Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Is Australia’s latest research review a threat to university autonomy?

Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · 9d

“It’s last chance saloon time for Australia’s #research & #innovation system. We need to get it right this time” No more kicking this can down the road ⛔️ www.timeshighereducation.com/depth/austra... @timayres.bsky.social @jasonclaremp.bsky.social

The panel’s overriding concern is to ensure that research is used productively. But observers worry that pushing universities to specialise in centrally determined ‘focus areas’ risks inadvertently tu...

www.timeshighereducation.com

Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · 18d

“More than any other place on earth, we have most to gain from a low-carbon global economy thanks to our vast solar & wind resources, mineral wealth, proximity to growing markets & strategic partnerships” @timayres.bsky.social www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/ti... @albomp.bsky.social

Manufacturing is about quality and robots – not cheap wages - Australian Manufacturing Forum

Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · 26d

“Much policy discussion is grounded in out-of-date notions that #manufacturing depends on cheap workers & economies of scale. The business model has changed. Today’s champions draw from #science & #research for global value chains” www.aumanufacturing.com.au/manufacturin... @timayres.bsky.social

Following the launch of a new campaign by the Manufacturing Industry Skills Alliance aiming to “challenge outdated stereotypes” attached to manufacturing, Professor Beth Webster and Dr Alexander Gosli...

www.aumanufacturing.com.au

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Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Sep 7

“#Manufacturing rapidly modernises our #technology capability as a nation, drives business investment in #research & #innovation and it’s where some of the greatest margins can be captured in global supply chains” says Prof Cori Stewart #ARMHub www.linkedin.com/pulse/genera...

Generative & Agentic AI Industry Connection Ignites Innovation at the ARM Hub

Our Marketing and Communications Intern Jeanie Kumar reports on two major events involving ARM Hub. By Jeanie Kumar ARM Hub has been meeting with leading voices in the robotics and AI sector across Au...

www.linkedin.com

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Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Aug 27

“Enterprise absorptive capacity matters, but the danger is that if we focus only on diagnosing its absence, we miss the real lever for change: redesigning the #research & #innovation system” www.innovationaus.com/beyond-absor...

Beyond absorption: Building ecosystems that deliver impact

Victor Pantano is right to point out that much of Australian industry struggles to engage with research. The problem is well rehearsed – businesses have too few R&D skilled staff, limited processes fo...

Economic round table recycles broken ideas

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Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Aug 23

“Sweden is no outlier. Norway, Denmark and Finland all have much higher taxes and much bigger public sectors than ours, and much stronger #productivity growth” notes @richarddenniss.bsky.social www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politic...

ANALYSIS: To boost Australian productivity, the government must look beyond the lower-tax and free-market solutions that have long reinforced its downward trend.

www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au

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Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Aug 22

“Without investment in skills, diffusion will stall. Without attention to sovereignty, dependency will deepen. Without strategic alignment, the promise of #AI as a #productivity booster could turn into another story of missed opportunity” www.innovationaus.com/ai-wont-driv... @acri-uts.bsky.social

AI won’t drive productivity without targeted govt policy

Productivity Commission chief Danielle Wood is right to describe artificial intelligence as a “general-purpose technology” in the mold of electricity, the internal combustion engine, or the internet. ...

Capping Australia’s biggest fossil subsidy is the productivity reform we can’t afford to ignore

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Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Aug 22

“Australia’s biggest fossil fuel subsidy is hiding in plain sight. The diesel Fuel Tax Credit scheme — a taxpayer-funded rebate mostly benefitting big miners — is costing Australians tens of billions, fuelling emissions & damaging #productivity growth” johnmenadue.com/post/2025/08...

Australia’s biggest fossil fuel subsidy is hiding in plain sight. The diesel Fuel Tax Credit (FTC) scheme — a taxpayer-funded rebate mostly benefitting big miners — is costing Australians tens of bill...

johnmenadue.com

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Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Aug 18

While a #productivity roundtable without the #research & #innovation system at its heart is ‘Hamlet without the Prince’, separate ministerial roundtables may contribute to the outcomes of the govt’s Strategic Examination of R&D www.timeshighereducation.com/news/canberr...

Canberra pre-summit roundtables ‘will make a difference’

Amid claims outcomes of long-anticipated talkfest have been orchestrated in advance, expert says precursor events promise ‘substance’

www.timeshighereducation.com

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Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Aug 18

For roundtable reflection - “an almost exact correlation between the decline of manufacturing, the decline of business expenditure on R&D and the decline of productivity growth, now at its lowest level in almost 60 years” www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08... @albomp.bsky.social

Off the productivity round table: What won't be discussed this week

Problem and productivity. It's a pairing that has become inseparable in recent times, given our productivity growth is the lowest in half a century.

Economic reform and the productivity slowdown

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Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Aug 16

“The data show no correlation between #taxation & #productivity growth, nor with the rate of #innovation. Instead, it may be that tax revenue spent on #education, #skills & #research will make more difference to productivity growth” Michael Keating johnmenadue.com/post/2025/08... @albomp.bsky.social

The productivity slowdown is mostly due to slower technological progress. The economic reform agenda should focus on measures to improve competitive pressures for firms to innovate and improve.

johnmenadue.com

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Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Aug 5

“Australia can no longer rely on comparative advantage in our raw materials but should instead create competitive advantage in global & domestic value chains” My take on govt coinvestment in new #smelter technologies www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08... @albomp.bsky.social

Australia in race to wind back industrial devolution

We rank amongst the world's richest nations when it comes to personal wealth but, in terms of our economy and particularly its complexity, we sit amongst the world's poorest — and the situation is pro...

