Alan Simon Finkel (born 17 January 1953) is an Australian neuroscientist, inventor, researcher, entrepreneur, educator, policy advisor, and philanthropist.

[1] Prior to his appointment, his career included Chancellor of Monash University, President of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE), and CEO and founder of Axon Instruments, and CTO for the electric car start-up Better Place Australia.

[5] A developer of software, electronic precision amplifiers, and robotic screening instruments for cellular neurosciences, genomics, and pharmaceutical drug discovery, Axon Instruments supplied universities, medical research institutes, biotechnology companies, and pharmaceutical companies, predominantly in the USA, Europe, Japan, and Australia.

Finkel stayed on at Molecular Devices Corporation for 18 months as the Senior Vice President for Global Engineering, the Chief Technology Officer, and a member of the board of directors.

The three-year, $10 million project provided Australia’s Chief Scientist and the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering, and Innovation Council with evidence to develop new policies.

[12] COVID-19 initiatives During the COVID-19 pandemic, Finkel took the lead on three major projects: a strategy to ensure Australia would have enough ventilators to cope with the possibly overwhelming number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care; developing the Rapid Research Information Forum (RRIF), for providing expert scientific evidence to the government in response to specific concerns; and a review of the testing, contact tracing, and outbreak management capabilities of all Australian states and territories.

[14] At the end of his term as Australia’s Chief Scientist in December 2020, Finkel was invited by the Prime Minister to accept the appointment of a newly created position as Special Adviser to the Australian Government for Low Emissions Technologies, specifically to negotiate mutually beneficial bilateral agreements with the USA, UK, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore to support demonstration projects for low emissions technologies.

In July 2022 Finkel will chair an international panel of experts in Sydney at the Indo-Pacific Clean Energy Supply Chain Forum.

[17] Their Foundation has also provided major support to the Australian Neuroscience Society, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Austin Health’s Olivia Newton-John Cancer Centre, CSIRO, Florey Neuroscience Institutes, the Koori Heritage Museum, Wesley College, Mount Scopus College, Monash bionic eye research, various Jewish museums, the Jewish National Fund, the John Curtin School of Medical Research, a Chair in Public Health Economics at Monash University, the STELR innovative STEM-teaching program, various PhD scholarships and environmental projects in Indonesia.