“It’s not just the extra revenue that can come in but it’s the access to industry and it’s having students working in an industry setting. And also, it can become a real vehicle for some of the research to come to fruition and be commercialised.”
The Specialty Group works with a number of universities. These include RMIT, James Cook University and Australian National University.
The RMIT project, for example, has two engineering Masters students working with the company to develop solar roofing material.
For the last 20 years, the Australian Government has been trying to bridge the gap between universities and business.
In 1991, it established Co-operative Research Centre (CRC) program between universities, or research institutes associated with universities, and business.
SME reluctance
Australia has 44 CRCs which act as a broker between the two parties, bringing them and sometimes tipping in some funding. Significantly, the Speciality Group works with the Advanced Composite Structure CRC.
Managing director of the Advanced Manufacturing CRC Bruce Grey says there are several reasons for the lack of collaboration.
The first is that Australia has a higher proportion of small- to medium-sized businesses, compared with other countries.
“They’re not experienced at carrying out collaborative research, it’s difficult for them,’’ says Grey.
“The greater bulk of our SMEs are risk averse and don’t want to do R&D because it’s risky and has a long pay-back.”
Secondly, there is an issue with the researchers themselves, who can take government funding without a requirement to commercialise their research.
Differing agendas
Another problem is the gaping chasm between the agendas of universities and business.
“When you have this disconnect between the private sector and publically funded research institutions, you don’t get a united approach to planning research,’’ he says.
“Contrast that to a selection of large manufacturers conducting their own R&D or a cluster of smaller manufacturers collaborating to do R&D, they have a much better understanding of their market and what the market needs and where the technology is going and how their research might serve that market.”
“Researchers working in isolation don’t really understand the market in which you are doing the research.”
The final reason, he says, is that government programs do not demand a commercial return.
He says that while some universities and companies have formed linked with overseas entities, they tend to attract more interest from overseas companies. There is little venture capital funding, either here or from overseas.
Ben Meir says one way to address the problem is to look at the way research is funded. Potential outcomes that go beyond academic requirements need to be added as well. The collaboration will take off when commercialisation is built into the model.
However, the work that universities are doing with businesses here is very much on the cutting edge.
Sprouting innovation
One example is a project between MBD Energy, a Melbourne based company focused on adoption of safe, commercially and environmentally sustainable carbon capture and recycling and James Cook University.
This project could transform the energy and agricultural industries, focusing on using microalgae for carbon capture. Microalgae are unicellular photosynthetic organisms feeding off sunlight and carbon dioxide and converting them to sugars, oil and protein.
Another AMRC project is the research going on at RMIT looking at zinc oxide nanoparticles, which are excellent UV absorbers.
RMIT is designing ways to measure the immune balance for a range of sun screens and topical formulations.
The aim is to create better and cheaper formulations in an industry worth billions of dollars globally. The project involves two Victorian-based companies – Micronisers and Baxter Laboratories.
In the area of manufacturing, RMIT and ANCA, the Bayswater-based manufacturing business which supplies the machines that manufacture cutting tools, are working on a project to create longer lasting drills at the cheapest possible price.
These drills are supposed to cut their way through composite materials made from carbon fibres, epoxy resin and fibre glass.
It is anticipated these particular drills will last 10 times longer than normal. With 99% of ANCA’s revenues coming from offshore, the company anticipates selling these low cost drills into the global market.
Moving forward together
Deloitte chief strategy officer Gerhard Vorster says in this competitive climate where R&D spending is critical, business needs to work with universities.
“Regardless of whatever regulatory or policy framework, companies will be foolish not to explore the possibilities of alignment with universities in general,’’ Vorster says.
“This is not just driven by their research and development and by new products and services. It has everything to do with innovative human resource management practices ensuring people are ready for the job sooner than later.”
As part of its commitment to collaboration, Deloitte has a Fast Track program that takes in students from RMIT, Macquarie University and the University of Sydney.
It brings them into the company and gets a lot of value from their cutting edge work and research. Deloitte also encourages its partners to be actively involved with universities, creating deeper links with the business.
Still, Vorster concedes Australia has a long way to go.
“I don’t think we have bridged that gap between companies and universities at all yet,’’ he says. “It’s a latent source of innovation, especially when you look at the way we define innovation which is value created out of fresh ideas.”
“We haven’t seen much of that in any programmatic way. We have seen some concentrated research that has led to some enhancement within companies but it is not a tsunami yet of innovation. We have to learn from places where it works well.”
