2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap welcomed

The Academy has welcomed the 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap and its recommendations.

It considers the nine focus areas for infrastructure development identified in the roadmap as the right priorities, and is looking forward to the release of the Government’s research infrastructure investment plan.

Infrastructure funding in the investment plan must be long-term, strategic and insulated from annual budgetary fluctuations, consistent with the long-term nature and nation-building capacity of research infrastructure investment—as most big infrastructure has a lifetime over decades, not months or years.

There is also a need to assess research infrastructure requirements not only for the present but also for the future. It is important to build in mechanisms to bring on new infrastructure that will support Australia’s research programs in five to ten years’ time, and these may well be areas that are in their infancy now or not yet known.