The Australian Technology Network’s submission is way more about policy than payments for its members, presenting education and research as accelerating the economy, to benefit all Australians

Thus the bid calls for funding universities to teach Indigenous, regional, low income and first-in-family students and for “shorter, flexible courses co-created with industry for “upskilling and reskilling.”

The lobby also wants to entrench applied research as a national foundation with an all of government “comprehensive research strategy,” using the Medical Research Future Fund as “a good model for such an investment.”

“It would guarantee long-term funding stability, but also be responsive to emerging and developing government research priorities.” (The ATN carefully keeps the research peace by suggesting government should “preserve” research block grants, the ARC and NHMRC).

Overall, this is a bold call for a culture change, which may be why the ATN also suggests the budget, “enshrine the newly announced research commercialisation programmes in legislation … to meet the challenges of new idea development and supporting business-university partnerships.”