From Bench to Bedside: Harnessing digital technologies to drive research translation

Translating the benefits of Australia’s research sector into wider society - often referred to in health research as ‘the pathway from bench to bedside’ - is a key priority for Australia’s National Research Infrastructure Roadmap. Australia’s innovation sector relies heavily on collaboration between researchers, industry, business and government. However, connecting these groups is challenging, limiting the nation’s capacity to effectively collaborate and translate research on critical issues like healthcare and food security.

To accelerate opportunities for research translation, the Australian Federal Government's Department of Education funded the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) to deliver a project linking digital research, government and industry information. The project was co-designed with representatives from the Australian university, government and industry sectors and resulted in Research Link Australia (RLA): a dynamic new digital platform that bridges the information gap between these groups. 
RLA can be used by any person or machine to search for information about Australian research activities, such as funded projects, researchers, organisations and the stakeholders involved. The platform harnesses digital technologies to support research discoveries to be translated into real-world products and helps industry find research collaborators to enhance their R&D capabilities. 

This presentation will introduce RLA and demonstrate the ways in which the higher education and technology sector can harness its power, creating opportunities to translate research into industry outcomes that benefit our society, environment and economy.