Thursday 20th August, 2009

House of Representatives Alcove, Parliament House Canberra

Pre-conference Dinner 

Wednesday 19th August, 2009

 7:00 pm   Realm Hotel Canberra

“The importance of Australian national research infrastructure to industry and the economy”

Australia and New Zealand are investing heavily into major research infrastructure – examples of which include NCRIS, the MNRF program before it, the Synchrotron, the new nuclear reactor at ANSTO, and many other instrument-driven capabilities in Universities and CSIRO, all of which are capital intensive.

While most of the infrastructure seems largely designed for academic use, it is recognized that this major research equipment, and the highly skilled people who work with it, may also have significant potential to accelerate the progress of Australian Industrial R&D. Therefore, the AIRG is holding its 2009 Winter Meeting, again in Canberra, to assess how the nation’s research infrastructure can - or should - impact on various industrial sectors’ R&D (and innovation) activities.

The results of a recent brief informal survey suggest that various Australasian industry sectors are using these expensive, but highly competitive, facilities to quite different levels.  Meanwhile, although the capabilities now do exist in Australia, and there are similar facilities in use overseas by industrial competitors, some major Australian companies (or even industry sectors) appear not to be aware of what is, or could be, available locally and how it could impact upon research productivity and outcomes. 

The meeting will therefore consider what increased industry usage might do in terms of consequent measureable economic impact on the economy.  It will also consider whether key issues exist that affect considerations by Australian and New Zealand Industrial R&D staff relative to using this impressive national research infrastructure.

Conference Brochure airg winter conference brochure