This week Premier Gladys Berejiklian launched the Turning Ideas into Jobs – Accelerating Research & Development in NSW Action Plan.
The report is the NSW Government’s first step towards reforming the R&D sector.
“The pandemic has reinforced to us the power of collaboration,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“The private sector, academia and the NSW Government collaborated to unlock crucial supplies and to solve difficult problems on behalf of the people of NSW.
“We are now bottling that spirit of collaboration and applying it to how we support R&D across the State. This is only the start of the commitments we will be making to R&D.
“R&D will be a powerful jobs creator during our economic recovery. For every dollar invested in R&D there can be an economic benefit of 14 dollars in return.”
The Action Plan was delivered by the Hon. Gabrielle Upton MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier, and was guided by an Advisory Council chaired by David Gonski AC.
“Their message to our government was the increasing need to be proactive in supporting and attracting new businesses, especially in future industries that will sustain economic growth, productivity and employment,” Ms Upton said.
“In a post–COVID-19 world, this means that the NSW Government’s record investments in ‘hard’ infrastructure such as roads and public transport needs to be complemented by strategic investment in ‘soft’ infrastructure – R&D, research translation and infrastructure – which drives these growing and emerging industries.”
It recommends five Priority Actions and sixteen Supporting Actions to accelerate the creation of new industries, jobs, products and services.
- Launch a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program: provide grants to SMEs to find and commercialise solutions for problems facing NSW government agencies.
- Boost open data: release government data to help businesses make better decisions.
- Turbocharge precincts: develop precincts for university, research, startup, scaleup and SME collaborations.
- Target strategic support for NSW universities: leverage Commonwealth Government research funding.
- Establish an R&D matchmaking platform: connect sellers and buyers, and link researchers to research infrastructure and expertise.
To find out more and read the report, click here.
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