The Innovative Research Universities lobby should know a thing or two about innovation

Chief Scientist Alan Finkel and Chief Scientist Mark Cully are asking for advice on improving innovation metrics (CMM March 15). The IRU obliges in a new submission to the review, which outlines issues it says aren’t yet on the agenda.

University teaching practise as well as research outcomes should be measured. “The massive increases in teaching and research productivity, extremely high by world standards, are indicative of the technological and human resource management innovations within universities over the past decade.”

Broader idea of innovation: include community and public sector organisations. “There is a risk of over-emphasis on the economic effects when evaluating potential innovation metrics.”

Get granular: the IRU argues meaningful international comparisons require region, industry and company level data