March 17, 2026
The Strategic Examination of Research and Development (SERD) final report, Ambitious Australia, leaves no doubt that research and development is fundamental to Australia's economic future, sovereign capability and national wellbeing.
Group of Eight Chief Executive Vicki Thomson said the report arrives at a critical moment.
"Now more than ever, as Australia navigates an increasingly complex and contested global environment, we need a research system that equips the nation to solve hard policy problems, strengthen sovereign capability and lift long‑term productivity.
"The SERD report states plainly that incremental change will no longer suffice. That conclusion reflects years of policy drift and neglect that have left the system fragmented, under‑coordinated and increasingly unsustainable.
"The report is a clear vindication of what the Group of Eight has been saying consistently: structural reform is unavoidable. But reform without proper, predictable investment in the foundations of the system will fail. Australia cannot tinker its way back to competitiveness."
The Group of Eight universities invest around $10 billion annually in national R&D, accounting for more than 20 per cent of Australia's total research effort, and educate almost half of the nation's PhD graduates.
Ms Thomson said the SERD recommendations strongly reflect long‑standing Go8 positions, including the need for focus and scale, genuine partnership with industry, and sustained investment across the research pipeline.
"The report rightly recognises universities as the backbone of Australia's research system and proposes a long‑overdue framework to bring coherence to a system that has accumulated complexity without delivering the national impact Australia now requires.
"The report also echoes Go8 advocacy for unlocking patient capital by removing barriers to greater participation by superannuation in Australia's innovation economy. Equally, the report reinforces the urgency of strengthening the PhD pipeline – lifting stipends in priority fields, removing barriers to higher degree research, and creating clear industry pathways. Australia's research ambitions, productivity growth and national security objectives cannot be met without sustained investment in research training."
"The report is clear that without strong and consistent investment in knowledge creation, Australia risks eroding the foundations needed to translate innovation into enduring economic prosperity.
"The SERD recommendations have the potential to reverse more than a decade of decline in Australia's R&D investment. No one expects this to be fixed in a single budget cycle, and we recognise the pressures on government – from fiscal constraint to geopolitical uncertainty and weak productivity growth."
"But this report gives government the right tools to begin rebuilding Australia's research base – and the choice now is whether to act with the ambition the moment demands."
