AROUND THE TRAPS

摘要

The Prime Minister made his long-awaited statement on innovation policy on January 29th. The program amounts to a $2.9 billion package over five years. Some features of the policy include: 1. $995 million for a HECS-style loan scheme for fee-paying postgraduate students; 2. 25 Federation Fellowships for top researchers, worth $225,000 per year for five years; 3. $460 million for a premium tax concession for companies doing additional R&D; 4. $535 million R&D Start program for small start-up companies; 5. $736 million increase in funding for the ARC; 6. $583 million for research equipment, libraries and laboratories; 7. $227 million for new Co-operative Research Centres; 8. $176 million for centres of excellence in biotechnology and IT; 9. $155 million for major national research facilities; 10. $151 million for 21,000 new full-time university places in maths, science and IT; 11. $130 million to foster science, maths and technical skills in government schools.