Excellence in Research for Australia Initiative

27 Feb 08

Media Release

The Excellence in Research for Aust. (ERA) Initiative Needs the Proof of Concept (PoC) Metric to Measure Commercial Research Quality & Impact

SIA whilst welcoming the announcement of ERA by Minister Carr yesterday notes that at this early stage no mention is made of measuring the quality and impact of commercial research.

"Commercial research undertaken by Publicly Funded Research Agencies (PFRAs) needs to be handled differently to academic research" says Mr Duncan Jones, Executive Director of SIA.

"Commercial research typically cannot be submitted to a peer review mechanism like that proposed under ERA. SIA in collaboration with the Proof of Concept Advisory Committee have developed a PoC checklist and guidelines for assessing commercial research that if implemented, mimics the quality control processes the peer review process applies to academic research" Jones says.

"The PoC checklist provides a standardised way of assessing the commercial viability and impact of new innovation and IP developed by PFRAs" says Mr Peter Dawes, SIA President. "At the moment this assessment is done haphazardly if at all resulting in missed commercial opportunities due to a poor understanding of the innovation's commercial potential giving rise to unrealistic expectations" he concludes.

"It is early days for ERA" says Jones "and we need to see moving forward a mechanism put in place that brings commercial research in under the ERA umbrella. PoC is a viable option to provide that mechanism as it would take no extra funding to implement" he says.

"PoC would provide clarity and focus to the endeavours of commercialisation personnel and their academics by ensuring that all new innovation and IP is provided with a well structured business plan to secure the interest and backing of commercialisation partners" he concludes.

Further details on the PoC checklist and guidelines here:

http://scienceindustry.squarespace.com/storage/documents/POC-Executive Summary Feb 2008.pdf

All enquiries:
Duncan Jones
Executive Director, SIA & ALMA
0408 096 111
sia@scienceindustry.com.au

About Science Industry Australia Inc. (SIA)

SIA is a not for profit industry association. SIA is recognised by Governments as the peak industrial body representing the interests of the science industry. The SIA seeks by advocacy and lobbying to increase the size, significance and stature of the science industry in Australia.

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