Response to the Queensland R & D Strategy Issues Paper

Abstract

Queensland’s R and D strategy articulates a strategy for research in the sciences
and technology. It intent and purpose are excellent, but in its current form it
poorly addresses R and D opportunities deriving from the applied social and the creative disciplines and the role of the social and creative disciplines in the development and commercialisation process for all research.

Proposed research expenditure priorities reflect a science/technology led agenda
for Queensland at the expense of new economy imperatives for research in
knowledge consumption services. The ‘knowledge consumption services’
sector derives from the applied social and creative disciplines (business,
education, leisure and entertainment, media and communications) and
represents 25% of exemplary economies, whilst the new science sector
(agricultural biotech, fiber, construction materials, energy and pharmaceuticals)
for example, accounts for only about 15% of these economies. In fact all modern
economies are consumption driven (60-70% of GDP) and the social technologies
that manage consumption all derive from the social and creative disciplines.

Knowledge consumption industries are not as research intensive as science
based industries but historical research expenditure in Queensland has devoted
only 3.7% to research in the applied social and creative disciplines and the
currently proposed strategy does not significantly alter this allocation.
Queensland can no longer afford to understand the social and creative
disciplines as commercially irrelevant, ‘civilising’ disciplines. Instead they must be
recognised as the vanguard of economic growth. In particular, the proposed R
and D strategy does nothing to position Queensland for the emerging wave of
innovation needed to meet demand for content creation in entertainment,
education, government, and health information, to exploit universal networked
broadband architectures currently in development.

Not only is research in the applied social and creative disciplines required for its
own commercial potential, but also because such research must be hybridised
with science and technology research to realise the commercial potential of the
latter. Commercialisation depends on ‘whole product value propositions’ not just
basic research. QUT’s proposed CRC for Interaction Design provides one
example of how research in the social and creative disciplines can be
meaningfully hybridised with basic research in technology, to create new
commercial opportunities for Queensland.