Editorial - 01 December 2012
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The Roadmap for the National Research Investment Plan

 

 

 

With considerable hype Senator Chris Evans, Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research, and Australia's Chief Scientist, Professor Ian Chubb, earlier this week announced the release of the 132 page 2012 NATIONAL RESEARCH INVESTMENT PLAN.

 

In the first instance it is a useful document because it digests, tabulates and graphically represents considerable data regarding the support by leading nations for their research and innovation.

 

In the second instance it is an exercise in limp hand-waving generalisations with regard to its recommendations to Australia's current and future governments in the management of  public support for research and innovation.

 

An example from page 39: This National Research Investment Plan is the first step in a planning process that will support Australian Government decision making over the next decade or more. During the coming years, research activity will be much more inclusive and global than the traditional perception that enquiry and discovery is limited to the scientific elite in a small number of developed countries. The complexity and scale of research, and of the communication between researchers, will be heavily shaped by the availability of increased volumes of data and the tools to manage and analyse those data. As the President of the Canada Foundation for Innovation said: "The iconic image of the lone scientist toiling away in an isolated laboratory . . . has given way to teams of scientists from multiple disciplines working together to address complex challenges."

 

The twelve boxes following, demonstrate the overarching bureaucratic and empty rhetoric which suffuses what is suppose to pass for critical thought and evaluation.

 

Nevertheless, as noted, the document is useful for gathering and digesting considerable data and making it readily available in PDF format. Two graphic examples:

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BRICS economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa)

 

 

 

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As for those 12 boxes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One thing, however, cannot be denied, the 132 page document is a very slick presentation even if it is a roadmap devoid of coordinates.

 

Alex Reisner

The Funneled Web