The University of Queensland has topped the nation in funding for industry-sponsored research.
According to figures contained in the Higher Education Funding Report for the 1998-2000 Triennium released by the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs, the University earned more than $3.5 million clear of its nearest competitor.
The University of Queensland earned a weighted annual average of $30.819 million for 1995/96 in category three (Industry and Other) of the 1998 research quantum - 14.7 percent of the total pool of $209 million in this category.
The top five performing institutions in winning industry funding were:
- the University of Queensland $30.819 million;
- the University of Melbourne $27.251 million;
- the University of New South Wales $20.468 million;
- Monash University $18.069 million;
- the University of Sydney $18,028 million.
In Queensland, the University earned three-quarters of the $40.9 million awarded to higher education institutions in the State under this category.
University Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Paul Greenfield said the University's pleasing performance in industry-related funding was a key factor in the University's overall improved performance in total research income between 1994 and 1996.
The University's total research income was $62.387 million in 1994; $70.064 million in 1995 and $76.125 million in 1996, with the biggest improvements in the following categories:
1994 1995 1996
National Competitive Research Grants $27.874mil 29.261mil $36.210mil
Industry & Other Research Funding $25.377mil $30.356mil $31.283mil
The University of Queensland earned industry and other research funding from two main sources - monies earned in competitive research grants by University departments (more than $16 million in 1996) and University-controlled entities (more than $14 million the same year).
The University's major controlled entities include UniQuest Limited, the University's technology and consulting company; the Comquest Group of companies formed in 1990 to manage R&D Syndication projects; CiTR Pty Ltd, a company specialising in services and products in advanced information and communications technology which was spun out of the University's Centre for Information Technology Research in 1994; and the University of Queensland Foundation Trust, which provides seed funding for research projects.
Professor Greenfield said controlled entitities at the University of Queensland had achieved the greatest growth in income within the industry and other research funding category, increasing earnings from $9.267 million in 1994 to $14.726 million in 1996.
UniQuest Limited Managing Director Dr David Evans said that the number one ranking in industry-sponsored research was due to a combination of factors.
He said that the excellence and entrepreneurial ability of the University's centres, departments and individual researchers were core ingredients.
'These capabilities are enhanced by UniQuest's distinctive ?intensive farming' approach to technology commercialisation, which is widely recognised as the leading program of its type in Australia and is setting the standards that other Australian university companies are now trying to emulate,' he said.
'In this program, UniQuest adds value to the University's research outcomes using a venture development approach.'
Dr Evans said that the University's edge over its larger rivals in industry-sponsored research resulted in part from the way that UniQuest's success in technology commercialisation was feeding through to income generated for R&D. He said that good technology commercialisation deals almost always produced additional funding for research.
'This is a cycle that builds,' he said.
Dr Evans said that the quantum figures were impressive, but were only the 'tip of the iceberg'. They did not reflect commercial income, as distinct from R&D income, that would be generated over the next 10-20 years from technology commercialisation deals that had been closed over the past three-four years and would close with increasing frequency in the future.
'As this income starts to flow in larger and larger amounts, it will put UQ even further ahead of its rivals,' Dr Evans said.
CiTR Pty Ltd managing director Dr Robert Hendy said in over a decade of development, the key to CiTR's success had been its focus on specific market niches that capitalised on the company's strength in creating industrial strength software, participation in the formation of international standards in distributed computing and innovation in large scale product development.
In the past five years, CiTR had secured major contracts with multinational vendors such as Hewlett Packard and NEC to develop sophisticated products for telephone companies which will assist them to manage their complex technical infrastructure.
This contract product development had been the springboard for CiTR's international success.
'More than 50 percent of all 1997 revenues of approximately $9 million are associated with clients in USA, Japan, Italy, Malaysia, China and Korea,' Dr Hendy said.
'Having developed insights into the needs of its telephone company customer base, CiTR has now identified opportunities for its own product development. These products will cement CiTR's presence in the international market for network and service management services.'
This year the previous Managing Director of CiTR Pty Ltd, Adjunct Professor Rob Cook, has moved to the USA as president of CiTR Inc, the company's wholly-owned subsidiary in the USA. He will head a 10-person effort and work to improve dramatically the scope and size of the business.
For further information, contact Professor Greenfield, telephone 07 33653917, Dr Evans, telephone 3365 4037 or Dr Hendy, telephone 3259 2222.
