AUSTRALIA—GERMANY WORKSHOP ON BIODIVERSITY
The Shine Dome, 13-17 March 2006
Australia’s science and research framework — setting the scene for collaboration
by Ms Jessie Borthwick, Group Manager, Science Group, Department of Education,
Science and Training
Australia has a moderate population — 20 million people — and is the second-fastest growing economy in the OECD. Although Australia has only the 53rd-largest population in the world, it ranks 14th in terms of economic size.
Australia has a lot to offer international researchers. Although it produces only 3 per cent of the world’s research publications, that puts it at 11th in the world — a strong contribution from a relatively small country. Australia is strong in medical and biomedical research, and has other areas of excellence.
Expenditure in the higher education and public research agencies sector, as a share of GDP in Australia, is comparatively high by international standards. Australian government spending on science and innovation will be $5.5 billion in 2005-06, however, business expenditure on research and development is comparatively lower. This might be due to the small manufacturing base, high levels of small and medium enterprises, and very few multinational corporations.
Australia, like most countries, considers globalisation to be one of the key drivers of the economy. The Australian Government has been pursuing an increased focus on quality and an increased capacity to measure the returns government is getting from investing in research and development.
A key government initiative is the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy, in which scientists have been invited to identify and elect the particular domains for which they want to seek funding.
Australia currently has an acute shortage of trade skills. As the economy moves into a more globally competitive environment, it will need to also shore up the skills of its professionals and scientists. To that end, the Government has undertaken a skills audit of science, engineering and technology in the past 12 months.
The Government is interested in pursuing more closely the idea of international research collaboration. In this context, Germany is recognised as among the world’s best international partners. About 6 per cent of our international collaboration effort is undertaken with German researchers, the third-largest country share after the United States and the United Kingdom. Germany is a significant partner and has one of the oldest science and technology agreements, which has been in place since 1976.
It is particularly important to DEST to identify new areas of mutual interest in biodiversity. It is difficult to improve relationships and deliver concrete outcomes without a reasonable level of detail, which will allow those involved to map out and plan areas in which the two countries can work together.
