With AusBiotech 2007 being held in Brisbane next week, ALS takes its bi-annual survey of the state of the industry.

The research community is becoming more sophisticated in the way they approach intellectual property and industry partnerships. Ruth Beran looks at how technology transfer has changed, where it is going and the challenges it faces.

Australia's medical research community has welcomed news of major changes to the nation's sole research funding agency, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

The president of the Australian Society for Medical Research has made a call for action from researchers to campaign for more federal government funding for medical research.

Australia must ramp up its investment in health and medical research to ensure its future prosperity, said Research Australia CEO Dr Christine Bennett and Australian Graduate School of Management professor Michael Vitale in a joint paper published this week in the Medical Journal of Australia.

The federal government has released a discussion paper on Australia's growing shortage of skilled professionals in science, engineering and technology (SET).

Although government and higher education R&D expenditure are on the up, and Australia generated almost 50 per cent more scientific and technical articles in 2003 than in 1999, the number of US patents granted to Australia has fallen, a government report has revealed.

Nigel Poole offers 10 glimpses of what Australian life science commercialisation could look like in 2015.

A new government review has reported that investment in health and medical research delivered excellent returns and benefits to the community, and has recommended that overall Commonwealth government investment be increased to AUD$1.8 billion by 2008/9.

On the eve the Federal election, some of Australia' most famous medical researchers have signed an open letter to Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Mark Latham asking them to increase funding for medical research.

Labor has announced a $22 million four-year Smart Partnerships program under which 800 graduates would receive subsidised industry placements, and $6 million would be earmarked for educational programs aimed at supporting business ideas with commercial potential.