Where are new ideas in infrastructure decision making to come from?
Academia?
One might suppose so. Yet how many times do you get to the end of a promising piece of research only to find nothing that can be adopted for practical use, only an indication of potential and a recommendation for further research? Frustrating, yes, but unfortunately this is an academic necessity. In our ‘publish or perish’ world, where one published paper is used to generate the research funding for the next, producing a workable solution that can be adopted by practitioners is an academic ‘dead end’, and nowhere near as academically useful as papers that generate problems for further research.
Think Tanks? Federal Inquiries?
If we cannot look to academia for useable research – that is research ideas that can be applied in practice – where else can we look? There are, of course, think tanks or public inquiries such as the Productivity Commission. These are usually very well funded and employ some of the brightest individuals. However, both the topics and approach chosen will of necessity be determined by the funding organisation or the incumbent government and may not be unbiased.
Public Service and Public Policy White Papers?
Once, excellent research papers were produced by the Public Service. In the 1970s and 1980s, the ability to produce well written and researched ‘white papers’ was a highly prized skill. However politicisation of the Service and the unfortunate elevation of the craft of ‘spin’, have taken their toll. There are still pockets of excellence in the Service, but, with downsizing, there are few instances of good research written to a rigorous standard and subjected to the test of knowledgeable peers.
Asset Owners, Managers, Decision Makers themselves?
What about in-house research by asset owners? This can often produce some very well researched and well written case studies. The difficulty with adopting the ideas produced, however, is that they are heavily dependent on the organisation itself – its prior development, its general culture, leadership and organisational knowledge. Such research produces interesting case studies but presents problems of scaleability.
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