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Australian Medical Research : Facts to Shape the Future
1 August 2011. A new report providing comprehensive data about the current status, future opportunities and challenges facing Australia’s health and medical research sector has been released today by Research Australia. Professor Christine Bennett, Chairman of Research Australia, said the
Shaping Up: Trends and Statistics in Funding Health and Medical Research Report provides policy makers, investors and the community with some of the information necessary to make the vital decisions now which will impact the health of the community in the future.
“The challenges facing the health and medical research sector are firmly on the agenda in the wake of recent funding challenges, with strategic reviews being held federally and in NSW,” Professor Bennett said. “Yet the lack of comprehensive, consistent ongoing national reporting against agreed national data frameworks, has made it difficult to develop a clear understanding of current activity and the impact of past investment.” “For the first time, this report brings together information from different sources to provide a cohesive picture of how research impacts health and health care and how Australia compares to other countries in the region.” The report identifies steady growth in the size of the medical research and life sciences sectors over the past decade, but also shows significant issues and emerging pressures including:
- increased competition within the research community for scarce research funds as future funding tapers off;
- lower comparable rates of growth in R&D investment compared to China, Korea and Singapore; and
- gaps in data limiting detailed analysis of performance i.e. at a national or sectoral level.
