With industry relevance now considered a vital driver of research, a new course to better equip Australian researchers to commercialise their work has been launched by a consortium of five universities including UTS.

The Graduate Certificate in Research Commercialisation is a first-of-its-kind fully-online course offered jointly by the universities of the Australian Technology Network (ATN) – RMIT, Curtin University of Technology, the University of South Australia, the Queensland University of Technology and UTS.

Launching the course at the recent ATN Conference held at UTS, ATN Chair and Vice-Chancellor of the University of South Australia, Professor Denise Bradley, said research commercialisation occupied a central place in relation to the nation's economic and social outcomes.

"These award courses use online opportunities to provide the coming generation of researchers with access to the skills and knowledge essential to the commercialisation of their research," Professor Bradley said.

"A report by the Business Council of Australia's (BCA) on collaboration and commercialisation of research highlighted that the main impediments to more effective collaboration in Australia remain, among other issues, poor interaction between industry and researchers.

"This post graduate course, in part, aims to redress this with students undertaking study in the relationship between research, politics, public policy entrepreneurship and project management."

The Graduate Certificate is being delivered as part of the ATN's e-Grad School, a joint venture across the ATN and funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training.

One of the first students to enrol, UTS PhD candidate Donna Rooney, said the course will give her valuable skills which will be beneficial to future employers.

"The biggest difference to be gained is from becoming a productive member in a research community versus just doing research," Ms Rooney said.

The online Graduate Certificate in Research Commercialisation is jointly branded by all five ATN universities and aspects of the course have been developed by each member, according to their specific strengths.

The e-Grad School and the Graduate Certificate represent the culmination of steadily increasing collaboration between the ATN universities that began with ATN LEAP (Learning Employment Aptitudes Program) in 2001.

For more information about the Graduate Certificate, visit the e-Grad School website.