ATN/Go8 Excellence in Innovation for Australia Trial - Excellence in Innovation For Australia (EIA)

The Australian Technology Network of Universities (ATN) and the Group of Eight (Go8) are undertaking a joint trial exercise in 2012 to assess the impact of research produced by the Australian university sector.

The Australian Technology Network of Universities (ATN) and Group of Eight (Go8) universities, along with the University of Newcastle, Charles Darwin University and the University of Tasmania are participating in an impact assessment trial, the Excellence in Innovation for Australia (EIA) Trial, which aims to identify and demonstrate the contribution that high quality research has made to the economic, social, cultural and environmental benefit of society. Implicit in this goal is the purpose to investigate the means by which these benefits may best be recognised, portrayed and assessed by institutions and government.

List of participating institutions

Curtin University	University of South Australia	RMIT University
University of Technology Sydney	Queensland University of Technology	The University of Queensland
The University of Melbourne	The University of Western Australia	The University of New South Wales
The University of Newcastle	Charles Darwin University	The University of Tasmania

Participation in the Trial is based partly on a growing international realisation of the need for universities to demonstrate the benefit, or impact of their research – to government, to funders and to the broader society. This is particularly true in the UK where their research assessment mechanism, the Research Excellence Framework (REF) has explicitly included assessment of research impact for their next assessment exercise in 2014. In Australia, the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (DIISRTE) is currently undertaking a feasibility study into ways of assessing research impact.

In the Trial each university will be asked to provide case studies of research impact aligned to four broad SEO Sectors:

• Sector A - Defence
• Sector B – Economic Development
• Sector C – Society
• Sector D – Environment  

Each case study will include details of the claimed impact, the underpinning research that led to the impact, references to publications arising from the underpinning research, research data and a list of sources that could be accessed to corroborate the impact. The emphasis for case studies will be to provide supporting information for the claimed impact that is capable of being verified if required, rather than providing verified information as part of the submission

Each of the 12 participating institutions is being invited to submit a maximum of five case studies for each of the four SEO Sectors (ie a maximum of 20 case studies per institution).

Universities will be submitting their impact case studies by the end of August, 2012 and Assessment Panels will meet through September/October to consider submissions. Following the assessment process each university will receive the assessment results of its own submitted case studies and a report outlining the findings of the Trial encompassing all participating universities. A summary EIA Trial report will be prepared for the peak EIA Governance Group and released to the public following endorsement. This report will evaluate the process of the EIA Trial and make recommendations concerning its potential more widespread adoption.

EIA Governance Arrangements

The EIA Project is governed by:

• A Peak Governance Group comprising the Boards of the ATN and the Go8.
• A Project Steering Group including the DVCs R from each of the participant institutions (or their nominee).
• An Implementation Group including the Research Directors of each participating institution (or their nominee).
• A Development Advisory Board comprised of high-level representatives of stake-holder sectors including industry, business, universities, government, government research agencies and include international member(s).

                                      EIA governance/organisational framework

Guidelines

Guidelines governing the submission of case studies is available to view HERE.

The template for submissions is available HERE.

A list of 4 digit Socio-Economic Objectives (SEO) Codes is available HERE.

Institutions may find it helpful in preparing to case studies to refer to case studies at http://www.ref.ac.uk/background/pilot/. These are examples from the UK REF Impact Pilot Study conducted in November 2010 which assessment panels considered had strong features. Many were ranked 4* and the remainder 3* (on a scale where 4* was the highest ranking). Examples are included from: Clinical Medicine; Physics; Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences; Social Work and Social Policy; and English Language and Literature.

ATN-Go8 Symposium Excellence in Innovation: Measuring the innovation dividend

The ATN and Go8 jointly hosted the ATN-Go8 Symposium Excellence in Innovation: Measuring the innovation dividend. Held on 4 November 2011, the Symposium brought together a broad range of stakeholders in the Australian R&D sector to explore mechanisms for measuring the social and economic benefits (“impact”) of research. It explored how to draw together the individual experiences of stakeholder groups in the research sector into an overarching approach to measuring the innovation dividend across the spectrum of research activities. The outcomes of the Symposium have informed the design and implementation of the trial. 

Details of the Symposium program and speakers and the Symposium Report can be found at:
http://www.atn.edu.au/atnconference/2011/atn-go8_symposium/index.htm.

ATN-Go8 Excellence in Innovation for Australia: Research Impact and the National Agenda

The ATN and Go8 jointly hosted a second symposium Excellence in Innovation for Australia: Research Impact and the National Agenda in Canberra on 28 November 2012.The symposium marked the release of the report on the outcomes of the EIA trial.

Symposium program

Final report: 'Excellence in Innovation: Research Impacting our Nation's Future- assessing the benefits'

Further Information - EIA contacts

For enquiries from outside the 12 EIA participating universities please contact either the ATN Directorate or Go8 Secretariat.

ATN Directorate: Ms Vicki Thomson   ATN Executive Director   08 8302 9135   Vicki.thomson@atn.ed.au

Go8 Secretariat: Dr Ian McMahon Go8 Director, Research 02 6239 5488 ian.mcmahon@go8.edu.au

For enquiries from within an EIA participating university please contact your institutional EIA contact.

List of Institutional Contacts in Guidelines

Institution	Name	Position	Email	Phone
UQ	Ian Harris	Director, Research Partnerships UQ Research and Innovation	i.harris@research.uq.edu.au	07 3365 3559
UTas	Mark Hochman	Senior Advisor, Research Policy and Strategy	mark.hochman@utas.edu.au	03 6226 6371
RMIT	Lois Fitz-Gerald	Executive Director, Office for Research	lois.fitz-gerald@rmit.edu.au	03 9925 4603
UTS	Jeffrey Francis	Director, Research& Innovation Office	Jeffrey.Francis@uts.edu.au	02 9514 1253
Curtin	Charlie Thorn	Director Office of Research& Development	C.Thorn@curtin.edu.au	08 9266 9062
CDU	Jenny Carter	Director, Office of Research & Innovation	Jenny.Carter@cdu.edu.au	08 8946 6708
UWA	Campbell Thomson	Director, Research Services	campbell.thomson@uwa.edu.au	08 6488 3027
Melbourne	Shane Wood	Manager, ERA Project Team	woos@unimelb.edu.au	03 8344 2072
QUT	Michael McArdle	Director, Office of Research	m.mcardle@qut.edu.au	07 3138 5376
Newcastle	Lyn McBriarty	Director, Research Services	lyn.mcbriarty@newcastle.edu.au	02 4921 5300
UNSW	Murray Green	Deputy Director & Senior Data Analyst ERA Office	murray.green@unsw.edu.au	02 9385 8035
UniSA	Tracey Swift	Director Research& Innovation Services	tracey.swift@unisa.edu.au	08 8302 3471