The Prime Minister announced Australia’s first set of national research priorities in December 2002. These covered the four priorities of An Environmentally Sustainable Australia; Promoting and Maintaining Good Health; Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries; and Safeguarding Australia, and a total of 17 goals.
The priorities and their goals were broadly based, thematic and multi-disciplinary in scope. In order to deliver successful outcomes, contributions from many fields of research would be necessary.
In developing these priorities, a stronger emphasis was given to science and technology than to the social sciences and humanities. During 2003, therefore, the Government worked with the social science and humanities research communities to enhance and refine the national research priorities framework. The process has resulted in some editorial enhancements to the original goals and the identification of four new goals. The editorial enhancements will help to ensure that scientific and technological applications - many of which have significant economic, social or ethical implications - take account of the community’s capacity to initiate and respond to change.
The new goals will stimulate further high quality research in key areas such as promoting an innovation culture and economy, fostering creativity, developing appropriate responses to demographic trends, improving our understanding of developments in neighbouring countries, and enabling communities to adapt appropriately in the face of climate change. The four new goals are as follows:
Responding to climate change and variability (An environmentally sustainable Australia)
Increasing our understanding of the impact of climate change and variability at the regional level across Australia, and addressing the consequences of these factors on the environment and on communities.
Australia already has a highly variable climate, and climate change can be expected to have further significant impacts. It is important to enhance our understanding of the consequences of climate change and variability at the regional level across Australia, and the implications for the environment and for communities. It is also important to explore beneficial adaptation strategies to climate change and variability to ensure ongoing social, economic and environmental well being.
Strengthening Australia’s social and economic fabric (Promoting and maintaining good health)
Understanding and strengthening key elements of Australia's social and economic fabric to help families and individuals live healthy, productive, and fulfilling lives.
Living in today's society involves a complex web of choices, yet many of the traditional support structures are weaker than they have been in the past. Enabling people to make choices that lead to positive pathways to self reliance and supportive family structures is more important than ever. The interactions between the social safety net, social and economic participation, financial incentives and community and private sources of support are critical in helping people maximise their potential and achieve good, healthy, lifetime outcomes.
Promoting an innovation culture and economy (Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries)
Maximising Australia’s creative and technological capability by understanding the factors conducive to innovation and its acceptance.
Understanding the factors that lead to highly creative and innovative ideas and concepts, and the conditions that lead to their introduction, transfer and uptake is critical for any nation that aspires to lead the world in breakthrough science, frontier technologies, and in other forms of innovation. Promoting an innovation culture and economy requires research with a focus on developing and fostering human talent, societal and cultural values favourable to creativity and innovation, and structures and processes for encouraging and managing innovation.
Understanding our region and the world (Safeguarding Australia)
Enhancing Australia’s capacity to interpret and engage with its regional and global environment through a greater understanding of languages, societies, politics and cultures.
Social, cultural and religious issues are of growing significance due to the insecurities of globalisation and the increasing role of non-state players in the security environment. Australia’s capacity to interpret and engage with its regional and global environment will be substantially improved by enhancing its research base in apposite languages, societies and cultures. An approach that enhances Australia’s capacity to interpret itself to the rest of the world is also needed.