A report released today by the Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA) shows that past investments in research have created jobs and attracted significant further investments for the state economy.

The report, entitled¬†Stimulating the Science and Research Ecosystem Creates Jobs and Investment¬†provides evidence in support of continued investment in research infrastructure, skills and talent attraction, to deliver jobs and economic stability for Victoria’s future.

Within the report, the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication (MCN) is highlighted as a fantastic example of what happens when you provide a sandpit for researchers and engineers to play in.

The MCN is ANFF’s flagship facility and our headquarters – it’s a purpose-built open-access research environment that provides researchers with the equipment and expertise required for them to realise their projects. It holds advanced fabrication capabilities that are either unique in Australia or the world. In a typical year, the Centre provides hundreds of people with assistance, through access to more than 100 capabilities in a cleanroom environment.

ANFF has 21 sites like this across the country, and together we help thousands of researchers accumulate hundreds of thousands of hours of tool time every year. Each one of these researchers is working on one or more project, and each one of these projects could be the work that unlocks new technologies, prevents the next pandemic, or leads to a business that provides hundreds of people with employment.

The full report is available by clicking here, and ACOLA’s media release is published here.

Read Ian Griffith’s note on the report here.