Australia risks losing the global race to develop new technologies and applications because the country’s research funding model is broken at all levels, a technology entrepreneur says.
Mark Muzzin, a miner-turned-tech entrepreneur, has slammed the funding system, saying the investment community doesn’t “get” technology companies, universities are not commercial enough and the government does not put enough funding into helping commercialise research.
His Ionic Industries is seeking to commercialise some Monash University research on graphene, a wonder material that is just a layer of carbon atoms thick.
Almost all the $10 million to $12m Mr Muzzin expects to raise for a stock listing this year will come from offshore.
Separately, Monash is in talks with a Chinese investor on advanced plans for a start-up to be based in Australia that would aim to develop energy storage devices using graphene.
“Australia is the ‘dumb’ country. We are fixated on just digging it up and shipping it out and then having to buy stuff back after it is value-added,” Mr Muzzin said. “Graphene is an opportunity for value adding but we just don’t get it.
“We are in a race on graphene. Monash and Australia is punching above its weight in this area but if we don’t get the support from government, we will lose our advantage.”
Australia has significant deposits of graphite, the source material for graphene, presenting an opportunity to base the whole supply chain here for a material touted to have groundbreaking applications, from foldable touchscreens and new medical imaging, to super-fast and largecapacity batteries that could revolutionise electric cars and energy storage from renewables.
Monash physicist Michael Fuhrer, who moved from the US to pursue graphene research, said Australia suffered a lack of venture capital. “We are on the cusp of when (graphene applications) will happen and Australia is playing in that game and I think it can be competitive. But we could fall behind,” he said.
Monash today will launch its Centre for Atomically Thin Materials, bringing together all its research in the area to encourage better collaboration between the experimental scientists and engineers pursuing applications. It would offer a “one-stop shop” for industry collaboration.
The government is reviewing the university research funding system in a bid to boost poor levels of collaboration between researchers and industry and improve commercial outcomes. A report is due next month.
Australia’s total spending on research and development is comparable to other developed countries but is second-last of 30 OECD countries on collaboration between business and universities. Mr Muzzin said targeted funding was needed to help small to medium-sized businesses take research out of labs and into the market.
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