Government launches Source IP marketplace

The federal government has launched a new digital intellectual property marketplace named Source IP in an effort to improve Australia’s capacity for innovation.

The platform will host content from Australia’s 40 university commercialisation offices, along with commonwealth organisations such as the CSIRO, DST Group and NICTA.

Industry representatives including CBA, Telstra, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and KPMG are also supporting the platform, along with industry bodies such as the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The World Economic Forum’s 2015 Global Innovation Index ranks Australia eighth in the world in terms of research output thanks to the nation’s $9.7 billion in annual public spending on research. But Australia ranks just 25th in terms of capacity for innovation and commercialising ideas.

Assistant Minister for Innovation Wyatt Roy said Source IP is an attempt to address the disparity between research output and innovation by strengthening collaboration between publicly funded researchers and industry.

“Source IP, developed by IP Australia, serves as a free single portal for information sharing, licensing preferences and facilitating contact for intellectual property generated by the public research sector in Australia,” he said.

“[The platform] directly supports the aim of putting innovation at the heart of our economic agenda.”

Image courtesy of Missy Schmidt under CC