Ai Group welcomed the opportunity to provide brief comments regarding the 2024 Policy Review of the National Competitive Grants Program.

Due to the highly competitive and oversubscribed nature of the National Competitive Grants Program there is an impression that industry engagement and interest in the linkage element of the program may still be high and deeply engaged. However, our data and discussions with members show that this may no longer be the case.

Further, we note amongst our members there an increasing level of disenchantment with many of the collaborative programs (ARC, CRC etc) and questions as to whether they result in an appropriate return on investment (time and money). With the increasingly competitive nature of the grants landscape industry is at times treated simply as a source of funding rather than a valued partner on the research and development journey.