Part of the root cause might be in the fact that 20 years ago, government took programs that were designed to enable universities to do what they do so well and just took the word “university” out of it and put “college” in its place.
We've always lived in the granting councils and have been seen as a tool of academic R and D, but although we're huge supporters of advancing knowledge and all that, that's not what we do. That's not our DNA.
The way to modify the current situation would be with a support program for college R and D in that model, seeing us as a tool of industrial R and D and not as advancing academic knowledge. To date, that does not exist and has not existed.
I probably would prefer to see something like that, rather than torturing the poor granting councils into trying to conform themselves to accommodate the unique dynamic of college R and D.