The Economic Reform Roundtable was pitched as a pivotal moment for Australia’s economic future. But ambition alone won’t lift productivity. If the roundtable is to matter, it must now deliver real, measurable action — starting with a national commitment to research and development (R&D).
Australia’s productivity growth has stalled. And with it, our economic resilience is eroding. We are investing less than 2 per cent of GDP in R&D — well below global leaders like South Korea, Sweden and the United States — and the trend is heading in the wrong direction. This is not a policy oversight. It’s a national vulnerability.
Without urgent intervention, we face a future of stagnating wages, rising living costs, and declining global competitiveness. The consequences of inaction are not hypothetical — they are a slow bleed of national potential. They are already being felt in households and boardrooms across the country. Every day we delay, we forfeit future breakthroughs, future industries and future prosperity.
We know what works. R&D is one of the most powerful levers for boosting productivity. Yet we are failing to pull it with the force required.
Australia’s Group of Eight research-intensive universities are at the heart of our innovation system. Together, they contribute over $8.5 billion annually to national R&D, accounting for more than 20 per cent of total investment. These institutions have delivered world-changing breakthroughs: Wi-Fi, the cochlear implant, cancer therapies, quantum computing. But we cannot coast on past glories.
Universities are not ivory towers. They are engines of economic transformation. We partner with industry to commercialise discoveries, educate the workforce that applies them, and attract global collaborations that inject new ideas into our economy. The results are tangible: medical technologies, renewable energy solutions, digital infrastructure — all born from research, all driving productivity.
But these successes are not systemic. They are exceptions. To compete globally, we need to make them the rule.
This week, the Go8 will convene leaders from government, business and academia at the Go8 Dialogue: Leveraging Research and Innovation to Turbocharge Productivity. The focus is clear: how to lift business expenditure on R&D and remove the policy speedbumps that threaten the sustainability of university-led research.
The Dialogue builds on the roundtable and the Strategic Examination of Research and Development (SERD) — a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape Australia’s innovation landscape. But SERD must not become another shelved review. It must be the catalyst for bold, coordinated reform.
We’re not just diagnosing the problem — we’re offering practical, workable solutions. The Go8 has laid out a clear path forward. That includes setting a national target to lift R&D investment to 3 per cent of GDP by 2035.
We’ve proposed a national agency to coordinate research and innovation policy, because right now, fragmentation — and red tape — is holding us back. We’ve called for a modernised R&D Tax Incentive, paired with smart financing tools like equity or debt from the National Reconstruction Fund, to unlock private-sector investment.
We want to see small businesses better connected to university research through a dedicated program that helps them innovate and grow. We’ve recommended national doctoral training centres to build the next generation of research talent in areas that matter most to Australia’s future. And we’ve suggested unlocking superannuation capital to co-invest in early-stage innovation — because the capital is there, and the opportunity is now.
Of course, we recognise that governments face competing priorities — defence, health, aged care, housing. But here’s the truth: the strength of our defence capability, the resilience of our health system, and the sustainability of our economy all depend on one thing — our national capacity to innovate. And that capacity is built on R&D.
These are not abstract ideas. They are practical, shovel-ready reforms. The Go8 has done the policy work. What’s needed now is the political will to act.
Without a decisive lift in R&D, Australia will drift — fewer breakthroughs, fewer exports, weaker growth. But with the right investment, we can reignite productivity, spur innovation and secure a more prosperous, competitive future.
The lever is right in front of us. It’s time to pull it — hard.
Vicki Thomson is the chief executive of the Group of Eight universities
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.