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Australia needs to foster entrepreneurs, drop the "lucky country" cliche: report

Xinhua, October 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

Australia needs to stop selling itself as "the lucky country" and start encouraging hard work for success, according to outgoing Chief Scientist Ian Chubb.

A report commissioned by Chubb but written by innovation consultant Colin Kinner found that Australia was the only nation of the Organization for economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that does not have a science and innovation strategy at the university level.

Kinner said on Friday that Australia needs to nurture its budding entrepreneurs and not rely on luck to foster success.

"Australia needs to become known as an entrepreneurial country, not a lucky one," Kinner said.

He called for more emphasis on linking university funding with the success of students, saying current funding frameworks discourage universities from "pursuing applied research" and "proof-of-concept" work which would pave the way for future student successes.

"Incentives linked to funding would also encourage universities to recognize academic staff for engagement in student entrepreneurship activities," Kinner said.

He added that a number of universities instead "focus their efforts on producing publications rather than on engaging with industry or teaching students".

"Few (Australian) universities have frameworks of this nature in place today," Kinner said.

"When staff do get involved with student entrepreneurship, it is often an unfunded activity or a labor of love."

"In contrast, universities in the UK are assessed not just on quality of research but also their impact."

Meanwhile, Chubb said that other leading nations were not willing to wait for opportunities to present themselves, rather, imploring students and education institutions to "foster" success.

"Nations across the world have not been content to wait for the one-in-a-million person to seize a once-in-a lifetime chance," Chubb said in the report's foreword on Friday.

"From the United States to (South) Korea, fostering entrepreneurs has become a national priority, pursued with energy, ambition and imagination.

"We all need to shift our mindsets to make the future envisaged by this report, from a willingness to muddle along to a determination to make our luck."

Chubb's term as Chief Scientist in Australia, a role which offers independent analysis and opinion to the government on leading scientific issues, concludes at the end of the year. Endit