About this episode
In our discussion with David Mitchell, former CEO of the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, and more recently the founder of Find My EV, and currently the advanced manufacturing adviser for Katalis in Jakarta, we dive into the importance of relationships, how these contrast with transactions and the systemic challenges in the tertiary sector that creates tech transfer challenges for commercialisation specialists, and indeed Australia’s ambitions to deliver impact from national science investment.
This podcast is particularly timely in our view. With an increasing focus on generating returns from Australia’s science investments and research communities, the formation of relationships between the research, technology transfer practitioners and industry should be at the heart of sustained performance. However, it appears to our guest that these connections are rarer than they should be or could be, through an innovation culture that has generally lapsed into transactions and processes, rather than one underpinned by relationships and principles.
From these observations, this podcast explores what could be missing and sets a challenge for research sector leadership on how the foundations on which science is created need to be reinforced through relationships in order to build a more productive technology transfer community and engagement with industry.