Episode 55 - 2025 National Innovation Policy Forum Review: Coordination and Translation with Jane O'Dwyer

Following the National Innovation Policy Forum (NIPF) in November 2025, I had the opportunity to reflect on the event with Jane O'Dwyer from Cooperative Research Australia (CRA) in mid-December.

We started with the raison d'être of the NIPF to increase the linkages between industry, the innovation system and policymakers. To this end, as patrons of NIPF, David Thodey and Catherine Livingstone have been catalysing the thinking over the past few years as the conversations and ambitions of NIPF evolved. The NIPF to date has moved from describing the problems to seeking how government and industry shape innovation policy and looking to ways to improve technology transfer, commercialisation and translation. When we recorded, there was great anticipation that SERD would offer insights in to how the federal government will respond to these opportunities.

John Howard set the scene chairing the first session, noting that a "list of priorities isn't a market". He, Elanor Huntington, Jane Fitzpatrick and Marcus Dawe explored policy and industry perspectives in the 'Turning Missions to Markets' session. Jane and I spent some time reflecting on the 'First Of A Kind' (FOAK) challenges that Marcus introduced to the forum, discussing FOAK anywhere vs FOAK in Australia and the role of government as a first customer. Roy Green chaired a conversation with Linda Scott and Jasmina Joldic on system coordination. We hear from both Linda and Jasmina on the podcast; Linda sharing the concept of an 'Innovation Accord' to try to resolve some of the innovation system complexities that have emerged at the government–industry–innovation system interface; Jasmina reflected on the need to declutter and move the focus to outcomes and impact.

The third and final session discussed Innovation as a driver for productivity. Jane and I reflected on the Harrison.ai story and its journey from domestic incubation to offshore commercialisation. Annette Schmiede, Adriano Di Pietro and Cori Stewart joined me on this panel touching on local manufacturing and the role of 'Original Equipment Manufacturers' in stimulating demand for innovation. Jane and I further reflected on the challenge of not wanting to constrain organisations growing, yet needing or wanting to find ways to keep these growing companies domiciled in Australia. This is part of the broader 'domestic demand side problem' for innovation and we talked of how 'moving the cheese' and focusing on major areas (or missions, flagships, BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) or other suitable names) could act as a catalyst to aligning domestic demand with domestic innovation.

We closed the podcast with Jane Fitzpatrick offering what I feel is a compelling summary of why tech transfer matters and the opportunities that investment and partnering with people with these skills present.