Issue
Science and innovation are at the heart of government strategy for promoting prosperity and growth. Research and knowledge is increasingly developed and transferred through international collaboration which provides opportunities to work with the best in the world, exchange students and researchers, and gain access to large scale international facilities; leading to mutual benefits for the UK and Australia.
Actions
To promote international collaboration the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) jointly fund the UK Science and Innovation Network (SIN), based in 28 countries around the world.
SIN Australia work to the following global objectives:
influence and inform the science and innovation policies of government, industry and academia to benefit the UK
improve UK policy based on international experience and emerging opportunities and challenges with Australia
stimulate strategic science collaborations with Australia to benefit the UK and deliver wider policy goals
harness international technology partnerships and investment to grow UK innovation capability.
Science and Innovation in Australia: A Strong Connection to the UK
Australian scientists have led or been critical to several key discoveries and breakthroughs, including the bionic ear, the pacemaker, the black box flight recorder, vaccines for stomach ulcer and cervical cancer, and wi-fi technology. Australian scientists are highly productive, producing 3% of the world’s scientific research publications despite accounting for only 0.3% of the global population; this is comparable to the UK’s figures of 9% and 0.9%, respectively.
Australia and the UK share a long history of collaboration in all areas of science and technology. The Australian Academy of Science was originally an extension of The Royal Society of London, and several well established Australian universities were modelled on those in the UK. Approximately 20% of Australian scientific publications arise from formal and informal partnerships with UK scientists; further data shows that Australian papers with UK collaborative input result in higher impact publications. Several of Australia’s top scientists were born in the UK and a large number of Australian-born scientists received their tertiary education or developed their research careers in Britain prior to returning to Australia. Of Australia’s ten Nobel Laureates, nine have been awarded for scientific achievement, and of these, seven were born or tertiary-educated in Britain.
Australia has 37 public universities, six of which are ranked in the top 100 according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2012-2013. Health Sciences is particularly strong, with five Australian universities in the Top 50. University College London has a campus in Australia focussing on mining and resources, while the University of Oxford recently opened an office for its commercialisation arm Isis Innovation. The University of Warwick has formed a high level, wide-ranging alliance with Australia’s Monash University that will run joint undergraduate degrees and academic exchanges. The Monash-Warwick Alliance has a longer term goal of recruiting other partner universities to form a truly global network.
While its historically close ties to the UK remain strong, Australia is turning its attention to the booming economies of Asia to ensure its economic and scientific development. Its vast resources and knowledge in energy (gas, coal, uranium) and agriculture can position Australia as the food bowl and power supplier to its Asian neighbours. The Australian government also recognises the role of higher education exchange in helping to achieve closer ties with Asia.
UK SIN in Australia
SIN Australia engages with all the important stakeholders in government and academia, including the major universities, the Australian Academy of Science, numerous government Departments, Ministers, research councils and the highly respected Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). SIN has established an active point of contact for UK science and innovation policy in Australia while also assisting Australian officials with visits to their counterparts in the UK.
In 2013, UK SIN hosted visits by the Secretary of State for the Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Owen Patterson, DEFRA Chief Scientist Professor Ian Boyd and the Permanent Secretary for the Department of Business, Innovation & Skills, Martin Donnelly. SIN also assisted with the visit to Australia by Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, and Sir David King, former UK Chief Scientific Advisor. These high level visits helped UK visitors to understand the importance Australia places on developing science and education linkages with Asia and the opportunities for the UK to contribute in areas such as food security, population growth, healthcare and energy. SIN is also working with the British Council to establish the UK Famelab science competition in early 2014, Australia being only the second site to host the event in the Asia Pacific after Hong Kong.
Opportunities in Australian Science
Australia’s strategic research priorities aim to build on its existing research strengths while complementing an increasing ambition to become to science and innovation leader of the Asia Pacific. Australia’s priorities show significant overlap with the UK’s eight great technologies:
promoting population health and wellbeing
medical research and regenerative medicine
living in a changing environment
climate change, oceanography, urban design, advanced materials and energy
managing food and water assets
new practices for sustainable agriculture across the region
securing Australia’s place in a changing world
biosecurity, cybersecurity and infrastructure
lifting productivity and economic growth
low emission, high efficiency energy
Large scale infrastructure projects in radioastronomy, communications and mining also underpin further research strengths and offer both scientific and commercial opportunities for the UK. For example, the highly ambitious Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radioastronomy telescope will be built across Australia and Southern Africa by a consortium of ten countries including the UK. The SKA will cost several billion Euros and UK companies specialising in construction, advanced engineering and data processing stand to benefit from the project.
Contact
Dr. Svetozar Kovačević
British Consulate-General Melbourne
Tel. +61 3 9652 1654
Email: svetozar.kovacevic@fco.gov.uk