A 10-year strategy to cement South Australia as a global leader in science and technology was launched last week by SA Chief Scientist Professor Caroline McMillan, at an event that featured a panel of experts including Associate Professor Justin Chalker.
The new strategy is called ‘Excite’ – representing excellence, collaboration, innovation, translation and an enabled future workforce – and aims to grow South Australia’s economy and reputation as a centre of scientific excellence through initiatives and investment into the research and innovation value chain.
With goals to attract proven innovators, investment, and connect industry with game-changing ideas, the multi-faceted plan will bring leaders together from industry, government and education to build the state’s STEMM (science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine) contributions and bolster education and career pathways.
Among its initiatives, a South Australian Champions for Diversity in STEMM Group will be established to help scale-up programs that have succeeded in growing STEMM capabilities. Outcomes from this group will feed into an annual South Australian Future Workforce Forum, which will bring industry and education leaders together to review and map demand and supply pressures on the future workforce.
A key element of the strategy is to harness the strengths of existing innovation districts including Tonsley, scaling up excellence and opportunities within these and increasing the transfer of knowledge between research and industry.
Associate Professor Chalker explained this was important to address the challenge of translating scientific research discoveries into commercial products and services.
“It will take investment, time and a vision to invest in that translation,” Associate Professor Chalker said. “That entails both the university – or research entity – as well as industry so all can see the benefits in the long term.”
In the launch discussion he spoke about the value of research to benefit multiple sectors, illustrating this through his own work at the Chalker Research Lab at Flinders University, where the focus is on innovative chemistry to address global sustainability challenges. He also outlined nimbleness and flexibility as enablers of innovation and attributes of smaller cities such as Adelaide and explained the importance of leadership and investment to connect research with industry requirements.
View the EXCITE strategy
View a video of the strategy launch