Commercialisation 4.0

As I step into a new role with KiwiNet, I had the opportunity to attend the recent Knowledge Commercialisation Australasia (KCA) Conference in Melbourne. The big question in the room: how can we turn science into impact??

An inspiring range of speakers presented on the challenges of research translation (research into policy) and commercialisation (research into startups and spinouts) - and also the opportunities for research to impact the world. This is particularly relevant for Aotearoa, NZ with the Te Ara Paerangi Future Pathways Green Paper consultation on the future of our research system, with the resulting White Paper to be released by the end of the year.

There are plenty of barriers to overcome, particularly around equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) -? Women in STEMM Australia co-founder Dr Marguerite Evans-Galea states that only 10% of patent holders are women. In the words of KCA Chair Quin Chang, “with 190 attendees in the room with an immense wealth of knowledge and experience, we are building a critical mass to advocate for the changes required. Be bold, be courageous and advocate for the needs of the sector.”

R&D as the ‘anchor’ for an innovation ecosystem

Monash University has an annual $1.1B research spend, and earns around $3B revenue.It is research intensive and committed strategically to being enterprising. Research generates an estimated $6.60 for every $1 received, and this happens through key partnerships with industry.

In her opening keynote address, Professor Margaret Gardner AC, Vice-Chancellor stated that research and development (R&D) is the ‘anchor’ of an innovation ecosystem. “We need to turn research into commercially viable solutions for the benefit of our world. This leads to jobs, economic returns and the innovation path itself spawns and renews innovation…comparative data shows that Australasia performs well in R&D (particularly research), but we perform less well on the translation and commercialisation of this research.”?

She suggests a change in outcomes, culture and environment to deliver programmes aligning with industry through the post-Covid economic recovery. “Every great researcher is not going to turn into a great spinout CEO. We need to build the professional teams to help with the first stage of research translation, connect with Venture Capital (VC) funds, build deep relationships with the relevant funders, VC’s and industry.? It’s not about having one good idea and making it happen - we need an investment in people, building the culture and industry relationships with Government funding to bridge the gap. Build the team, the path, the culture. We need policies there to create the right environment and encourage collaborations. Collaborative networks through innovation precincts and hubs. We need data and realism to build good strategy - we need to tell the right story of how we are building the translation and commercialisation of the very best of ideas in the world.”

Demand-driven innovation and industry transition

Interesting panel discussions included one led by KiwiNet’s Alan Hucks on CleanTech innovation - with science holding the keys to an emission free future, how can we accelerate clean and climate technologies to scale??

Dr Chris Bumby, Robinson Research Institute (Victoria University of Wellington) is working on green hydrogen for steel production, and sees some challenges to be overcome with green steel transition. “How do we drive disruptive science from the existing state, facing industry resistance with sunk capital cost?” He suggested that we need to start with incremental, modular improvements into existing processes. From University-based research experiments to market there is a big scale-up challenge. Collaboration between Government, industry and researchers requires buy-in for pilot scale and clarity on funding.??

Jody Bruce, CSIRO is also interested in the industry transition challenge. As a global megatrend, the move towards Net Zero includes using more sustainable aviation fuel. She asks “how do we navigate the next 20 years to green hydrogen?”? Meredith England, Climate-KIC suggests that connected portfolios of intervention on climate action and emissions reduction requires demand-driven innovation, a massive mindset shift for industry. We need to build industry clusters as there are no shortage of ideas. We need a coherent set of challenges and opportunities as the market ‘pull’ for these ideas to be actioned.?

Dr Alistair Hick, Monash University suggests that Universities have an interesting role to play in climate policy, and that we need to align the expectations of investors. "The world is changing and investors are increasingly committed to solving climate change. Financial innovation and policy innovation is required. Finance and investment partners might get involved earlier to bridge that gap using frameworks for solving the problems with policy/market signals."??

Investment and commercial returns

Grant Dooley leads Breakthrough Australia, ?Victoria’s $2b tech fund for R&D development and commercialisation. He spoke on investing for impact and building successful partnerships, supporting researchers to bridge the ‘Valley of Death’ between the laboratory and going to market.? “It’s all about building the pipeline - establishing strong relationships with the Universities”? However, he would like to change the mindset of researchers to take more of a commercial focus. “I wish that industry? and? academics spoke? the same language in the commercialisation space” Commercialising research is KPI oriented, and there is competing interest from researchers’ need to publish in journals. Early stage research is very risky, and deep tech is capital intensive. Universities can be misaligned with the research industry and risk appetite. Universities are all on a different level of commercialisation maturity. ”How can we assist with capital and with capability building? All want to see impact from their research,? but research commercialisation needs to be industry-led”??

Gabrielle Munzer, Main Sequence asks the question “How do we build industries? We seek to have a big impact, plus deliver commercial return.” CSIRO’s Venture Partner, Main Sequence was set up for investment into research to build companies in deep tech, novel science and engineering innovation. Each company must have a link to a public research organisation, and have the intent to go global. A suggested partnership model includes a venture co-founder, executive co-founder and a? research industry co-founder for industry to ‘pull’ the product or service through the supply chain.? One successful example is the investment into v2foods, the meat alternative which uses protein extracted from legumes to make a ‘mince’ that is used in Hungry Jack’s Rebel Whopper burgers. Hungry Jack’s owner Jack Cowin took a stake in v2food alongside the CSIRO when the startup launched in 2019.?

Jobs for the future?

Victoria’s Lead Scientist Dr Amanda Caples discussed how science and technology will underpin jobs for the next few decades. “There will be new categories of jobs for future prosperity as the tech-ready economy transitions into the new economy.”?

She differentiates between the ‘real world’ of people who make things, and the world of people who think about things. “There is an intellectual merit in asking how we make things as simple as we can, as cheap as we can, as functional as we can, and as freely interconnectable as we can.” She also referenced the widely viewed TED Talk ‘Toward a Science of Simplicity’ delivered by Professor George Whitesides in 2010 - if you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a look.?

Dr Caples concluded with three obeservations:

• We need to invest more time and resources searching for the problems that industry is trying to solve. We need an exchange to connect researchers with ideas to companies with access to potential business solutions. How well do Uni’s leverage the network of interested companies? We need to take a lateral approach - vertical thinking needs to change.
• We need to build businesses rather than transactional assets. We need a strong value proposition and need to test the market opportunity. Partner up, rather than go alone. Spinouts are not necessarily well-aligned with the skillsets of founders. This will lead to fewer startups but will yield better outcomes and returns.?
• Change is a long-term game. Take a campaign approach to achieve your goals, and understand that influence is the key lever to affect change. Win institute support for a medium to longer term view. Make sure KPIs contain qualitative measures of outcomes, not just outputs. Contribute to the development of emerging technologies that create new jobs, and create an authorising environment to deliver on the above.?

Plenty to reflect upon as I join the KiwiNet team!?