Many in the business community would be delighted to hear that the federal government, as part of its National Innovation and Science Agenda, is proposing to measure the practical ‘impact’ of academic research.
Universities will then be partially funded on their ability to demonstrate this impact in regular government research assessment exercises.
The idea of measuring research impact is based on the contemporary view that universities exist to create new knowledge and impart it to people for the benefit of the community’s wealth, health, security and well-being. They do this in two main ways.
