Important Sectors for Italy.

The Scientific Office of this Embassy has adopted an integrated approach with the Australian Scientific Community , in particular to ‘areas of excellence’ relevant to both countries, such as agricultural sciences, Biotechnology, Post genomes, Earth and environmental sciences and oceanography. At the same time, it is important to monitor the evolution of thematic areas to which the Australian government commits many resources such as communication and information technology, nano-technology, smart materials and intelligence. Italian Technology is used as a point of reference for such areas and this could present interesting collaborative opportunities for the two countries. 

One of the most important international science journals, The Institute for Science and Resource ISI has published 44 Australian studies in 9 thematic areas of the past 10 years. 11 in the earth science area, 7 in zoology, 6 in environmental science and ecology, 4 in engineering, 4 in mathematics, 3 in agricultural science, 2 in chemistry and 1 in pharmacology. Table 1 evidences the high ratio of published studies to population size, second only to Canada on a world scale. This is attributed to the high scientific presence in Australia and the efficiency National research system. Table 2 compares the number of publications between Italy and Australia from 2000-2004 relative to thematic areas. It demonstrates the areas of excellence in each country. It is worth noting that there has been a significance increase in publications from the previous period. Italy passes from 158.550 to 163.360 (2.9%) while Australia sustains growth of 1.7%, 106.945 to 108.750.  

While Australia demonstrates a strong capacity to generate knowledge, it is still weak at commercialising results and unable to fully take advantage of it’s potential. Table 3 and 4 show the most recent data on patents awarded at an international level, this gives an idea of the direction of Australian applied research.
 
Publications and patent awards and nature of the University System are all integral factors to the survival of the Australian system. Australian Universities are more exposed to the Free Market and receive private funding as well as many international full fee paying students (24% from South East Asia).  Its innovations are not always sought by national industry and are often sold to the highest bidder on the world market.

      
 

 

The above data show Australian use of venture capital entering a phase of notable growth. This trend is confirmed in the annual report of the Association of Australian Venture Capitalists (AVCAL). The largest sum of invested funds (AUD$831million) contributes to new enterprises in the Information Technology Sector (internet and computer software). In 2000 a good 12 new funds were created to finance the initial phases in the creation of new enterprises. Of the 76 investments studied in a AVCAL report in 2000, 40 financed the development and expansion stages while 22 financed the initial phases. (www.avcal.com.au) Among these new investment funds, the venture capital society Rothschild launched a second fund dedicated to the development of enterprise in the Bio-science sector. It is worth AUD $40million (approximately 25 million euro) and dedicates a cap of AUD $6million (3.5 million) for each project. www.bioscience.com.au

 www.scientificambitalia.org.au

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