New Year's resolution for leadership in Australian life sciences innovation

As the pace picks up after the festive break and the realities of our respective New Year’s resolutions settle on us, Australian trade group AusBiotech says it is starting the year with a renewed focus on leadership in policy and a resolution to continue committed advocacy for innovation in life sciences.

While the last year has been full of industry optimism that the Turnbull government’s Innovation Agenda will deliver the policy support needed for growth and contribution to “the next age of economic prosperity in Australia,” the reality has been a spectrum of detractors seeking to block, counter and work against the important opportunity that the Agenda offers.

The proposed A$2 million ($1.5 million) cap on the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Incentive is the most potentially-damaging example; joined by an unfriendly report on intellectual property (IP) arrangements from the Productivity Commission; the Senate’s blocking of corporate tax breaks and equity crowd funding bill; and a senate inquiry seeking to ‘reform’ the pricing framework for prostheses in the private health system. Let’s not forget the R&D Tax Incentive was given a 1.5% cut, worth an estimated A$600 million along the way, AusBiotech points out.