securing the prosperous nation we all want to live in. But the first step to building that future is ensuring our incoming decision-makers put the long-term interests of the country at the centre of their thinking.
Science & Technology Australia (STA) has written to parties and candidates to encourage them to commit to implementing the initiatives in our 2025 Federal Election Priorities.
STA developed these measures in collaboration with the 235,000 scientists and technologists we represent. With a mix of simple fixes and long-term vision, the initiatives will lead to a stronger R&D sector.
Stronger R&D means a stronger economy, and a stronger Australia.
As Australians weigh up the choices ahead of polling day, they should keep a close eye on the responses we get from political parties and candidates.
A commitment to strategic investment in research and development is a commitment to an Australia powered by Australian ideas and a sure bet on a positive future in an uncertain world.
Ryan Winn is CEO of Science & Technology Australia – the country’s peak body representing people working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
