By Aaron Miller-
Australia’s Monash University has signed a deal worth AU$100 million ($72 million) over 10 years for Chinese investors and local governments to commercialize research and development coming out of the university’s Melbourne campus.
Monash Technology and Transformation Institute (MTTI), based in Shenzhen, are set to incubate early-stage IP developed in the university’s faculties of medicine, pharmaceuticals and engineering. The deal is mind blowing and has given students of the University a huge moral boost and sense of individual and collective pride, as students of the Monash University.
The announcement follows criticism of the Australian government by universities for failing to put more money into R&D in its annual budget.Monash deputy vice-chancellor for enterprise Ken Sloan said the decision to tie up with China was because of the country’s giant scale which made it invaluable for investment dollars, clinical trials and long-term sales.
“The majority of Australian taxpayer-funded research is never commercialized; that means the full potential for Australians and the international community is not realized.”
He said the “commercialization valley of death” between academic research and industry application was particularly bad in a country like Australia with just 25 million people.
“What Australia lacks and is likely never to have is a capacity to complete the development pathway.”
He said venture capital investment in China exceeded AU$200 billion in 2018 and the Shenzhen government (which is one of the partners) spends more than 4% of the province’s gross domestic product on R&D.
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. has been banned from tendering for Australia’s 5G broadband network, because of fears it might be infiltrated by the Chinese communist government.
“On IP security, we’ve talked to our partners about the fact we want to protect the university’s interests. That wasn’t a surprise to them. They have their interests to protect as well.
“This has reputational impacts for everybody. As a university we’re an international organization. We are in India and Malaysia. And after all, we already do research in China.”
Parmaceuticals and therapeutic goods will form the biggest activity of MTTI
“For pharmaceutical products you have to be close to the market.”
“The university wants to make a significant contribution to Victoria and Australia but to do that you have to be international”. No equity will be put into the deal, but the University is expected to earn income once products reached commercialization stage.
RESPECTED
Monash University is one of the best and most respected institutions of higher learning in Australia. It ranks among the best 100 in the world. The University is home to major research facilities, including the Monash Law School, the Australian Synchrotron, the Monash Science Technology Research and Innovation Precinct (STRIP), the Australian Stem Cell Centre, 100 research centres.
The University has run a graduate research school with Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai since 2008 and has a medical school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Monash University is also a member of Australia’s Group of Eight, a coalition of Australia’s eight leading research Universities.