Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

That is a very important question. It is why in May this year the government released the Boosting the Commercial Returns from Research strategy, which does, in part, seek to make sure that the incentives are right for universities and industry to work together and is a key element of the overall innovation agenda that this government is looking to further develop in the remainder of this year and beyond. We recognise that while Australia has enjoyed nearly a quarter of a century of uninterrupted economic growth there are great threats to that from the disruption to traditional jobs and industries occurring around the world. Our universities and research institutions must be at the forefront of ensuring that we remain competitive globally into the future. The 2015 Global Innovation Index ranked Australia 17th out of 141 countries but behind countries like Switzerland, the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands. We must lift our game, especially in the areas of collaboration between researchers and industry and the commercialisation of our research.