Reaping the rewards of Australian innovation
One of NICTA's main aims is to commercialise innovative technology and software developed by its researchers. Historically, Australia has had a poor track record in commercialising the inventions of its researchers, but the organisation hopes to change that.
"One goal is to reward the researchers who come up with these ideas with equity in the companies, so NICTA gets some obviously," says Uther. "There's a financial incentive that NICTA can use [to attract researchers]."
"The centre will use whatever commercialising approach a particular technology requires to achieve its mission, including licensing usage rights, sale of technology, joint ventures, start-ups, and high-end consulting," reads the NICTA Web site. However, to maximise its impact on Australia's economy, NICTA will have a primary emphasis on creating start-ups and growing SMEs.
The focus on commercialisation is one of the things that is likely to attract researchers, according to Uther. Even if it isn't something the researchers are looking at now, they will appreciate the knowledge that the expertise is available.
In the US, there is a mutual respect between technical and financial people that is lacking in Australia, according to Uther, and this has dampened the success of Australia's IT industry. Although the two groups have different goals, the separate goals are complementary rather than adversary.
"The driving force behind engineers having the ultimate mouse-trap...was to have the ultimate impact on the world," says Uther. Financial people are, obviously, better at making money than techies. If a product can sell, and if it becomes mainstream, then it has made an impact plus financial gains. "So the two goals coincide," he adds.
At Stanford University and MIT, there are academics who leave the university to start their own companies, often taking with them the group of PhD students who were involved in developing the idea being commercialised. Once the startup phase is over, the academics hand over the company to someone who is better at running a business rather than starting it, and return to academia to develop the next idea.
"I see NICTA as being a wonderful way to get that cycle going in Australia," says Uther. "Because within NICTA, I can be associated with the university here, and then if I get an idea that is commercialisable, I can take it to the other half of NICTA [which has all the expertise and facilities to commercialise it]."
