Australia and the United States have signed an agreement that will help ensure crucial science, technology, and innovation cooperation between both countries continues to flourish.
The Australian Ambassador to the United States, His Excellency the Honorable Joe Hockey and Catherine Novelli, the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, have extended the Agreement Relating to Scientific and Technical Cooperation between the Government of the United States and the Government of Australia, in Washington, D.C.
It replaces the existing Agreement between Australia and the United States on scientific and technical cooperation, which expires in February next year.
The bilateral science and technical relationship between Australia and the United States spans 48 years under previous agreements.
A number of world class research relationships have formed between institutions and individual researchers over that time.
This Agreement provides the framework for the United States and Australia’s collaboration to support these relationships by offering mechanisms by which government and private sector researchers can exchange scientific data and results, protect intellectual property rights, and establish partnerships.
Partnerships between individual researchers, national research facilities, and businesses are already achieving tangible benefits for both countries, including:
• A 5-year research-industry partnership between the Australian Institute of Marine Science and The Boeing Company to jointly develop new technological solutions to the complex problem of environmental monitoring on the Great Barrier Reef.
• A partnership between the Australian National Fabrication Facility and the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research is delivering solutions for shared challenges such as energy supply through enabling technologies.
• Multiple agreements signed earlier this year, including by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute and Bioplatforms Australia, Macquarie University, Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI), and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, supporting Vice President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative by fostering research partnerships, ensuring better information sharing, and accelerating the pace of progress to break the back of cancer within the next decade.
The signing of this Agreement enables this important work to continue and reinforces the important role science and technical innovation plays in the relationship between Australia and the United States.