Is it working yet? Investment in Australian innovation

UNLIKE most topics, scientists, politicians, educators and business people are all agreed: greater investment in innovation is vital for Australia's future economic, social and environmental success. Despite some notable winners, few disagree that Australia has hardly been a leader in innovation investment and many great opportunities have either gone begging entirely or gone begging to other countries.

How Australia may be able to change that investment environment is the topic of the November 15 Innovation Series event in Sydney: Investing in Australian Innovation - the challenges, risks and successes.

Two key players and influencers in that equation, investor and biotech start-up success, Michael Quinn of Innovation Capital, and venture capital markets specialist at the Department of Industry, David Wilson, will be providing their frank assessments at the luncheon event, being staged at the Westin Sydney on Friday.

While there has recently been a flurry of activity in Australia, trying to match local investment to the start-up technology sector, there is ongoing concern that Australia is not gaining sufficient traction and many vital opportunities are being lost or lost overseas.

The periodic raids on Australian early stage technology start-ups by Silicon Valley investors have stepped up in recent years, but both Mr Quinn and Mr Wilson will explain at the event how home-grown pathways can be developed to global markets and are likely to produce better results for Australia.

Mr Quinn's message is that while there seems to be vast investment opportunities in new technology businesses, the sector is volatile. In his experience, there are certain patterns and avoidable ‘new-tech' company risks that appear time and time again which can be recognised by investors. With such recognition, he believes Australian investors will step up.

While he will identify those risk patterns at the Innovation Series event, Mr Quinn strongly recommends astute investment in technology start-ups, partly because of the high financial rewards in getting it right, but also because the investor usually has the benefit of knowing they have helped bring through innovation that positively changes society

Michael Quinn is one of Australia's most experienced entrepreneurs and investors in innovative technology businesses. He is co-founder and managing partner of Innovation Capital, a venture capital fund that invests in early stage Australian technology businesses with global opportunities.

In 1983 he co-founded and was managing director of advanced membrane filtration company Memtec Ltd (ASX and NYSE), which was acquired in 1997 after attaining a market capitalisation of $660 million. Since 1992, Mr Quinn has also been a director of ResMed Inc (ASX and NYSE: RMD), which has become the leading manufacturer of respiratory and sleep disordered breathing products for the home health care market with a market capitalisation of $7.5billion, while he co-founded, and is still a director of, QRxPharma Ltd (ASX:QRX) which is developing drugs for acute pain.

David Wilson is the general manager for Research, Development and Venture Capital at the Department of Industry and his role is to help innovative businesses identify areas in which government assistance and incentives might be utilised to bring through innovation that may not otherwise be funded.

Mr Wilson will outline how the main vehicles for assisting business innovation are currently the R&D Tax Incentive and Innovation Investment Fund, programs through which the government intends to encourage participation, guide and educate business about the 'rules', and work to connect all the elements of Australia's innovation 'ecosystem'.

He will explain how the Innovation Investment Fund co-invests with private fund managers in early stage companies commercialising Australian R&D outcomes, and the Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership program that provides tax concessions for private investors.

The Innovation Series started in Queensland in 2004 and provides a unique forum in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane convening researchers, industry and government to encourage the exchange of ideas and inviting new collaborations.

The Innovation Series in Sydney is supported by the Australian Institute for Commercialisation, Bayer, CSIRO,  ANSTO and Shelston IP. Business Acumen has been a media partner with the Innovation Series since 2004.

 http://www.innovationseries.com.au/

ends