From the Vice-Chancellor
[ The University of Melbourne Voice Vol. 3, No. 5
14 July - 10 August 2008 ]
The Olympics of Knowledge
It is perfectly natural for Australians to take an interest in these elite athletes who are representing their country on a world stage, but perhaps it is also a time to think about our prospects in the ‘knowledge olympics’.
We all know that on a population basis Australia performs well in sport. What is less well known is how it performs internationally in the generation and dissemination of important new knowledge.
With a population of only 21 million, Australia needs to punch above its weight internationally in high quality research. In many cases it does; our Nobel Laureates are testament to that.
However, the OECD Factbook 2008 shows we still have a way to go. For instance, our investment in knowledge amounted to less than four per cent of GDP which is significantly below the OECD average, 4.9 per cent, the United States, 6.6 per cent and Japan, 5.3.
Our expenditure on R & D as a percentage of GDP also fell below the OECD average and well below that of US and Japan. China, more than doubling its expenditure between 2000 and 2006, is soon set to become the number two R&D power in the world.
So how can Australia develop the competitive edge for the ‘knowledge olympics’? A powerful step in the right direction is the recently-announced Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative, where the University of Melbourne will host a $100 million supercomputing program and facility, with $50 million provided by the Victorian Government.
This initiative combines Victoria’s already globally-competitive biomedical research capability with computational infrastructure to give Australian researchers the most powerful supercomputer and leading computational biology facility dedicated to life sciences research in the world.
The University will develop a Life Sciences Computation Centre to undertake the peak computing operations and provide computational biology expertise to institutions throughout the Parkville medical research precinct, Monash University and other Victorian research institutions, encouraging a collaborative approach to medical research.
But while Australian life sciences researchers are moving towards a slightly more level playing field, the level of support generally for our outstanding ‘knowledge olympians’ regrettably still lags behind that for our Beijing Olympians.
Peter McPhee, Provost and Acting Vice-Chancellor
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