AusBiotech welcomes the release of the Federal Government's discussion paper on the Strategic Examination of R&D, underscoring the urgent need for reform to bolster Australia's innovation ecosystem and global competitiveness.
The discussion paper presents a compelling case for rethinking Australia's approach to R&D. Despite our world-leading research capabilities, Australia continues to lag in translating home-grown ingenuity into globally significant innovations.
Rebekah Cassidy, CEO, said AusBiotech strongly supports the objective for a long-term, bipartisan, and strategic national plan for R&D—one that capitalises on our strengths in life sciences, fosters collaboration between research and industry, and embraces risk-taking to spur innovation.
"Now is the time for bold steps toward unlocking Australia's innovation potential within our R&D ecosystem. We must supercharge our incredible world-class medical research, ensuring it translates into life-changing commercialised innovations," said Rebekah.
While Australia is a global leader in scientific research, ranking top ten on the Global Innovation Index, we have fallen to 30th for research outputs. The data released today reveals a stark decline in R&D over the past 15 years: local investment in R&D is now only 1.66% of GDP, well below the OECD average of 2.7%.
"The life sciences industry is central to Australia's productivity, health security, and the health and wellbeing of all Australians. Building a stronger and more productive R&D ecosystem is in our national interest," said Rebekah.
"AusBiotech looks forward to working with the Panel and the Government as it develops the strategy. We will also engage with leaders across our 3,000-strong member network as we develop our response to the Discussion Paper.
"We will also continue our urgent call for a unified whole-of-government strategic approach to the life sciences industry, whose numerous policy touchpoints, including R&D, are currently dispersed across over eight different Australian Government portfolios."
This call is outlined in our 2025-26 AusBiotech and MTPConnect joint pre-budget submission, which seeks a partnership with Government to deliver unified, cohesive and intentional prioritisation of Australia's life sciences industry by:
- The Australian Government, in partnership with industry, developing a National Life Sciences Strategy supported by the creation of a new National Life Sciences Council;
- The life sciences industry being recognised as a priority under the Future Made in Australia Act; and
- Industry capability being further strengthened through investment in data collection.
"Without cohesive, whole of Government action, Australia risks falling further behind our international peers and missing critical opportunities to commercialise breakthroughs that could benefit our economy and the health and well-being of all Australians.
"The discussion paper and assessment of our R&D ecosystem highlight the need for change. AusBiotech will continue advocating for Government partnership to drive a unified, whole of Government strategic prioritisation of the life sciences industry—with R&D playing a critical role in accelerating ideas into commercial innovations, "said Rebekah.
