AUSTRALASIA: Commercialising research from new fund

Four Australian universities and one in New Zealand now have access to a new funding pool for the critical early stages of commercialising their research, thanks to A$30 million (US$28.5 million) from an Australian pension fund.


The Trans Tasman Commercialisation Fund has been bankrolled by the fund, Westscheme, with the New Zealand government and the state governments of Victoria and South Australia providing several hundred thousand dollars each per year to cover the fund's operational costs.

It will give the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and Adelaide, Flinders, Monash and South Australia universities in Australia a source of investment for the so-called pre-seed development of research with commercial potential over the next five years.

Universities often find it difficult to find investors for early stage commercialisation - the proof of concept and pre-seed investment stages - and frequently fund it themselves from their own commercialisation divisions. The new fund will provide up to A$1.5 million for individual projects with a focus on new technologies, among which the life sciences were expected to feature prominently.

Westscheme Chief Executive Howard Rosario said the pension fund had been investing in early stage commercialisation of university research since 2001. Rosario said commercialising research was risky but the payoffs were significant for the few ventures that were successful. That meant the key was to take a portfolio approach - investing in many research commercialisation ventures knowing that the success of a few would make the entire portfolio viable.

South Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee chair Professor James McWha said a great deal of promising university research lacked the funding needed to take a potentially valuable idea through the critical first stages of commercial and technical evaluation, ready for commercial investment.

"The Trans Tasman Commercialisation Fund will address this gap in supporting early stage research through to commercial outcomes, delivering solutions to real world problems," McWha said.

Victorian Premier John Brumby said the fund was expected to commercialise research including antibodies for treatment of cancer and other serious diseases, and regenerative medical treatments for conditions such as neurodegenerative disorders, diabetes, arthritis, musculo-skeletal and cardiovascular diseases.

Dr Peter Lee, Chief Executive of the University of Auckland's commercial arm, UniServices, said the fund would roughly double the amount of money the university had available to back early-stage commercialisation. Lee said it would therefore enable more of Auckland's research to be commercialised because the high-risk, early stage of the process would be better supported.

*John Gerritsen is editor of NZ Education Review.
john.gerritsen@uw-news.com