The research universities lobby acknowledges the National Reconstruction Fund “is not intended to directly support Australian university research,” but the Go8 has ideas on how they can help each other

In its submission  to the Commonwealth’s consultation paper on how the $15bn National Reconstruction Fund can work, the Group of Eight acknowledges the NRF will be required to generate a positive return on its investments.

But the Eight argues, that for university-based research, “failure to reach a commercial outcome is not necessarily the end of the line.”

“The pathway to university research commercialisation is non-linear and the NRF should consider the markedly diverse ways in which university research can be translated into commercial opportunities.”

The Go8 suggests the Fund allocate $500m for “innovation that is early in its commercialisation journey” in the seven NRF target areas, depending on matching private capital. This $1bn resource could support new technologies to meet the fund’s investment mandate, “while still allowing it to maintain a diverse range of investment activities.”