Maximising Research Impact

Image - Maximising Research Impact

Research has the potential to improve health outcomes and transform lives, but the pathways to deliver scientific discoveries, where they can have the greatest benefit to society, can be elusive. To help demystify industry engagement and opportunities to boost research impact, academics and leaders in the private sector have joined forces to create a National Science Week event tailored for researchers.

Maximising Research Impact is a virtual forum that will bring together experts from different sectors – from commercialisation to intellectual property to academic researchers – to explore the opportunities and how to take the next steps to realise and implement scientific breakthroughs. This event is designed to help researchers navigate engagement with industry partners, and how to select the most suitable collaborations for their research.

“We want to give researchers a taste of what opportunities there are out there, and to help connect them with investors and business partners who can take their ideas beyond the lab,” says event creator and moderator, Rom Bouveret.

The panel of experts involved in this event provide a range of perspectives and experience, from global biotechnology giant like CSL to a start-up company like Inventia Life Science, as well as industry engagement professionals at the nexus between industry and research.

“While this forum is based on a hypothetical scenario, it’s a very common one. Research outcomes can only be useful when it’s put to use, but the majority of researchers don’t know how to make that connection,” says Rom.

“Science needs business, business needs science, and Australia needs both,” the Australian Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Hon Karen Andrews MP has said.

** A recording of this event is now available to watch here

image - Maximising Research Impactimage - Maximising Research Impact

Event format:

A serious and fun event centred on a hypothetical, but realistic, scenario where our researcher, Dr Vaishnavi Ananthanarayanan*, is seeking opportunities to share her newly developed diagnostic test. Five experts from different sectors ranging from academia, publishing and commercialisation will be making their pitches to our researcher, bidding for a chance to collaborate. 

Our Bidders:

  • The Academic: Prof Marcel Dinger, Head of UNSW School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences
  • The Editor: Prof Justin Gooding, Editor-in-chief of ACS Sensors
  • The Investor: Natasha Rawlings, Investment Manager at Uniseed
  • The Biotech Executive: Dr Marthe D’Ombrain, Senior Director and Head Global Research Innovation at CSL
  • The Entrepreneur: Dr Julio Ribeiro, CEO of Inventia Life Science

Two Umpires will guide our researcher through the decision process: Dr Erin Rayment, Chair of KCA and Director of Industry Engagement, QUT, will explain what impact can be achieved in each pathway, and Nicholas Milne, Patent and Trade-Mark attorney at Patentec, will breakdown the technical aspects of IP protection. 

Event Details:

This forum will be moderated by Rom Bouveret, creator and host of Research for What? and Strategy Manager at UNSW.

When: 12:30 – 1:30 (AEST) Fri 21 August 2020

Cost: FREE

Register for the free Zoom webinar

[Feature image by Derrick Lau]

This National Science Week event is co-hosted by EMBL Australia Node in Single Molecule Science at UNSW, and Research for What?

More details at: bit.ly/Details-Impact

This article was first published by Inspiring Australia

*Update to the original line-up: Vaishnavi Ananthanarayanan will be the researcher at the centre of the scenario in this forum

Date Published: 
Friday, 24 July 2020