US Studies Centre Program on Innovation

Global pharmaceutical company Merck & Co., Inc. (known as Merck Sharp & Dohme in Australia) has provided funding of USD $500,000 over four years to establish a research program on innovation.

The USSC Program on Innovation will analyse American innovation experience to help stimulate innovation and commercialisation of scientific and technological discoveries in Australia. Focusing on the analysis of US experience of the commercialisation process from research to business, with the aim of increasing the productivity of relationships among government, business and universities in Australia, the Program will be one of the most comprehensive of its type. The research program is directed by Professor Bruce McKern.

Building on the University of Sydney's considerable expertise in the science and business of innovation, the Centre will bring together leading Australian and American experts to study the ecologies of centres of innovation and develop policy recommendations for improvement of the Australian environment for innovation and commercialisation.

The first phase of the USSC Program on Innovation will be a set of projects comparing the development of the highly successful biotechnology cluster in San Diego with the more fragmented biotechnology developments in the Australian states. These projects will evaluate the forces stimulating the development of innovative clusters, including the availability and sourcing of venture capital and other resources, issues of scale and agglomeration, the role of networks and international partnership, intellectual property regimes in each country and the process of technology transfer from universities to the private sector. The program will develop recommendations for policy for business, universities and government.

The Centre has released the first publication of the innovation research program, a background report titled Innovation in America: a Comparative Study. The report, prepared by researcher Dr Thomas Barlow, provides a comparison of key characteristics of the United States innovation system compared with Australia and other developed countries. The report is available to download on the Centre's website and printed copies are available for purchase.

• Read "Innovation in America", a Comparative Study by Dr Thomas Barlow.

Advisory Committee on Innovation

The Committee provides advice on the Centre's Research Program on Innovation, which is directed by Professor Bruce McKern.

The Committee Members are:

• David Anstice (Chair)
  Until recently Executive Vice President, Strategy Initiatives, of the US pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. Inc., currently Chairman of the University of Sydney USA Foundation and a Director of CSL Limited
• Professor Peter Andrews, AO
  Queensland Chief Scientist, Chairman of the Queensland Biotechnology Advisory Council, co-founder of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Bioscience and director of six entrepreneurial companies
• Bruce Kean, AM
  Former CEO Boral Ltd, Chairman, ATSE Clunies Ross Foundation and a Director, Neuroscience Victoria Ltd
• John Olsen, AO
  Former Australian Consul-General in Los Angeles and New York and former Premier of South Australia
• Dr Jim Peacock, AC
  CSIRO Fellow, Chair, OCE Science Team and recipient of the CSIRO Lifetime Achievement Award, former Chief of CSIRO Plant Industry

See also:

• Postdoctoral Fellowships
• Research Grants
• Opinion Surveys
• Publications
• Academic Directory

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