Getting under the gaps

Minister Julie Bishop has made it very clear the Government will not contemplate additional funding for 'knowledge transfer' or 'engagement', if it is merely a de facto supplement to universities' general operating grants. The Minister has emphasized there is already considerable investment in 'third stream' or knowledge transfer activities including the Collaboration and Structural Reform Fund, CRCs, ARC linkages and various industry R&D programs administered by DITR. In fact, many of the industry R&D or innovation programs cannot be characterized as 'knowledge transfer' as they do not support collaboration between industry and universities. Be that as it may, the political message is any new funding would need to be targeted at the 'gaps' between existing programs. Before contemplating where 'gaps' might exist, it is well to ask why the prospect of additional 'third stream', 'engagement' or 'knowledge transfer' is being debated.