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hubie [soylentnews.org] writes:

Venture capitalists are not known for their long-range basic R&D vision. They look for high payout ventures and are quick to cut their losses if they don't see a fast return on their investment. Since 2014, Australia's premier research institution, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO [csiro.au]), has been headed by Larry Marshall. Marshall came to CSIRO after spending 25 years as a Silicon Valley venture capitalist. When he took on his new post he looked to redirect the focus on "innovation" [afr.com].

Marshall says that while CSIRO has worked in partnership with small and large businesses in Australia he wants to take it to the next level by changing the mindset of an organisation that employs about 5000 people.

"One of the challenges with the CSIRO is that we are measuring everything by science excellence," he says.

. . .

"So, when I look at Australia's innovation dilemma and I look at us measuring everything by science excellence and citations and publications, I think that is the wrong measure.

As part of that he announced that two areas that CSIRO is recognized internationally as experts, climate and ocean studies, are essentially being eliminated [abc.net.au] and positions being moved to support innovative areas. Marshall's reasoning for eliminating these groups:

We have spent probably a decade trying to answer the question “is the climate changing?” … After [December’s] Paris [climate summit] that question has been answered. The next question now is what do we do about it? The people that were so brilliant at measuring and modelling [climate change], they might not be the right people to figure out how to adapt to it.

Marshall sees similarities between Australia and Apple before Jobs was brought back and he feels that he needs to shake things up and "change the ecosystem". The scientific communities, both nationally [reneweconomy.com.au] and internationally [smh.com.au], have been extremely critical of the decision with some pointing out that Marshall's reasoning is unwise simply because he is flat-out wrong [theconversation.com]. A major concern in the scientific community is that he is taking a premier scientific institution and instituting a Netflix style culture [smh.com.au].

But there are rumors why they need to make these cuts. [comedycentral.com.au]

Original Submission