The research response to the budget wasn’t all critical – some see it as an opportunity

For sure the basic research community was not pleased. The Australian Academy of Science lamented, “no significant new funding for fundamental discovery science and no initiatives to stem the loss of university science jobs” and warned “it is important for Australia’s future to ensure we have strong investment in basic research to be able to translate discoveries.”

And the Australian Society for Medical Research complained, “the government’s focus on commercialisation of health and medical research cannot succeed without supporting basic, fundamental and discovery research to feed that part of the pipeline. The ongoing static investment in those areas is crippling the sector.”

But organisations looking towards a  research translation plan, expected from the government by year end, were way happier.

The Cooperative Research Centres Association, “welcomes key budget measures to support industry growth and innovation capabilities.” Science and Technology Australia specified 13 funded budget initiatives it liked. “This future-focused Budget charts a path to develop the workforce Australia will need to seize opportunities in next-generation technologies.”

And the Australian Technology Network made itself even clearer. “Ensuring the funding system supports a strong and sustainable research and commercialisation ecosystem is vital.

We look forward to further announcements from the government on research sustainability measures as well as the critically important area of research commercialisation later this year.”

Guess which organisations the government is most likely to listen to when thinking about announcing.