In the United States, business funds 36% of basic research – the Australian Academy of Science warns this is very bad indeed.
In the released text of a speech delivered Monday, Academy President Chennupati Jagadish ANU called it, “a serious and significant shift away from open science and away from public good research.”
“Basic research only contributes to our collective foundation of knowledge if it is able to be shared,” he said.
“And shifts away it being shared, reduce the levers available to government to shape our destiny.”
Professor Jagadish used the example to extend the Academy’s argument for a temporary levy on big business in Australia to create a $100m-a-year science equivalent of the Medical Research Future Fund; “an enduring source of public funds to support basic research.”
And he warned that Australia was underperforming on science policy, which is why “so much is riding” on the Strategic Examination of Research and Development, now close to delivery to Industry Minister Tim Ayres. “Provided,” that is, “they are sensible.”
The Academy has already criticised the SERD for emphasising R&D and not paying enough attention to discovery science. “Fundamental research is the wellspring of innovation. There is no ‘D’ without ‘R’,” he said last month. And on Monday he proposed 19 principles SERD should adopt, focused on funding for and the authority of the science community.
The first principle sets the tone:
“Recognise that science, technological development, industrial competitiveness, societal challenges and innovation form a continuous network and cannot be tackled in silos or be allowed to cannibalise each other.”
Overall, “we have no choice if we want to prosper in an era of geopolitical, technological and environmental disruption,” he warns.