27 April 2010

Luke Jaaniste

In 2008 the newly elected federal government embarked on a major effort to reform the Australia's 'innovation system'. The most significant initiative was the Cutler review of the National Innovation System resulting in the Venturous Australia report (September 2008), but also important were the reviews of Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs), higher education and tax. The innovation system, after all, is a complex interplay of new ideas and research, business and enterprise, the skilling of people through education and training combined with wider public sector reform and social development.

As members of CHASS would be well aware, previous innovation policy, in keeping with international norms, focused almost entirely on the natural sciences, technological manufacturing and related commercial enterprises—something that goes back to the post-War 'big science' initiatives in America and Europe. But times are changing, and with the rise of a service-based economy, triple bottom lines, new media convergences, and recognition that business and policy challenges need inter-disciplinary knowledge, many within business, government and research argue that support for innovation should reach well beyond science and technology.

The government has certainly expressed a will to include humanities, arts and social sciences. In his address to HASS On The Hill in 2007, Senator Carr, whose portfolio responsibilities include innovation policy, boldly stated that "the humanities, arts and social sciences can, and should, assume a central role in what is in reality a $6 billion annual innovation investment in Australia". At the same forum, two years on and in the wake of Cutler's review, he emphasised the government's commitment included support for "innovation in businesses of all sizes and in all sectors" (emphasis added).

The new proposed R&D tax incentive is one such avenue for expanding support for business in all sectors, including HASS. But the draft legislation, released in September 2009 and revised for further consultation this year, has placed 'research in humanities, arts and social sciences' (section 335-30(f)) on the excluded list and thereby stops it from ever being treated as core business R&D. This blanket exclusion is a legacy of previous legislation, and CHASS believes it prevents cases of genuine business R&D from receiving government stimulus and works against the government's important reform intentions.

To this end, CHASS recently wrote a submission to the second draft exposure of the proposed R&D tax incentive legislation, arguing that cases of genuine R&D, and significant business investment herein, can be found in HASS-related businesses within human services, design services, creative industries and interactive software development, to name some key examples.

The submission proposed the following amendments:

1. remove the HASS exclusion from core R&D activities; and
2. confirm that, as long as the basic tests for rigorous, systematic R&D and knowledge spillovers are met, eligible businesses R&D activities can come from all sectors, including, those businesses which draw on HASS-based research.

CHASS ended the submission with an annex of four hypothetical cases of genuine business R&D in the HASS domains: new media health services; parent-child coaching; fashion design; and games development.

This Annex is just a beginning; many other examples could be found, and should be found. What is really needed from the HASS sector is clear, rigorous and real-world examples of how business R&D drawing on this sector can fulfil public policy guidelines and objectives. Making these visible to policy-makers would be important work for those across the humanities, arts and social sciences so that Australia can boost investment in and return on research and development.

 

Dr Luke Jaaniste is a research fellow at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Creative Industries and Innovation, co-authored the CHASS occasional paper on The Arts and Australia's National Innovation System, and assisted CHASS in preparing its submission to the R&D Tax Incentive draft legislation.

Luke Jaaniste
27 April 2010

 

 

For more information, please contact:

Executive Director

Council of the Humanties, Arts and Social Sciences

Phone: +61 2 6249 1995

director@chass.org.au