Cooperative Research Centre

Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) are an Australian Federal Government program and are key bodies for Australian scientific research. The Cooperative Research Centres Programme was established in 1990 to enhance Australia's industrial, commercial and economic growth through the development of sustained, user-driven, cooperative public-private research centres that achieve high levels of outcomes in adoption and commercialisation. The program emphasises the importance of collaborative arrangements to maximise the benefits of research through an enhanced process of utilisation, commercialisation and technology transfer. It also has a strong education component with a focus on producing graduates with skills relevant to industry needs. Most CRCs offer scholarships for postgraduate students.[1]

CRC Program logo

The CRC Programme is administered by the Commonwealth Department of Industry and Science.[2]

Reviews of the Cooperative Research Programme have been regularly undertaken. In 2012, an independent impact study found CRCs generated a net economic benefit of $7.5 billion from 1991 to 2017.[3] This equates to an annual contribution of $278 million, or around 0.03 percentage points to GDP.[3]

The Cooperative Research Centre Association (CRCA), established on 1 December 1994, to promote the CRC program while also acting a conduit for information sharing and learning between CRCs.[4] Over time the role has evolved to the extent that today the CRCA is also recognised as the principal non-Government advocate of the CRC Program.[5]

History of the CRC program

Since the commencement of the CRC Programme in 1991 there have been 14 selection rounds.[6] Selection rounds were conducted in March 1991, December 1991, December 1992, December 1994, and then at regular two year intervals: 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006. Following the review of the Programme in 2008, the 11th and 12th Selection rounds were both held in 2009. Selection rounds are now annual.[6]

A number of websites of previously funded CRCs are archived in perpetuity on the National Library of Australia's Trove online library database aggregator.

CRC education success stories
  • The CRC program is estimated to have supported 4,400 doctorate and master's degrees by research.[7]
  • The value of CRC education outcomes is estimated to be a total of $163 million.[7]
  • The Poultry CRC produced an information sharing service which the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization praised for increasing interest in poultry production.
  • The CRC for Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management produced the first written history of resource management by the Yalanji people, written in both English and Yalanji language.
  • The Molecular Plant Breeding CRC, in conjunction with the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics developed an education program about the role of gene technology in agriculture. Over 5,000 high school students in South Australia and Victoria have participated in program.
  • Each year the CRC programme supports around 2,000 Australian researchers and more than 1,000 PhD students.[8]
  • Over 150 CRC programme supported post-graduate students graduate each year.[8]

List of CRCs

The CRC Program provides funding to CRCs across six industry sectors: manufacturing technology, information and communication technology, mining and energy, agriculture and rural-based manufacturing, environment and medical science and technology

A current directory of CRC Association members is maintained by the CRCA.

Manufacturing technology

Active[9]

  • Innovative Manufacturing CRC
  • Rail Manufacturing CRC
  • Future Battery Industries CRC
  • iMove CRC

Past

  • CRC for Advanced Automotive Technology
  • CRC for Advanced Manufacturing
  • CRC for Bioproducts
  • CAST CRC
  • CRC for Construction Innovation
  • CRC for Intelligent Manufacturing Systems and Technologies
  • CRC for MicroTechnology
  • CRC for Railway Engineering and Technologies
  • CRC for Welded Structures
  • CRC for Wood Innovations
  • CRC for Polymers
  • CRC for Advanced Composite Structures

Information and communication technology

Active

  • Cyber Security CRC
  • SmartSat CRC

Past

Mining and energy

Active[9]

  • CRC ORE
  • Future Fuels CRC
  • Mineral Exploration (MinEx) CRC

Past

  • Australian CRC for Renewable Energy
  • CRC for Optimising Resource Extraction
  • Parker CRC for Integrated Hydrometallurgy Solutions
  • CRC for Clean Power from Lignite
  • CRC for Coal in Sustainable Development
  • CRC for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC)
  • CRC for Landscape Environments and Mineral Exploration
  • Energy Pipelines CRC
  • CRC for Mining
  • CRC for Sustainable Resource Processing
  • Predictive Mineral Discovery CRC
  • Deep Exploration Technologies (DET) CRC

Agriculture and rural-based manufacturing

Active[9]

  • CRC for Honey Bee Products
  • CRC for High Performance Soils
  • Food Agility CRC
  • CRC for Developing Northern Australia
  • Fight Food Waste CRC
  • Blue Economy CRC
  • Future Food Systems CRC

Past

  • Aquafin CRC (CRC for Sustainable Aquaculture of Finfish)
  • Australian Biosecurity CRC for Emerging Infectious Disease
  • Cotton Catchment Communities CRC
  • CRC for an Internationally Competitive Pork Industry
  • CRC for Beef Genetic Technologies
  • CRC for Forestry
  • CRC for Innovative Dairy Products
  • CRC for National Plant Biosecurity
  • CRC for Sheep Industry Innovation
  • CRC for Sugar Industry Innovation through Biotechnology
  • CRC for Sustainable Rice Production
  • CRC for Sustainable Sugar Production
  • CRC for Tropical Plant Protection
  • CRC for Value Added Wheat
  • CRC for Viticulture
  • Poultry CRC

Environment

Active[9]

Past

  • Bushfire CRC
  • CRC for Australian Weed Management
  • CRC for Coastal Zone, Estuary and Waterway Management
  • CRC for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment
  • CRC for The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area
  • CRC for Greenhouse Accounting
  • CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity
  • CRC for Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management
  • CRC for Tropical Savannas Management
  • CRC for Water Quality and Treatment
  • CRC for Catchment Hydrology
  • CRC for Freshwater Ecology
  • CRC for Irrigation Futures
  • CRC for The Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems
  • CRC for Landscape Environments and Mineral Exploration
  • CRC for The Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems
  • CRC for Water Quality and Treatment
  • Desert Knowledge CRC
  • Environmental Biotechnology CRC
  • eWater CRC
  • Invasive Animals CRC
  • Sustainable Tourism CRC

Medical science and technology

Active[9]

  • CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity
  • CRC for Cancer Therapeutics
  • CRC for Living with Autism Spectrum Disorders
  • Digital Health CRC

Past

  • Biomedical Imaging CRC
  • CRC for Aboriginal Health
  • CRC for Asthma
  • CRC for Chronic Inflammatory Diseases
  • HEARing CRC
  • CRC for Diagnostics
  • Oral Health CRC, formerly the CRC for Oral Health Science
  • CRC for Mental Health
  • CRC for Vaccine Technology
  • The Vision CRC
  • Wound Management Innovation CRC
  • Young and Well CRC
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See also
  • CSIRO – Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
  • NICTA – Australia's national information and communication technology research centre

Notes and references
  1. "Study with CRCs – CRC Association".
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 September 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 February 2011. Retrieved 1 August 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Overview of CRC Program – CRC Association".
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 August 2003. Retrieved 26 March 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 April 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "Current Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs)". business.gov.au. Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (DISER). Retrieved 4 March 2020.

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