Short-term national innovation strategies are harming industry¡¯s ability to commit to research partnerships with universities, the head of one of the world¡¯s largest biotechnology companies has told Times ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø¡¯s Innovation & Impact Summit.

Paul Perreault, chief executive of CSL Limited, which employs more than 27,000?staff and had an annual turnover of $8.5?billion (?6.2?billion) in 2019, said the ¡°unprecedented level of collaboration¡± between governments, companies and university researchers during the pandemic had underlined the importance of different sectors working together to create and manufacture innovative new products.

But Mr Perreault, whose Melbourne-headquartered company is manufacturing 50?million Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines for use in Australia, said government policies towards supporting innovation were often defined by their short-term thinking. ¡°What we can learn from this [pandemic] is the sponsorship of innovation agendas,¡± he told the online event, which is being held jointly by the University of Auckland, in New Zealand, and America¡¯s Pennsylvania State University.

¡°If you really believe in innovation, and you want to prepare for the future, make sure that the innovation policies are sustainable,¡± he added, stating that too often policies were dictated by ¡°who is in power at the time, which party and who in parliament is really driving things¡±.

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That did not necessarily mean committing vast resources to research spending or subsidising industrial research, said Mr Perreault, who has led CSL, one of the world¡¯s leading vaccine suppliers, since 2013. Instead, long-term stability was required.

¡°It does not have to be putting billions of dollars into industry, because industry has been self-sustaining in many ways, [because] the profits from business are put back in research and innovation,¡± explained Mr Perreault, adding that: ¡°In our industry, if you not innovating, you should be managing your exit from a market.

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¡°What happens is that governments fund and defund research agendas based on their political parties or priorities ¨C they need to know that science takes time¡­typically innovation, new products and changes that are transformational take somewhere between seven to 10 years to develop.

¡°If you are constantly moving the policies and support for an innovation agenda, then industry gets a bit confused in terms of: ¡®Should I just be doing this on my own?¡¯ or ¡®Should I be partnering with government or universities?¡¯¡± he concluded, saying companies were baffled because ¡°the incentives constantly change¡±.

In addition to improving government-industry collaborations, there should also be a push to improve company-to-company collaboration that was stymied not just by the profit motive but sometimes by regulators, said Mr Perreault.

¡°Look at the sharing in the pandemic, we need to learn from that,¡± he said. ¡°This is the time we can collaborate, discuss, debate and share important information [to improve] human health,¡± he concluded.

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jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com