Strategy | Message from the Chief Defence Scientist
Australia’s place in a rapidly changing world depends on our ability to focus our national science and technology enterprise on some of the biggest opportunities and shape the path from knowledge into impact in future Defence capabilities.
We live in an environment of great change across many dimensions, including technology. The scope of science and technology (S&T) is broadening and the speed of change is breathtaking. We see this in our daily lives through advances in artificial intelligence, our ability to harness data, new energy sources, robotics, medical science and space applications. These changes present Defence with both challenges and opportunities. We must work out how to translate these technological advances into new Defence capability.
The 2016 Defence White Paper introduced a major new investment in science, technology, research and innovation, with funding to significantly grow the contributions of Australian industry and universities to the creation of new Defence capability. The response from the national S&T enterprise has been strong, but we are only just beginning this journey. To meet Defence’s emerging challenges, we must expand these collaborations. We must ensure that Australia’s strength in bringing together interdisciplinary teams is harnessed to deliver impact, to create solutions that confer strategic advantage and to generate opportunities for developing sovereign industry capabilities.
Defence Science and Technology (DST) is one of Australia’s pre-eminent research institutions, and its inventions and research outcomes have enhanced Defence capability and supported operations for over 100 years. DST will continue to conduct research to solve those problems that can only be addressed with the Australian Government, and will remain committed to supporting operations and advising on the acquisition and sustainment of Defence capability.
Moving forward, DST will also play a stronger role in enabling and coordinating support to Defence from a national S&T enterprise, of which other publicly funded research agencies (PFRAs), universities, large companies, small to medium enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs are all critical elements. We need to be clear about the S&T goals that Defence aims for, and make hard choices about what we do and what we do not do. A robust approach will be crucial if we are to prioritise and appropriately resource S&T activities, ensuring that good ideas are translated into capability.
Building on our proud history of Defence science, I am excited by the opportunity to partner with a broader community to achieve greater impact in safeguarding Australia. Through this strategy we will achieve more, together.
Professor Tanya Monro
Chief Defence Scientist
