OPPOSITION, INDUSTRY BODIES PROTEST COMMERCIAL READY AXING
June 25th 2008 03:11
Tuesday June 24, 2008
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COMMERCIAL READY GRANTS
Industry organizations and the Federal Opposition have attacked the Federal Government’s axing of the Commercial Ready Grant program.
In the Senate, Opposition Senators led by Senator Eric Abetz attacked the Government’s axing of the program quoting Victoria’s chief scientist Prof Gus Nossal and Cochlear chief executive officer Dr Chris Roberts.
Senator Abetz told the Senate that Dr Roberts had said it was “the saddest and dumbest decision out of the entire budget”.
Separately the CEOs of Ausbiotech, Dr Anna Lavelle, Australian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association Limited Dr Katherine Woodthorpe and Research Australia, Rebecca James have written to the review of the national innovation system to “emphasize the implications this decision will have on our national innovation system, as well as the potential costs to innovative companies, the community and the economy if this issue is not addressed as a matter of urgency”.
The three said their organizations represent the discovery and commercialization pathway and all agree on the need for government to play an active role.
They said a number of companies had “been left severely compromised, having spent significant sums of money to reach the point of acceptance by Ausindustry”.
The three organizations said the statement cited as the basis for the decision to end Commercial Ready was “flawed”.
“In justifying the decision, much was made of a comment the Productivity Commission made in its 2007 report into Public Support for Science and Innovation that ‘There is robust evidence indicating that the Commercial Ready program supports too many projects that would have proceeded without public funding assistance.’ There is little supporting evidence for the statement and no understanding of the impact of delay has been recognized,” the three organizations said.
“There is general market consensus that there is little basis for the statements of the Productivity Commission. Not least, this is because the research would have been carried out, but due to lack of funds it would be much more slowly, resulting in a higher risk that they would fail to achieve commercial success,” they said.
They said products would not be commercialized, intellectual property would be lost overseas, there would be reduction in capital flowing to early stage sector, lost leverage and Australia’s reputation as a clever country diminished.
“In your capacity as chair of the National Innovation Review Panel, we urge you to strongly recommend appropriate measures to redress this problem as a matter of urgency. AVCAL, Ausbiotech and Research Australia have each made submissions that outline a number of options for replacement programs,” the three organizations said.
Ausbiotech said separately that its recommendations relating to Commercial Ready, as included in the original submission, stand.
“However as a result of the Budget decision and the major disruption and financial losses caused to the industry and to small businesses who submitted their applications in good faith, there are now short and long term imperatives that the Government must consider,” Ausbiotech said.
“The Government must allow the 71 applications lodged with the Department for a Commercial Ready grant to continue through the assessment process.
“The Government should introduce a transitional period to allow the processing of these applications.
“The Government must act swiftly to implement a replacement program that will be in place and ready for operation by the beginning of the 2009-10 financial year at the latest,” Ausbiotech said.
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