THE state government's long-awaited science and innovation review will result in the abolition of a long-standing industry policy council in favour of lifting the role of its science and innovation council.
THE state government’s long-awaited science and innovation review will result in the abolition of a long-standing industry policy council in favour of lifting the role of its science and innovation council.
The Technology & Industry Advisory Council, which was established in 1987, has been instructed to cease all activities and transfer its staff and resources to the department of commerce by Friday December 4.
The government also plans to revamp its Science and Innovation Council, which will be given a wider brief to work more closely with industry.
These changes follow a review of the state’s science, technology and innovation advisory bodies by the Canberra-based Centre for International Economics.
Science and Innovation Minister Troy Buswell will formally announce the government’s response to the CIE report on December 2, at the state science awards.
However, he wrote to TIAC members this week advising that he has “directed the council to cease all activities”.
Responding to questions from WA Business News, Mr Buswell said: “We do need to make changes, to have an overarching body that provides strategic advice to government.
“We need to adopt a broader strategic direction around how we support science and innovation, and an important part of that is working with industry.”
Mr Buswell said the membership of the new Science and Innovation Council would reflect its wider brief, and his desire to achieve tighter links between science, innovation and industry.
The Science and Innovation Council’s previous members, whose terms expired earlier this year, were mostly from research and academia.
They included Lions Eye Institute founder Ian Constable, UWA vice-chancellor Alan Robson, Curtin University’s Mark Woffenden, CSIRO Petroleum’s Bev Ronalds, and WA’s chief scientist Lyn Beazley.
In contrast, TIAC’s membership has a stronger industry flavour. Its chair is business executive Michael Henderson and it includes Poseidon Nickel CEO David Singleton, FORM director Lynda Dorrington, Star Energy CEO Brett Mattes, and Change Corporation’s Sharon Brown.
The government’s planned changes are in line with some submissions to the CIE review.
The University of WA, for instance, called for “a single science advisory body, chaired by an independent person and not the state’s chief scientist”.
It also called for the Science and Innovation Council to be chaired by the premier, as it was under former premier Geoff Gallop, and for its membership to be spread to include expertise in the social sciences.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA believes there are deeper issues to be addressed, urging the government to give industry more confidence by establishing a clear vision for the development of science, innovation and technology.
It also emphasised that advisory bodies must have a clear purpose and a broad mix of industry representatives.
“CCI is concerned that the advisory bodies have produced research reports with specific recommendations and new initiatives that were never implemented,” its submission said.
Challenger Tafe director and TIAC member Rob Meecham, in a personal submission to the CIE review, argued there was a continuing need for two bodies to advise on economic and industry development and, second, scientific research and innovation.
“The skills required to participate in these two mechanisms are quite different ... thus requiring the existence of two bodies,” Mr Meecham’s submission argued.
