Innovation funding welcome, but not nearly enough
Monday, 29 January 2001
Australia is still a long way off the pace internationally in terms of research and development funding despite the Prime Minister's announcement of a $3 billion Innovation Action Plan, 亚洲色吧 University Vice-Chancellor Professor Mary O'Kane said today.
Professor O'Kane said that a report produced in December by Australia's leading universities, the Group of Eight, pointed out that Australia would need to increase total research and development funding by $13.65 billion over the next five years if it was to match even the 1998 OECD average proportion of Gross Domestic Product spent on R & D.
Professor O'Kane said that, although it was not nearly enough, today's announcement would provide some badly-needed funds for important areas of research and education.
"The proposal to establish a loan fund for fee paying postgraduate coursework students is an interesting one and I am looking forward to seeing more details about it.
"I