BIO 2010: Kim Carr on biotech in 2010

This feature appeared in the March/April 2010 issue of Australian Life Scientist. To subscribe to the magazine, go here.

Two thousand and nine was an extraordinary year. When I last wrote twelve months ago, we were in the thick of a global economic crisis. The biotechnology industry, like most Australian industries, was feeling the effect of the downturn. Thanks to swift action by the Commonwealth, Australia has fared better than just about any other developed nation.

One of those actions was the release in May 2009 of Powering Ideas: An Innovation Agenda for the 21st Century. This is a 10-year strategy, but it couldn’t have come at a better time. History teaches us that the innovation pipeline can shut down in recessions, prolonging the slump and retarding recovery. The Government was determined that this would not happen in Australia.

It backed Powering Ideas in the 2009-10 budget with $3.1 billion in new funding for research and innovation over four years. The total Commonwealth budget for research and innovation this is year will be $8.6 billion – 25 per cent more than in 2008-09. This is the biggest commitment and the biggest increase on record.

This funding is being used to drive a program of investment and reform that will deliver huge benefits to the biotechnology sector.

The new R&D Tax Credit will offer biotechs and other innovators a simpler, more generous, and more predictable tax incentive for research and development. There will be a 45 per cent refundable credit (equivalent to a 150 per cent deduction) for companies turning over less than $20 million a year, and a 40 per cent non-refundable credit (equivalent to a 133 per cent deduction) for larger companies.

The Government has also established Commercialisation Australia to help innovators make the often difficult journey from research to revenue. It delivers hands-on support tailored to individual needs – including co-contribution grants that can be used to buy specialist services, engage experienced executives, prove concepts, and undertake early-stage commercialisation activities.

The Future Industries component of the Super Science Initiative is investing $504 million in cutting-edge infrastructure to support research in biotechnology and other fields. This includes new equipment and facilities for DNA sequencing, bioinformatics, plant and animal phenomics, molecular biology, drug discovery and the development of novel therapies. It includes an integrated online biodiversity database and improved infrastructure for linking population health data.

The recently released National Enabling Technologies Strategy will provide a framework for the responsible development of biotechnology, nanotechnology and other platforms in Australia. We expect these platforms to underpin the knowledge-intensive industries and the high-skill, high-wage jobs of the future. It is essential that we unlock their full potential, but we can only do that with the community’s support. NETS is designed to secure that support by funding best-practice regulation, state-of-the-art measurement facilities and effective public engagement.

It would be easy to extend this list – I haven’t even touched on our massively increased support for university research – but I think the Government’s determination to see the biotechnology sector prosper and grow is clear.

We are always on the lookout for new opportunities. For example, our National Industrial Biotechnology Strategy is promoting the productivity and efficiency benefits that biotech offers Australian manufacturing. There is also growing interest among business innovators and researchers in establishing biomass-based value chains to produce bio-products for industry and consumers. Most importantly of all, biotechnology will play a critical part in our response to climate change. The World Wide Fund for Nature estimates that industrial biotechnologies could deliver carbon-dioxide savings of up to 2.5 billion tonnes a year by 2030.

The world’s expectations of biotechnology are high. We are counting on it to give us clean sources of energy, more nutritious and plentiful food, new treatments for disease, and much more besides. There is no doubt in my mind that biotechnology can fulfil these expectations; nor is there any doubt that the Australian biotech sector will be in the vanguard. It is already doing fantastic work, and it will continue to enjoy the Government’s strong support.

Senator Kim Carr Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research
For further information, visit: www.innovation.gov.au and www.ausindustry.gov.au