The Australian Academy of Science welcomes the 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap and its recommendations.
Professor Les Field, Secretary for Science Policy, said the nine focus areas for infrastructure development identified in the roadmap are the right priorities.
“The Academy now looks forward to the release of the Government’s research infrastructure investment plan,” Professor Field said.
“Infrastructure funding in this plan must be long-term, strategic and insulated from annual budgetary fluctuations, consistent with the long-term nature and nation-building capacity of research infrastructure investment – most big infrastructure has a lifetime over decades, not months or years,” Professor Field said.
Professor Field also noted the need to assess research infrastructure requirements not only for the present but also for the future.
”It is important to build in mechanisms to bring on new infrastructure that would support Australia’s research programs in five to ten years’ time, and these may well be areas which are in their infancy now or indeed areas we don’t know about yet,” Professor Field said.
© 2024 Australian Academy of Science
