The Snowy Scheme of the 21st Century: Building an Entrepreneurial Society

The University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Bioscience Co-director Professor Peter Andrews has called for the rebuilding of Australia's entrepreneurial culture to successfully drive new technologies and emulate the achievements of the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

Addressing the Australian Academy of Technology Sciences and Engineering Symposium "Sustainable Australia" in Brisbane last night, Professor Andrews said that scientists, industrialists, investors and governments all have a role to play in the conversion of Australia to a brain-based rather than resource-based economy.

Professor Andrews says: "Seventy-five percent of technology-based economic growth comes from fundamental research conducted in universities and other research organisations.

"But scientists have to be willing and able to grasp the opportunities to commercialise their science. We need to develop a culture that rewards scientists with equity and income for being entrepreneurial.

"Our industries need to innovate rather than imitate. To do this successfully we need more scientists and engineers on the boards of companies driving home the notion that innovation means income.

"Our investors need to invest more in the future of knowledge-based industries, less in the dwindling dividends of resource- and manufacturing-based industries."

"If we are to compete with the world in technology-based industries we need to make technology-sized investments. In the case of biotechnology companies, venture capital investments and stock market capital raisings in Australia are about one tenth of those made in comparable companies in the United States.

"Our governments need to make the competitive investments in infrastructure that will nurture brain-based industries. This means planning thirty years ahead, not three years.

"We need to persuade Australian politicians and policy makers that money spent on research, development and commercialisation is an investment in Australia's future growth, not just another grant.

An economically sustainable Australia will only be possible if we can move from our current resource-based to a strong brain-based economy. To do that we need to rebuild an entrepreneurial society, with shared vision of governments, investors, industrialists and scientists. Given that, we will have a serious Snowy Mountains Scheme for the 21st Century," he said

Media: For more information contact Russell Griggs 07 3365 1805 or email: communications@mailbox.uq.edu.au