Tel Aviv Uni president tells Aussie Universities to do more to support innovation
The president of Israel's Tel Aviv University, Professor Joseph Klafter, says Australian universities need to find corporate partners to sponsor the development of early stage ideas, which have commercial potential.
Australian universities have historically struggled with the commercialisation of ideas, despite some shining examples such as Cochlear.
Professor Klafter said local universities should emulate their Israeli counterparts, which are considered exemplars in spinning out businesses.
"Universities, the way they work when it comes to innovation, are like a big portfolio, or large start-up by itself," he said.
"They can establish hubs that bring students and faculties together so that then the process of innovation can be provided. Business schools can do this quite easily."
There are more than 70 technology innovations under way at Tel Aviv University, in conjunction with its tech transfer company Ramot.
There are a number of inventions that are nearing commercialisation stage, such as the "cyborg cardiac patch", which combines organic and engineered parts. It contracts and expands like human heart tissue but regulates itself like a machine. It's been tipped to revolutionise cardiac medicine.
Professor Klafter, who was visiting Melbourne to attend a conference, called out Australian universities as needing to do more to support the commercialisation of research to spin out start-ups.
SINGAPORE'S TEMASEK
By sourcing money from industries, this would allow universities to have their own venture capital funds to support the start-up ecosystem within the university.
"Tata group brought in Singapore's Temasek [one of the world's largest investment funds] and when we had both these companies we had others join too, and now Tel Aviv University has a $US24 million fund that is guided by an international committee and it distributed money to researchers who come up with an idea," Professor Klafter said.
The capital for Tel Aviv Uni's $US23.5 million Momentum Fund was raised in 2014 and the fund is run by Ramot.
It has an emphasis on engineering and exact sciences, environment, clean technology, pharmaceuticals and healthcare.
"This could be done here with either foreign companies or Australian companies investing," he said.
"Once you have this vehicle it encourages faculty members to take the chance on an idea. Everyone is afraid of failure, and one of the reasons to fail is being unable to raise initial funding."
Since the Momentum Fund was started it has funded more than 12 projects.
POOR AT COMMERCIALISATION
Australian universities are renowned worldwide as being great at research and getting ideas published, but poor at commercialisation.
A 2015 report from the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science's chief economist, Mark Cully, found that Australia ranked 10th out of 37 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development nations on share of world publications.
Australia also came in seventh for its share of top 1 per cent highly cited publications, but a dismal last out of 26 countries for collaboration between "innovative-active" businesses and public research institutions.
"It's only a matter of time; you need a culture that sends the message [to entrepreneurs] to come back and try again, don't just leave the stage forever," Professor Klafter said.
Medtech is a prime example of an industry where research from Australian universities is being successfully commercialised.
A lung imaging start-up which sprung from Monash University, 4DX, is aiming to be the next Cochlear, and last year Hatchtech, which came from Melbourne University, made a deal worth up to $279 million with an Indian firm to commercialise a head lice treatment.
Engineering faculties have also produced some successful companies. In 2015 venture capitalist Alberto Chang-Rajii (who was an early investor in Google) invested $1.5 million in a research partnership with University of New South Wales engineers to commercialise a new generation of "paint on" solar cells. "I have been visiting here for the last three or four years, and there has been a very big change in those universities that I visited in terms of understanding the importance of the process of creating an ecosystem," Professor Klafter said.
"Now I hear more about innovation and there is also much more interest in new approaches to innovation. Have no doubt that it can be done and will be done."
