Wi-Fi to Why Try? The rise and stall of Aussie science (#284)

It’s a classic pub-quiz trivia question: Who invented Wi-Fi?

The answer, Australians love to say with pride, is: We did!

Not so fast Australia!

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency founded in 1916, is often held up as the flag-bearer of that brilliant Australian moment. A shining example of Australia’s ingenuity and global impact.

Scratch the surface, and the story isn’t quite so simple.

The Wi-Fi Myth

In the early 1990s, a CSIRO team solved a thorny technical issue - the multipath problem, where signals bounce off walls and furniture, interfering with wireless transmissions. Their solution was patented in 1992.

But by then, Wi-Fi networks had already been running in the United States since the 1970s. The first official Wi-Fi standard was released in 1997 by the American Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and notably, it didn’t include CSIRO’s technology. That came later, with the third generation of Wi-Fi, around 1999. Even then, CSIRO didn’t realize the commercial potential of its patent until 2002, years after the world had embraced wireless networking.

CSIRO’s biggest win came not from building or selling technology, but from litigation.

After Wi-Fi had become ubiquitous, the organization successfully sued major tech companies for infringing on its patents, eventually securing hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements. Not the kind of innovation pipeline a healthy scientific ecosystem strives for.

As one company sued by CSIRO said, they’d never even heard of the organization until they were served legal papers!

A Fragile Ecosystem

CSIRO’s Wi-Fi saga highlights something deeper and more troubling about the state of research in Australia: Australia has and is under-investing in its scientific future.

Australia leans heavily on international partners, particularly the United States, to pick up the slack.

When the current US administration questioned the $386 million in US research funding sent to Australia, it wasn’t entirely surprising. What was surprising was how dependent Australia had become. From satellite and hurricane data to genomic information for flu vaccines, Australia benefits enormously from US scientific infrastructure.

So why hasn’t Australia built their own scientific infrastructure?

The stark truth is that Australia spends less on research and development than any other advanced economy.

Australia rank 102nd in economic complexity, which is the ability to turn ideas into high-value products, trailing behind Rwanda, Namibia, and Uganda.

Australia’s research system operates in isolation from industry. For years, governments encouraged universities to take in international students, particularly from China, to fund research. That approach now appears dangerously shortsighted, especially amid tense geopolitical relations.

A Chance for Renewal?

There is a glimmer of hope. Current Science Minister Ed Husic has shown signs of meaningful change. He has set national science priorities and undertaken reviews that could finally integrate our fragmented Research & Development landscape. Most importantly, he’s bet big on quantum computing, a field where Australia has genuine competitive advantage, and is investing in the long game: basic, blue-sky research with potentially transformative outcomes.

Of course, research is risky by nature.

But doing nothing and continuing to depend on foreign funding and foreign commercialization of intellectual property is an even greater risk.

As history shows, without proper investment, even the most brilliant inventions can slip through our fingers. Just ask the CSIRO team who had a revolutionary chip but saw their spin-off company dissolve in 2004, right before the Wi-Fi explosion they helped make possible.

Rick’s Commentary

Australia can be the clever country. This has been proven it time and again, in moments of genius and ingenuity.

But being clever isn’t enough. Australia needs to be committed to fund science adequately, to build infrastructure, to reward risk-taking, and to weave research into the fabric of our economy. Otherwise, Australia will continue to watch ideas bloom elsewhere and pay dearly to buy them back.

The current US administration may have provided Australia with a timely reminder.

It’s time for a change!

Wake up Australia and invest not just in ideas, but in the system that brings them to life.

Further Reading