The David & Valerie Solomon Award is a new early-mid career award for a science or technology graduate working in academia/research or industry R&D who demonstrates substantial ability to foster research-industry collaboration and knowledge transfer for the benefit of Australia.
The winner will receive a unique award, a cash prize of $15,000 and 12 months mentoring from a senior entrepreneur/industry Fellow of the Academy with $5000 travel expenses to enhance this mentoring experience.
Specifically the Award will:
Guidelines for this Award, and the Referee Report to be submitted with a nomination, are available below.
The benefits of Australia’s world-class research system can only really realised with the translation of its outputs into economic and societal benefits. The effective translation of research will be at the core of Australia’s future competitiveness and prosperity.
This requires effective collaboration between our universities and publicly funded research organisations and industrial research and development organisations.
Australia undertakes world-class scientific research through universities and other publicly funded research organisations, and while research excellence is desirable in its own right, it is not a sufficient driver of innovation and is only one dimension of the research endeavour.
Research collaborations with the private and public sectors, entrepreneurial behaviour and knowledge transfer are equally important activities, which are largely driven by researchers who are engaged with industry and end-users of research.
The David and Valerie Solomon Award recognises and incentivises public sector researchers who are engaged with industry and engaged industrial researchers and drive collaborative activities to produce real-world impact.
The award honours David Solomon, who is a Foundation Fellow of the Academy and who has been supported in his career by his wife, Valerie. The award is made available through a generous donation from David and Valerie Solomon.
Professor David Solomon AC FRS FAA FTSE is an Australian, world-renowned polymer chemist. He is best known for his work in developing Living Radical Polymerisation techniques, and was the principal inventor of Australia’s first polymer banknotes.
He is often referred to as the father of polymer research in Australia, having established three internationally acclaimed polymer research groups: in industry (Dulux, 1960), in Australia’s peak scientific research organisation, CSIRO (1970) and at the University of Melbourne (1990).
His passion for applied research, Australian industry innovation based on Australian discoveries and encouraging researcher-industry engagement is reflected in his diverse career spanning leading roles in industry, research, research translation, invention, and academia.
It is this diverse and life-long experience of researcher-industry engagement, problem-solving and growing wealth for the country that is celebrated in the David and Valerie Solomon Award for Research-Industry Collaboration.
Mrs Solomon’s first business venture was breeding miniature Schnauzers in the family home in Glen Waverley. She then turned her attention developing an Angus cattle stud with the registered name Betbelanne on a challenging 59-hectare hilly property at Arawata near Korumburra in south-east Gippsland.
This was so successful it was transferred to a more manageable property at Officer, now a suburb of Melbourne. Mrs Solomon managed this farm for many years, with Professor Solomon as her trusty weekend farm labourer. She managed this stud until its sale in 2004.
Mrs Solomon hopes that the David and Valerie Solomon Award will encourage a new generation of women science and engineering graduates to establish their own businesses in an area of their passion.
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