Bosses blast union productivity comments as ‘a distraction’

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Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Jul 31

Great to welcome chair Martijn Wilder, CEO David Gall & National Reconstruction Fund (NRFC) board to the #ARMHub & #UAP for tour & discussion about how we grow globally competitive knowledge-driven #manufacturing SMEs ⚙️📡🔬 @albomp.bsky.social

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Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Jul 27

“The government can’t legislate for better management but what it can do is introduce programs for management & enterprise improvement to build the innovative capability of companies” My take on #management practice & #productivity debate www.afr.com/work-and-car... @sallymcmanus.bsky.social

Employers have roasted ACTU chief Sally McManus over her statement that poor management is driving poor productivity, describing it as “misguided” and “wrong”.

www.afr.com

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Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Jul 27

“The only institutions that are holding up R&D are #universities, and that's only because of increased funding from overseas students — which we've just cut” My take on Academy of Science proposal for R&D levy www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07... @uniaus.bsky.social @science.org.au

Calls to tax big businesses that don't invest in new technology

The solution to Australia's productivity problem could be more investment in research and development, and a new tax on big business might be one way to achieve that.

Economic reform must include industrial transformation

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Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Jul 23

“The Albanese government has an historic opportunity to remake our trade & industrial structure for a world of rapid technological change & shifting geopolitical alliances. It should not be missed” My take on economic reform agenda www.innovationaus.com/economic-ref... @albomp.bsky.social

For a while it looked like federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ Economic Reform Roundtable would turn into a tax summit, such was the clamour to revisit missed opportunities. And we have an abundance of th...

18th Australian Space Forum — Andy Thomas Space Foundation

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Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Jul 15

Space policy is industrial policy, innovation policy, climate policy, agricultural policy & defence policy at the 18th Australian Space Forum australianspaceforum.com.au

15–16 July, 2025 • Adelaide, South Australia

australianspaceforum.com.au

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Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Jun 26

“I look forward to assessing this important legislation aimed at assisting workers in the areas of Australia most impacted by the transition and identifying opportunities in the industries and technologies of the future” www.netzero.gov.au/media-releas... @albomp.bsky.social

www.netzero.gov.au

Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Jun 24

“In a democracy, parties have to acknowledge this basic truth: workers & communities must see the benefits of the economic agenda. As chancellor Rachel Reeves has said, where things are made, and who makes them, matters” on.ft.com/4enuAhU @albomp.bsky.social

Labour’s industrial policy can succeed where Biden failed

The UK government faces few of the obstacles that stymied the former US president’s agenda

on.ft.com

Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Jun 24

“In an AI-systems world, #productivity is not merely about human capital or business incentives. It's about system command: Who controls the architecture? Who defines the standards? Who owns & governs the flows of data, decisions & influence” open.substack.com/pub/realpoli...

Australia’s Digital Dissonance: Why the Productivity Conversation Needs a Reset

Our digital economy is being colonised—not with malice, but by neglect.

open.substack.com

Australia and Canada — Strategic partners, but near total strangers? - ABC listen

Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Jun 14

Australia & Canada are similar in so many great ways, but also some concerning ones - my take on what #TheEconomist calls our ‘underfed #innovation system’ www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

Australia and Canada share much in common, politically, historically and socially. Why then do we know so little about each other? In a time of global uncertainty does it make sense for Canada and Aus...

Labour bets big on an infrastructure-led recovery

Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Jun 14

UK projected spending growth for 2025/26 - 2028/29 is highest for #science, #innovation & #research at 7.4% over the 3 yr period. This is a strategic bet on the future that has to pay off on.ft.com/4jSMWIG

While the party shows largesse on capital spending, it pencils in pretty tight settlements for public services

on.ft.com

Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Jun 13

“Future Made In Australia will focus on critical minerals, iron & steel production & boosting manufacturing. Esp in regions where the intersection of our future energy advantage & our industrial capability means Australia can deliver” says Minister Tim Ayres www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Australia has ‘no alternative’ but to embrace AI and seek to be a world leader in the field, industry and science minister says

Tim Ayres says the Albanee government will focus on legislation and regulation but that Australia would benefit from moving quickly

www.theguardian.com

Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Jun 7

“Australia has to lean in, to secure a stake in global digital and AI development – to shape the digital future rather than have a future shaped for us as foundational to future #productivity growth” www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/ti... @timayres.bsky.social @albomp.bsky.social

www.minister.industry.gov.au

Data centres as grid partners in Australia's digital future

Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · Jun 4

“Australia has the opportunity to create a new frontier of competitive advantage in digital infrastructure by aligning the rapid growth of #datacentres with the expansion of renewable energy & grid integration” www.innovationaus.com/data-centres...

Australia has the opportunity to create a new frontier of competitive advantage in sustainable digital infrastructure by aligning the rapid growth of data centres with the expansion of renewable energ...

Shifting research focus comes with the risk of reduced impact

Nature @nature.com · May 30

The further a researcher or inventor moves from their previous work, the less cited their latest work will be

https://go.nature.com/44VjEW9

An analysis of millions of scientific papers and patents shows that the further a researcher or inventor moves from their previous work, the less cited their latest work will be.

go.nature.com

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Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · May 20

Second term Australian Labor govt is about “coordination, delivery & impact”, joining up #research & #innovation system with Future Made in Australia plan, as part of whole of govt #productivity agenda, says Minister Tim Ayres www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/ti...

Roy Green @profroygreen.bsky.social · May 13

“The US will be targeted with researchers sought who are working in areas such as renewable energy, food security, digital technologies, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, medtech and healthcare”
www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

Ireland seeks to poach US academics with new funding plan and talent scouts

Initiative is expected to target, among others, disillusioned academics who have lost financial backing due to Trump administration

www.irishtimes.com