People
The Queensland Government will:
- establish the Innovation Skills Fund with $12 million over four years to attract and retain top researchers and PhD students in strategic priority areas to Queensland. The Innovation Skills Fund is a major new program that will provide scholarships to promising PhD students, fellowships to researchers in the early stages of their career who are fast gaining an international reputation for excellence, and iconic fellowships to senior researchers who are world leaders in their field. The Innovation Skills Fund will complement the Innovation Building Fund, helping to ensure Queensland research facilities have top talent as well as the entrepreneurial skills to commercialise research findings.
- The new Fund will complement and significantly build on the Queensland Government’s existing investment in innovation skills such as the:
- $2 million Smart State Fellowship program – launched in 2003 to support Queensland scientists continuing their ground-breaking work in Queensland rather than going interstate or offshore
- $2.7 million Queensland Clinical Research Fellowships Program – launched in 2004 to support appointment of up to four clinician-researchers each year to undertake research in Queensland hospitals and health services.
- Funding applications for the Innovation Skills Fund will be assessed and awarded each year on a contestable basis and will target priority research areas. The Innovation Skills Fund will give Queensland researchers more opportunities to stay in Queensland, working side-by-side and matching their skills with the best in the world. It will also attract leading interstate and international researchers and PhD students to Queensland.
- promote secondments and joint appointments of Queensland Government researchers to Queensland businesses, industry and universities on a cost recovery basis to strengthen our collaborative, networking tradition for the exchange of ideas, knowledge and expertise.
