The Australian Academy of Science’s Shine Dome in Canberra was the venue for a detailed and surprisingly upbeat briefing on the Horizon Europe research funding program this week.
It was ‘surprisingly upbeat’ because, despite Australia not being an active member of the long-running Horizon Europe program, there is growing optimism within the research community that government has engaged in a process toward joining.
Horizon Europe is the largest single research fund in the world (at A$170 billion) encouraging research collaboration among the EU member countries, as well as with “associate member” countries from outside of the EU.
Among the special guest presenters at the event this week was the European Commission’s director general of Research and Innovation Signe Ratso, who is also chief negotiator for Horizon Europe on associate memberships.
It is remarkable that Australia has not so far joined this research collaboration program. Ms Ratso told the conference 19 countries had entered associate membership agreements with the program, including Australia’s close partners like Canada, New Zealand and the UK.
South Korea and Switzerland have entered transition arrangements ahead of associate membership, while Japan has started negotiations to join.
There was a lot of talk this week of Europe as a “reliable partner” for research collaboration, with the obvious comparison drawn to the US under the Trump administration.
To use the words of the former ASIO director general Duncan Lewis – as quoted in the Australian Financial Review – Australia joining Horizon Europe was a “no-brainer”.
The path to Horizon Europe has been long and winding. Efforts to join are understood to have started in 2009, by then-Industry minister Kim Carr. Interest from successive governments has waxed and waned.
There was not a lot of engagement or any obvious enthusiasm for joining under the previous Industry and Science minister Ed Husic, although it was always difficult to know what was happening in that office.
But there does appear to be engagement now. Whether this culminates in Australia joining Horizon Europe is yet to be seen: It’s not free, and the federal Budget remains tight.
The cost of entry to Australia was estimated at $80 million to $160 million, which seems modest and adds weight to the “no-brainer” argument.
In other news…
In its annual Trade and Assistance Review released this week, the Productivity Commission cautioned the federal government against using its signature Future Made in Australia to bolster supply chain resilience, as this could be seen as a form of trade protectionism.
Deploying billions in “behind the border” support could simply create other vulnerabilities. The report sounded like just the latest salvo in the long-running philosophical debate about industrial policy that is as old as the Productivity Commission itself.
As if on cue, the chief executive of the Clean Energy Council John Grimes used an address to the National Press Club to urge the government’s National Reconstruction Fund to ‘spend the money’ faster.
The biggest story of the week – an exclusive by InnovationAus.com editor Justin Hendry – related to machinery of government changes that shifted the delivery agency Services Australia into the Finance department.
An interview with Kate Pounder shed some light on what the former Tech Council chief will be doing at OpenAI during her six month “policy and research”. This included at least some discussion of the ‘OpenAI for countries’ program, which the company is running under the umbrella of the US-led, US$500 billion Stargate AI infrastructure program.
Meanwhile, Canva has overtaken the national science agency CSIRO as Australia’s second most prolific participant in patent applications. The number one spot is held (again) by poker machine giant Aristocrat.
And Gilmour Space Technologies has struck a deal with one of Asia’s largest payload service providers, the Japanese firm Space BD, to offer customers launch opportunities from Queensland.
Finally, we announced the 2025 Patrons for the InnovationAus Awards for Excellence are business legend Catherine Livingstone and Chief Defence Scientist, Professor Tanya Monro.
Joining EU research fund a ‘no-brainer’, says former ASIO chief – AFR [$]
Finance takes control of Services Australia in MoG shake-up – InnovationAus.com [$]
Kate Pounder, OpenAI and the potential for Stargate in Australia – InnovationAus.com [$]
Quantum player Diraq quietly raises $15m in round backed by international funds – Capital Brief [$]
Productivity Commission urges caution on FMiA support – InnovationAus.com [$]
‘Spend the money’: Clean energy chief urges faster NRF push – InnovationAus.com [$]
Gilmour Space strikes deal to offer satellite launches from Bowen – InnovationAus.com
Introducing the 2025 InnovationAus Awards Patrons – InnovationAus.com
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.