UQ students skill up on research commercialisation

The Chief Scientist of Australia, Dr Robin Batterham, will deliver a keynote address to 46 of The University of Queensland’s (UQ) best and brightest PhD research students on the importance of commercialisation of their research.

The two day “Commercialisation Workshop” (August 7 – 8, 2003) has been developed co-operatively by UniQuest Pty Limited, UQ’s main research commercialisation company and the Australian Institute for Commercialisation. The AIC is a national, not-for-profit company that delivers programs to improve commercialisation of Australia’s research investment, established as a Smart State initiative by the Queensland government last year.

Tom Barton, Minister for State Development, said the Queensland Workshop is the first of an Australian wide series with further partnerships planned with universities and research bodies including regional institutions.

“Too many Australian discoveries have been commercialised overseas with the profits and jobs leaving Australia”, Mr Barton said.

“The Queensland Government is determined to do everything that we can to ensure the jobs and the profits that flow from our creative endeavors stay in Australia.”

UniQuest Managing Director, Mr David Henderson, said the course was part of a university-wide push to develop research commercialisation skills. Delivered from the researchers’ perspective, the course content covers the advantages of commercialisation of Intellectual Property (IP), the pitfalls in protecting IP and identifies what a commercial opportunity looks like, combined with the fundamentals of business planning.

The workshop draws upon practical input from the finance community and researchers working in early stage companies and undertakes case studies of their business successes and challenges.

“Competition for places at the workshop was intense, with many more applications than places available, so the group was selected on a meritorious basis, representing Australia’s emerging scientific leaders,” Mr Henderson said.

The AIC has identified that one of the key barriers to improved commercialisation of Australia’s research is the lack of skills required to develop successful commercial business from research ideas.

“The Workshop will better equip researchers at the University of Queensland with these critical skills", Dr Rowan Gilmore, Chief Executive of the AIC said.

Dr Gilmore said the Commercialisation Workshop has also received great interest among Queensland government agencies. Many are undertaking world class research in a diversity of areas from health to natural resources, and wish to encourage their researchers to learn more about capitalising upon commercial application of their research.

“We anticipate the Workshop will roll out throughout Queensland over the next 12 months with the purpose of fostering an environment which identifies and capitalises upon our excellent research initiatives,” Dr Gilmore said.

First-year PhD student in UQ’s School of Biomedical Sciences Arjuna Kumarasuriyar said he hoped information gleaned from the workshop would one day help realise the commercial potential of his research area of tissue-engineering.

“In Australia, around 15 percent of the estimated 400,000 annual fractures are so severe that they refuse to heal. I hope the research I conduct during my PhD will lead to new therapeutics to help alleviate the suffering this causes patients as well as the overall costs to the health system,” Mr Kumarasuriyar said.

“This workshop will provide me with vital information and skills to be able to realise this potential by the best available means.”

For further information contact Anne- Marie Birkill (UniQuest) on 07 3365 4037/0438 436 179 or Paula Macdonald (AIC) on 07 3353 5274 or 0409 878 893