New chair of Innovation Australia appointed

Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Christopher Pyne has announced Bill Ferris AC as the new chair of Innovation Australia.

Innovation Australia was established by the government to enhance Australia’s innovation performance. As chair of the independent body for the next three years, Ferris will perform a key role in the Australian Government’s new focus on innovation.

“Mr Ferris is the right person to lead Innovation Australia in developing a more innovative culture,” said Pyne. “A former chair of Austrade and for 12 years the chair of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Bill is a highly respected veteran of venture capital and private equity in Australasia.

“He has extensive experience in the venture capital field and founded Australia’s first venture capital firm in the 1970s. Bill has been a key adviser as we develop the Innovation and Science Agenda, and will continue to be so as we work to implement it.”

A 45-year veteran of private equity in Australasia, Ferris has been the executive chairman of CHAMP Private Equity since its formation in 2000 and of its predecessor, Australian Mezzanine Investments (AMIL), which he co-founded in 1987. He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1990 for services to the export industry and in 2008 was made Companion of the Order of Australia for his philanthropic activities, as a leader in support of medical research and for his role in the establishment of the private equity sector in Australia.

“I have long been a champion of the need for greater government and private sector effort in the commercialisation of our research discoveries and inventions,” Ferris said.

“Now with the Prime Minister’s and Minister Pyne’s expressed determination to make innovation core to the government’s economic policies, I relish the opportunity as chair of Innovation Australia to assist in identifying what changes are necessary for meaningful improvement in commercialisation and how to best get on with it right away.

“It is a rare and exciting moment for all involved in science and innovation in Australia; a time to lift national awareness of the importance innovation must play in our future prosperity and the actions necessary for that to be possible.”