Improving Australia's commercialisation performance
Speaker: Dr. Rowan Gilmore, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Institute for Commercialisation
When: 2004-08-10 18:00:00
Venue: 78-420
Host: Prof Marek Bialkowski (ITEE)/Dr Ashley Robinson (IEEE)
Abstract:Innovation and industry-related R&D can be a significant
contributor to a country's economic growth. While Australia
is generally acknowledged as being productive at 'turning
dollars into R&D', it is less efficient at 'turning R&D back
into dollars'. This presentation compares Australia's
commercialisation performance over the past three years
against international benchmarks, and investigates local
variations in commercialisation performance. The presentation
will discuss the difficulties of commercialisation in
Australia, and suggest possible solutions that are being
facilitated by the Australian Institute for
Commercialisation, founded in 2002 as a Smart-State
initiative of the Queensland Government. In particular, while
Australia has in place many of the assets and building blocks
that are necessary for commercialisation, it generally lacks
the 'soft infrastructure' that allows these elements to
interact smoothly and efficiently. The presentation will
also talk about other State and Commonwealth initiatives
intended to foster the growth of small start up companies and
assist the formation of clusters and economic growth.
Biography:Rowan Gilmore received his undergraduate education at the University
of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, where he was awarded the
University Medal and the B.E. degree in Electrical Engineering
(Hons) in 1976, and his graduate education at Washington University
in St. Louis where he was awarded the D. Sc. Degree in 1984. His
main area of research concerned the modelling of nonlinear behaviour
in microwave MESFET circuits.
During his professional career he held a number of prestigious
appointments such as Vice President of Engineering with Compact
Software, where he led the introduction of Microwave Harmonica, the
world's first commercial simulator applicable to the nonlinear
design of microwave and RF circuits, and Vice President at
SITA-Equant, operator of the world's most extensive data network,
working with a number of airlines and multinationals on their data
telecommunications and IT needs.
In the last two years, he has worked as the Chief Executive Officer
of the Australian Institute for Commercialisation, Brisbane,
Australia, being responsible for establishing liaisons and
facilitating technology transfer between universities and industry.
He has been active in the education of graduate engineers in
industry, having taught courses around the world to nearly fifteen
hundred practicing RF and microwave engineers for the over a
decade. With Dr. Besser, he is co-author of the widely read
two-volume textbook 'Practical RF Circuit Design for Modern Wireless
Systems'.
Dr. Gilmore is a Chartered Engineer and Senior Member of the IEEE.
He is an Adjunct Professor in the School of ITEE at The University
of Queensland.
Type: IEEE MTT/AP Queensland Chapter seminar
Contact:Prof Marek Bialkowski (ITEE)/Dr Ashley Robinson (IEEE), seminar host (meb@itee.uq.edu.au)
or Guido Governatori (ITEE seminar co-ordinator)
(guido@itee.uq.edu.au)