Australia: Queensland sets up hi-tech research fund

In a statement, Premier Peter Beattie said it was part of a package of initiatives to attract the commercialisation of high technology research and development. Beattie was in the United States at a biotechnology conference in San Diego.

A battle between Queensland and Victoria erupted last week when Victorian Premier Steve Bracks announced that his government would build a synchrotron facility that produces beams of intense light for use in scientific research.

Beattie denied Queensland's bid to build the facility had been lost, saying the race for federal funding was not over.

A synchrotron accelerates electrons to produce an intense beam of light. It is a billion times more powerful than a microscope, expanding the borders of research.

Beattie said, "The new fund will assist biodiscovery organisations to value-add and commercialise their discoveries in Queensland." The state also offered an impressive research and education infrastructure, he said.

This would give researchers a better environment to take their discoveries to the market, Beattie said. But the research needed to be cutting edge and the scientists must base their operations in Queensland.