If we’re going to prime a future-ready Australia, we need more research and development funding, and a diverse, highly skilled workforce. Are this year’s commitments in the right places?
Canadians pay high drug prices, but the pharmaceutical industry claims it is a ‘key partner in economic resilience, recovery and growth.’
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Canadians pay very high drug costs, but Canada also does not receive the same economic benefits from pharmaceutical industry investments as other countries do.
The University of Otago: funding boost still won’t avert some cuts.
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Nicola Gaston, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
The crisis in New Zealand universities is directly traceable to years of sustained underfunding and means they now lack vital research and development capacity.
Kenya has over 18.2 million children and youth in educational institutions.
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Commitments have been made to cybersecurity, defence and certain gaps in STEM education and workforce – but much remains to be seen this year once we review the national priorities.
Drug patents don’t necessarily spur companies to innovate so much as restrict access to their IP.
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The Medicines Patent Pool was created to promote public health, facilitating generic licensing for patented drugs that treat diseases predominantly affecting low- and middle-income countries.
A factor holding back African research is the lack of strong collaborative networks between African laboratories and institutions.
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Drug discovery research in Africa receives modest but essential international funding through philanthropic foundations and selected pharmaceutical companies.
The male-dominated makeup of the industry partners who are meant to lead the commercialisation of research could undermine the work towards gender equity in Australian universities.
Australia has world-class research but low rates of research commercialisation by global standards. The scale and cultural focus of the government’s plan mean it could have an impact on this problem.
Africa has a growing promising cadre of smart and skilled health experts.
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To attain a new health order, African governments need to bolster investment in research and development, innovation and manufacturing of health tools.
After years of government rhetoric about boosting the commercial benefits from university research, Australia’s record is still among the worst in the developed world.
An analysis by CSIRO’s strategic and economic advisory arm suggests spending on research and development can earn annual yields of 10%, even if there are delays or cost overruns.
Australian Centre for Field Robotics/University of Sydney
Universities have long been developing research, talent and technology that, with the right mix of industry and government support, will allow Australia to emerge as a green export and R&D leader.
The type of deep-tech ventures behind mRNA vaccines are key to economic prosperity and sustainable development.
Energy storage can make facilities like this solar farm in Oxford, Maine, more profitable by letting them store power for cloudy days.
AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty
The US is generating more electricity than ever from wind and solar power – but often it’s not needed at the time it’s produced. Advanced energy storage technologies make that power available 24/7.
Previous Vice President of the Academy of Science of South Africa and DSI-NRF SARChI chair in Fungal Genomics, Professor in Genetics, University of Pretoria, University of Pretoria