Institute director Dr Robert Ronstadt has accepted an invitation from Queensland Premier Peter Beattie to become an international advisor to help in the commercialisation of Australian research.
IC2 has already been involved in assisting the Queensland Government to develop the initial framework for the Australian Institute of Commercialisation, which is due to be fully operational by July this year.
Its continuing involvement is part of a planned International Network Partner Program to be created as part of the AIC.
The AIC will have its headquarters in Brisbane, but Beattie said it is being promoted as a national initiative to ensure research is maximised.
A worldwide search is now on to engage a suitably qualified CEO for the Institute, which is aimed at building high-tech industries, particularly in Queensland.
"We must commercialise our research discoveries in Queensland so that we can generate long-term, new-age jobs instead of watching as the ideas and jobs are developed overseas," Beattie said.
Meanwhile, Queensland is courting US expertise in nanotechnology and biotechnology and has accepted an offer of assistance from the University of South Carolina Nanotechnology Institute in setting up a similar institute in Queensland.
Plans are already under way for the establishment of a US$50 million Australian Institute of Bio-Engineering and Nanotechnology in Brisbane, with the Queensland Government having signed a heads of agreement late last year with the University of Queensland for the establishment of the institute.
I am hearing all about the "Smart State" but I still can't get even modest funding (