Indolent Australia's high-level R&D review will miss the target

With the artificial intelligence (AI) threat barely hitting second gear, this revenue-rich but financially struggling "export" model has already damaged university quality and ethics.

Australia likes directly preferring overseas students to locals, as sources of skilled workers or semi-skilled labour. Selfish Universities Australia applauds Albanese's reverse-racist agreements, preferencing Indian qualifications and students over other nations.

Not only that, our National University (ANU) and other high-end campuses are themselves tireless propagandists for "export" education. Downsizing and quality-reform of this student-boondoggle might make better sense, research-wise, but Denholm's looking the other way.

Business-led research, her paper continues, is a Good Thing, building "diversification, resilience, and growth". Relative to OECD norms, however, business-based research has plummeted since 2009, this largely attributable to "mining sector" trends.

Would you believe "stronger manufacturing" would help - I do. Would you believe FMIA can instigate that – I don't. Not when superimposed on our self-sown manufacturing landmines – steep prices for land, labour, energy, transport, and communications.

What would have been relevant here, is the potential China/US development of intelligent or smart manufacturing . Robotics and energy-heavy, but beyond Australia's ken.

The next point is our "vibrant" startup scene. Financial Review loves this stuff, seeing evidence our regressive economy is on track. Who doesn't know somebody who knows someone working at Atlassian or Canva ?

Also plausible, is that Australia "increasingly" relies on small and medium enterprises to lift business R&D, though their numbers have "contracted" since 2008.

Could this train-of-thought be leading somewhere? Not when Treasury Line smothers discussion:

Growing medium enterprises includes de-risking market adoption. Removing barriers to business dynamism and competitive pressures, encouraging firms to approach the innovation frontier, will lead to improved labour productivity.

Back then, to the slide in large-enterprise R&D. Again, why would these commonly rent-seeking companies plunge bigtime into R&D? Cupidity and oligopoly are reward enough.

The Commonwealth's R&D effort is spread "broadly and thinly". Over 2024-25 there's $14.4 billion (less than the largesse for fee-charging religious schools) across "14 portfolios and 151 programs". The biggest slice is the R&D tax incentive for businesses.