Priority Setting and Resource Allocation in Australian Biomedical Research: Muddling with Some Skill

Examined here are models of resource allocation adopted by Australia's premier biomedical research funding council, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), since pressure to make research more 'relevant' has been exerted. For a council that disburses its funds chiefly to high-impact fundamental research, allocating resources to priority-driven research that contributes directly to population health and evidence-based health care is a challenging transition. It is contended that while the NHMRC has attempted to accommodate a 'rationalist' user-driven approach to resource allocation, it has moved only marginally away from a highly decentralised (investigator-driven) model to a mixed-mode system that resembles 'muddling with some skill'.     

Technology Transfer from Publicly Funded Research for Improved Natural Resource Management: Analysis and Australian Examples

Considerable public funding is provided for research and development intended to improve the management and use of shared natural resources, such as water. In Australia, the Land and Water Research and Development Corporation (LWRRDC) and Environment Australia are significant providers of such funds. These providers tend to judge the value of R&D projects supported by them on the basis of whether or not significant technology transfer and adoption takes place. Researchers involved in these projects are expected to be the prime movers of such transfer. However, it seems that research funders have been guided by over-simplified models of processes of technology transfer and by false analogies with the transfer of industrial technology. There has been a failure to recognise that much of the new technology developed to improve the management of shared resources, such as water, affects the supply of social or collective commodities, a factor which materially alters the technology transfer process. Here, processes of transferring publicly funded intellectual knowledge are discussed and modelled, dynamic patterns of adoption of new technology are considered along with factors influencing adoption rates and barriers to adoption, particularly when the supply of social or collective commodities such as water, are involved. Some points from the analysis are illustrated by observations from a sample of LWRRDC-supported research projects.     

科学研究评价的性质、作用、方法及程序

科学研究的评价受到了各国的重视。本文试图通过分析科研评价的特征与作用,阐述与这些特征和作用相匹配的评价方法和程序。     

Blockchain,adoption, and financial inclusion in India: Research opportunities

The economic development of rural India requires connecting remote villages to local and global supply chains. Yet, high rates of financial exclusion inhibit rural Indians from participating in these supply networks. We review the literature on financial inclusion, adoption, and blockchain in India, and posit that to resolve financial exclusion, the four challenges of geographical access, high cost, inappropriate banking products, and financial illiteracy need to be overcome. Next, we argue that blockchain technologies hold the potential to overcome most of these challenges. However, for blockchain technologies to become the cornerstone of financial inclusion initiatives, an understanding of technology adoption in India is needed. To guide the development of such understanding, we develop a research agenda on the antecedents of adoption, adoption patterns, and outcomes of adoption. Answering these research questions will lead to a nuanced understanding of adoption of blockchain-based technologies in rural India. The practical contribution of this paper is the discussion of how blockchain can alleviate the issue of financial exclusion in rural India, thereby providing a basis for a solution that could connect rural Indians to global supply chain networks. The theoretical contribution lies in the identification of knowledge gaps that should be answered to achieve financial inclusion of rural Indians.     

Cultural Diversity and Australian Commercial Television Drama: Policy,Industry and Recent Research Contexts

Media studies research in the 1990s illustrated an incongruity between cultural diversity in the Australian community and the representation of that diversity on commercial television screens. Australian drama in particular received much criticism for its seemingly 'Anglo' portrayal of Australian society. Most of this former research was based on program content analysis and critical approaches to studying the media. From the mid-1990s, anecdotal evidence suggested an improvement in the casting of actors from culturally diverse backgrounds. This paper contextualises policy and industry developments in the 1990s related to cultural diversity and presents new research undertaken within the commercial television drama industry. In order to determine the status of cultural diversity and commercial television drama at the end of the 1990s, a casting survey of all Australian commercial drama programs broadcast in 1999 was carried out. This was complemented by interviews with industry personnel and a two-week content analysis of programming. The research establishes the degree of casting for actors from culturally diverse backgrounds and offers explanations for both improvements made over the previous years and the continuing obstacles faced by some groups in gaining a place in our popular drama programs.     

我国科技成果权属改革的历史逻辑?从所有制、科技成果所有权到知识产权

赋予科研人员科技成果所有权或长期使用权,是当前中央推动市场机制在配置创新资源中充分发挥决定性作用的关键性改革探索。由于我国经济体制的公有制性质,如何有效处理国家、集体与个人的关系必然成为我国科技成果权属制度改革的核心问题。文章通过回溯新中国成立后我国科技成果权属的制度变迁与改革历程,从改革逻辑中厘清科技成果公有制、科技成果所有权与知识产权对于科技成果权属改革制度的意义,尝试探寻科技成果权属制度的改革经验和制度规律,凝聚推动当前新一轮科技成果权属改革的观念共识。     

专利分阶评价初选体系和应用研究领军人才挖掘 ——以中科院先进技术研究院专利筛选为例*

基于层次分析法的专利分阶评价初选体系，对已公开的发明专利在专利权人、研究组织、竞争对手、专利保护和技术应用环节进行分阶数据筛选，对应不同阶段提取具有代表性的客观数据，对相关科研院所进行实证研究；针对广东省“双十”战略性产业集群，利用层次分析法对上述七个细分指标分配权重进行测度，挖掘相关应用研究领域人才，为科技服务平台提供分级分类人才数据资源池，促进应用研究人才库和企业技术需求库相匹配。通过专利数据资源的梳理，打通知识产权创造、运用、保护、管理和服务全链条，在技术成果转化过程中提供新思路和新方法。