The peak industry organisation has backed the Commonwealth’s proposed “patent box” tax concession for biomedicine

“The patent box will align Australia with similar economies which already have such policies in place,” chair Jeremy Brownlie and chief executive Misha Schubert write in a submission to a Treasury paper on policy design.

The patent box (as in the square ticked on a form to claim a tax concession) is the government’s new big thing in R&D policy, effectively ending all hope of the funding reform set out in the Ferris, Finkel, Fraser review of the R&D Tax Incentive (as covered in umpteen CMM stories.)  Kirsty Abbott and Amanda-Jane George (CQU) explained it for CMM here.)

STA also urges the government to extend the patent box proposal to low emissions technology which would be “a clever strategic move …. Adding clean energy technologies to the patent box can build a strong stream of Australian export income from Australian-made clean energy products.”

STA backing the patent box is realistic. The lobby long hoped for a change to the R&D Tax Incentive, with a 20 per cent concession for investors who partnered with universities and research institutions (CMM March 31 2020) which hasn’t happened.

It is now working on what its members will likely get.