Creating a visionary science future fund that could generate more than $2 billion a year for Australia's economy would help offset a mounting social services burden and reverse dangerously low research and development investment, scientists say.
Science and Technology Australia has proposed the fund as a pre-budget submission and a "clever way" for the federal government to implement its election pledge to boost R&D, "getting it closer to the three per cent of GDP achieved in other countries".
The peak body says the initiative could generate up to $2.3 billion in economic returns annually at no future cost to the federal budget after initial capitalisation.
