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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-02-24 Daily Xml
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Higher Education

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (14:38): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Science and Information Economy a question about commercialising research undertaken in South Australia's universities.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA: South Australia's three main universities contain a wealth of scientific and intellectual talent, undertaking research across a very wide diversity of scientific and technological fields. Translating the knowledge and ideas acquired from that research into commercial products, jobs and income for South Australia is critical for our future. Will the minister inform the council on action the state government has taken to create social and economic benefits from the research undertaken by our tertiary institutions?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:39): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. It is quite correct to say that our three universities contain an impressive scope, and also depth, of research capacity. There are over 150 dedicated research centres and laboratories within our tertiary sector, and many of them are undertaking work that is of world-class standard.

Commercialising our state's research is clearly identified as one of our key priorities in terms of South Australia's 10 economic objectives. The potential benefits could flow from successful commercialisation of this research in terms of industries, jobs and income for South Australia, and these could be quite significant.

Take just one segment of our research effort—health and bioscience, for instance—in which there is an immense global market for technology and products such as diagnostics, implants, medical software and equipment, drugs, and assistive types of technologies. A very important initial step along the road to any commercialisation is the securing of patent protection for unsecured ideas, inventions and products. Provisional patent protection allows the early involvement of possible industry partners without the risk of losing valuable intellectual property.

Some years ago, BioSA, South Australia's bioscience business accelerator, identified patent protection as a critical barrier preventing more of our research from reaching markets. As a result, they launched the Intellectual Property Management Initiative three years ago to help our three main universities to seek patent protection for their intellectual property. The $1 million initiative, funded by the state government, allows universities to develop and manage IP protection and commercialisation strategies which can be very difficult from their existing budgets.

In the three years following the introduction of the IP Management Initiative, the number of provisional patent filings for the SA university research has risen from 57 to 109—an increase of more than 90 per cent. We are now starting to see the best of these patents progress to the next stage of the patenting process—international application. Once granted, a patent will protect the technology from competitors for up to 20 years.

I would like to give two examples from the many patents that were filed, and in this case that were filed through ITEK, UniSA's commercialisation office. The first example is a genetic diagnostic test for an epileptic condition in babies known as benign familial infantile epilepsy seizure. With patent rights secured, this technology has now been licensed to a leading company in the neurological disease diagnostic market. The second example is for newly discovered prostate cancer biomarkers which allow the earlier and more accurate diagnosis of prostate cancer.

With provisional patent protection in place, I am pleased to report that commercial negotiations with interested parties are now underway. This is more than a 90 per cent increase in just three years, as I said, and I believe it is a brilliant positive step towards the creation of new high tech enterprises and jobs in South Australia. It is also confirmation of our conviction, as expressed in our state priorities, that there is immense potential in the ideas and insights of our science and research sectors.

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