The government knows what it wants to do – question is, what will it cost

Today is the deadline for submissions to the feds’ University Research Commercialisation paper, (and well-done the officials who will undoubtedly ensure they are all available on-line first thing Saturday).

But whatever submissions suggest, it appears the government has pretty much made up its mind on what universities should stop doing, “an innovation culture has not been fostered within Australian universities, with performance management and rewards focused on quality of academic output and citations.” And it also knows what they should do, “to encourage and accelerate university commercialisation outcomes the existing paradigm will need to shift, whilst also maintaining our investment in research excellence and basic research.”

The feds also seem pretty clear on how to make the shifting happen (CMM March 2).

But there is one question that isn’t addressed – how much the government will have to kick-in to make it all happen.