Our challenge is to drive the jobs of the future, says Deborah Terry
University of Queensland vice-chancellor Deborah Terry says its critical to preserve the relationship between industry, government and universities.
University of Queensland vice-chancellor Deborah Terry says that to perform at the highest level in research an organisation needs both scale and focus.
One of UQ’s great assets, Terry points out, is that it is comprehensive, working across nearly all fields of research. It is also important, she says, to work seamlessly across the so-called “technology readiness levels” which range from fundamental discovery, through applied research, all the way to having a product ready for commercial production.
“We have a lot of our researchers who are doing quite applied, problem-focused work. We’ve got strengths from basic discovery science, right through to commercialisation,” she says.
She pays tribute to former vice-chancellor Brian Wilson who established the university’s research commercialisation arm, UniQuest, back in 1984. It has raised $700m from taking university technology to market.
Terry stresses the importance of the “critical tripartite relationship between industry, government and universities” to create scale. “Our challenge as a nation,” she says, “is to continue to punch above our weight in research outcomes and ensure we have the settings that support keeping more of the value chain in Australia to drive the jobs of the future and the industries of the future. That will continue to be a balancing act.”
The University of Queensland leads in these 30 fields of research: Audiology, Speech & Language Pathology; Biodiversity & Conservation Biology; Biomedical Technology; Biotechnology; Cell Biology; Combustion & Propulsion; Dentistry; Dermatology; Dispersion Chemistry; Entrepreneurship & Innovation; Environmental & Occupational Medicine; Environmental Sciences; Ethics; Family Studies; Food Science & Technology; Genetics & Genomics; Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (general); Medical Informatics; Medicinal Chemistry; Metallurgy; Microbiology; Natural Medicines & Medicinal Plants; Organic Chemistry; Paleontology; Plant Pathology; Remote Sensing; Social Psychology; Sustainable Development; Tourism & Hospitality; Transplantation
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