ANFF-C is pleased to announce that Department of Education First Assistant Secretary for Research Dom English and Assistant Secretary Carolyn Shrives co-presented the second webinar of ANFF-C’s ‘Manufacturing for Startups’ seminar.

Mr English and Ms Shrives provided their insights into The Australian Economic Accelerator, one of the most novel schemes around research translation that has been initiated in the higher education sector. The Australian Government is investing $1.6 billion to accelerate reform in the higher education sector for the translation and commercialisation of university research through a new stage-gated funding program. Industry also has a major role to play in this new initiative with Gate 2 funding requiring industry support.

Assistant Secretary Shrives is responsible for the development of the University Research Commercialisation Scheme and now the Australian Economic Accelerator (AEA) program. In her current role, Carolyn is leading the work to implement the AEA which was a key component of the Action Plan. This follows on from her role working with the Expert Panel appointed by Government to provide advice on ways to help unlock the research potential within Australia’s university sector. The Action Plan, which was developed from this work, seeks to enhance the translation and commercialisation of research at Australian universities by funding translational research, supporting partnerships between universities and businesses and building the workforce required to achieve these outcomes.

Mr Dom English has worked in the Australian Government for more than twenty years across a range of portfolios. This includes the Finance, Immigration and Prime Ministers portfolio. Mr English joined the Department of Education in January 2014 as First Assistant Secretary in the Higher Education, Research and International Group. He is currently responsible for policy and programs in the areas of research, research infrastructure and research commercialisation. He has undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications in economics.

Interested in watching this exciting webinar? You can watch the video here.

For more information on ANFF-C, contact ANFF-C Director John Morrison at john.morrison@anff.org.au.