THE AUSTRALIAN government has its R&D policy the wrong way round, says John
Ness, head of the Brisbane microwave communications company, MITEC. He thinks
the government should be directing research funds to the private sector and
encouraging researchers to work in industry, instead of feeding money through
the universities and government research institutions.
鈥淭he government has got the cart before the horse,鈥� said Ness. 鈥淩&D money goes
to non-commercial entities to try to achieve a commercial result.鈥�
Also, government buying policy should be revamped, he says. 鈥淭he purchasing
power of government is huge compared with the amount it spends on R&D grants.
It could change the whole telecommunications industry, but it seems unwilling
to use its power. If the Department of Defence really enforced its own policy
to buy Australian, then the whole industry would be transformed.鈥�
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But although Ness believes reforms are needed, he acknowledges that
governments can help. MITEC began at the University of Queensland in 1981 as a
direct result of federal government action. It was set up as an industrial R&D
centre in microwave technology with a one-off, three-year grant.
The impetus, says Ness, came from the development of Interscan, a microwave
landing system for airports. One of the public servants associated with the
project had been shocked to recognise that all the basic microwave components
used to manufacture the Interscan system were imported. A firm like MITEC was
needed.
After the three-year grant ran out, the company secured bridging finance to
continue at the university. In order to pay back its loan, MITEC had to become
more commercial and ended up designing and manufacturing products rather than
pursuing research. After the second three years, 鈥渨e decided that a university
was not the place for us to be 鈥� and we got up and left,鈥� said Ness.
Since 1987, the company has grown from 12 people to 160 and last year its
turnover was about A$13.5 million. MITEC has just finished installing
the microwave links in a new system to control shipping in Shanghai Harbour.
And it has recently secured in open competition a contract to supply satellite
hardware to the US Intelsat system.
MITEC sells a range of standard microwave telecommunications products to
Southeast Asia and China, and has installed satellite ground stations in
Russia, Poland, Kazakhstan and Afghanistan.
The first hurdle was to make the company known, Ness says. But while MITEC was
setting itself up, it won a A$1 million contract from Australia鈥檚
international telecommunications carrier OTC. 鈥淭he contract was for something
we had never built before, but we were stupid enough to believe we could do
it.鈥� They did, and the same people are continuing the buy the product.
Ness says MITEC鈥檚 innovation stems, not so much from new technology as from
finding ways to do what people want with existing technology. 鈥淲e modify,
adapt, customise, and bear the brunt of our own mistakes. And in the long
term, that鈥檚 what brings results.鈥�
MITEC maintains its links with universities by employing up to 10
postgraduates during the holidays. It also is working with two other companies
under a government Generic Technology Grant to develop radar which penetrates
the ground, and it is a partner in Queensland鈥檚 Space Industry Development
Centre which is supported by the Australian Space Office. MITEC also has close
ties with the CSIRO鈥檚 Division of Radiophysics in Sydney.
A large slice of the company is owned by the staff, about 80 per cent of whom
are shareholders.