The Australian Government's Innovation Report

Building links to facilitate commercialisation and innovation
Cooperative Research Centres Programme
The Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) Programme was established to bring researchers and research users
together. It emphasises the importance of collaborative arrangements to provide research solutions focused
on industry needs. It also has a strong educational component with a focus on producing graduates with skills
relevant to industry.
In 2006-07, there will be 57 CRCs operating across the medical science and technology, mining and energy, manufacturing
technology, information and communications technology, agriculture and rural based manufacturing, and
environment sectors. CRCs are established for up to seven years to promote long-term strategic links and
collaborations between industry, universities and government. They undertake commercially focused research
and development for the benefit of business.
The CRC Programme was launched in 1990 and funding was increased under Backing Australia’s Ability. An additional
$65 million was provided for the selection rounds in 2006 and 2008 as well as to fund the successful applicants
from the 2004 selection round. The Minister for Education, Science and Training announced the outcomes of
the 2006 round on 22 December 2006 and it is expected that the new CRCs will be in place by 1 July 2007.
Each year the CRC Programme produces successful outcomes in the areas of research and education, generating
income and fostering collaboration.
In 2004-05, CRCs produced over 2400 publications for industry and other end users as well as 1065 confidential
and unpublished reports. In addition, over 1300 academic papers were accepted for publication and over 2400
conference papers were published.
The programme supported over 2000 full-time equivalent post graduate students (PhD, Masters and others)
during the year, and 576 post graduates students commenced their studies. Another 318 took up employment
in industry. In 2004-05, CRCs also offered training to over 4500 undergraduate students.
Knowledge diffusion and awareness was raised by CRCs offering almost 300 training courses for industry and end
users as well as through almost 800 conferences.
Since the CRC Programme commenced in 1990, over $11 billion in cash and in-kind resources has been committed,
including for CRCs selected in the 2004 round. The source of these resources includes more than $2.6 billion
from the CRC Programme, $2.8 billion from universities, $2 billion from industry and $1 billion from CSIRO.
In 2004-05 there were 1177 companies involved in the programme, with 679 small to medium-sized enterprises and 498
large businesses, as well as 608 international commercial alliances and 112 international research/education alliances.
During the year, all CRCs undertook over 600 research contracts and consultancies from industry and other end
users, earning almost $53 million. CRCs reported over 4000 license agreements, creation of 12 spin-off companies
and over 20 other types of technology commercialisation agreements. In terms of patents, over 600 were maintained
overseas and over 200 in Australia. Twenty-two patents were filed overseas and 68 were filed in Australia.
A recent report by the Allen Consulting Group has validated the success of the CRC Programme and has
shown that for every dollar invested by the Australian Government, the programme returned $1.60.
More information about the CRC Programme can be found at: www.crc.gov.au and www.crca.asn.au
74 Backing Australia’s Ability