Cooperative Research Centre
Encyclopedia
Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) are key bodies for Australia
n scientific
research
. The Cooperative Research Centres Program 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.
The CRC Program is administered by the Commonwealth Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (Australia).
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. 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.
Results of CRC funding rounds can be found at the CRC online directory.
A current directory of CRC Association members is maintained by the CRCA.
Manufacturing
Information
Mining
Agriculture
Environment
Medical Science
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n scientific
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
. The Cooperative Research Centres Program was established in 1990 to enhance Australia's industrial, commercial and economic growth
Economic growth
In economics, economic growth is defined as the increasing capacity of the economy to satisfy the wants of goods and services of the members of society. Economic growth is enabled by increases in productivity, which lowers the inputs for a given amount of output. Lowered costs increase demand...
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
Technology transfer
Technology Transfer, also called Transfer of Technology and Technology Commercialisation, is the process of skill transferring, knowledge, technologies, methods of manufacturing, samples of manufacturing and facilities among governments or universities and other institutions to ensure that...
. 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.
The CRC Program is administered by the Commonwealth Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (Australia).
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. 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.
History of the CRC Program
Since the commencement of the CRC Program in 1991 there have been 14 selection rounds. 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 Program in 2008, the 11th and 12th Selection rounds were both held in 2009. Selection rounds are now annual.Results of CRC funding rounds can be found at the CRC online directory.
CRC research success stories
- The CRC for Oral Health Science produced the Tooth Mousse Plus product. Tooth Mousse Plus remineralises tooth enamel, reducing dental decay. Tooth Mousse Plus is now sold in over 50 countries.
- The Hearing CRC produced the CochlearCochlearCochlear, the adjective form of cochlea, may refer to:* Cochlear implant, a sensory aid for the deaf* Cochlear nuclei, the ventral cochlear nucleus and the dorsal cochlear nucleus...
Hybrid system which has restored hearing to over 140,000 hearing impaired adults and children worldwide - The Australian Biosecurity CRC produced a real-time genetic diagnostic test which is used for equine influenza. The test led to Australia eradicating equine influenza, a world first.
- The Sheep CRC produced the Precision Sheep Management System, which changed management of sheep flocks. It is estimated this system will increase sheep industry profits by $82 million per year.
- The Pork CRC developed a vaccine against the disease pleuropneumonia, reducing pig deaths and disease from the bacteria ActinobacillusActinobacillusActinobacillus is a genus of gram-negative, immotile and nonspore-forming, oval to rod-shaped bacteria occurring as parasites or pathogens in mammals, birds, and reptiles. It is a member of the Pasteurellaceae family. The bacteria are facultatively aerobic or anaerobic, capable of fermenting...
pleuropneumoniae. - The Molecular Plant Breeding CRC developed Cross Outcome Prediction technology for predicting the success of wheat breeding. The technology reduces the time taken to determine success of wheat breeding from 15 years to just months.
- The CRC for Technology Enabled Capital Markets produced the world's first real time health fraud detection program, which stands to save the health industry $720 million per year.
- The CRCSIIB developed green technology to waterproof cardboard. The plant-based waterproof compound is 100% recyclable and 100% effective.
- The Beef CRC produced two new killed vaccines against PasteurellaPasteurellaPasteurella is a genus of Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic bacteria. Pasteurella species are non-motile and pleomorphic. Most species are catalase-positive and oxidase-positive....
and pestivirusPestivirusPestivirus is a genus of viruses that belong to the family Flaviviridae. Viruses in the genus Pestivirus infect mammals, including members of the family Bovidae and the family Suidae .-Virus Genetics and Structure:Pestivirus viruses have a single strand of...
which cause bovine respiratory disease (BRD), both firsts for Australia.
CRC education success stories
- The Poultry CRC produced an information sharing service www.poultryhub.org which the United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Food and Agriculture Organisation 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.
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
- Medical Science and Technology
A current directory of CRC Association members is maintained by the CRCA.
ManufacturingManufacturingManufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
Technology
- CRC for Advanced Automotive Technology
- CRC for Advanced Composite Structures
- CRC for Bioproducts
- CAST CRC
- CRC for Construction Innovation
- CRC for Intelligent Manufacturing Systems and Technologies
- CRC for MicroTechnologyMicrotechnologyMicrotechnology is technology with features near one micrometre .In the 1960s, scientists learned that by arraying large numbers of microscopic transistors on a single chip, microelectronic circuits could be built that dramatically improved performance, functionality, and reliability, all while...
- CRC for Polymers
- CRC for Railway Engineering and TechnologiesRailway systems engineeringRailway systems engineering is a multi-faceted engineering discipline dealing with the design, construction and operation of all types of railway systems....
- CRC for WeldedWeldingWelding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. This is often done by melting the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten material that cools to become a strong joint, with pressure sometimes...
Structures - CRC for WoodWoodWood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
Innovations
InformationInformation technologyInformation technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
and Communication Technology
- Australasian CRC for Interaction Design
- Australian PhotonicsPhotonicsThe science of photonics includes the generation, emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, detection and sensing of light. The term photonics thereby emphasizes that photons are neither particles nor waves — they are different in that they have both particle...
CRC - Australian Telecommunications CRC
- CRC for Enterprise Distributed Systems Technology
- CRC for Integrated Engineering Asset Management
- CRC for Satellite Systems
- CRC for Sensor Signal and Information ProcessingCSSIPCooperative Research Centre for Sensor Signal and Information Processing was an organisation established under the Cooperative Research Centres Program of the Australian Government...
- Smart Services CRC
- CRC for Spatial InformationCRC for Spatial InformationThe CRC for Spatial Information is a research organisation funded by Australia's Cooperative Research Centre Program and by participant contributions. CRCSI was founded in 2003 and, with the successful rebid announced in August 2009, will continue to 2018...
- CRC for Technology Enabled Capital Markets
MiningMiningMining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
and EnergyEnergy developmentEnergy development is the effort to provide sufficient primary energy sources and secondary energy forms for supply, cost, impact on air pollution and water pollution, mitigation of climate change with renewable energy....
- CRC for Optimising Resource Extraction
- Parker CRC for Integrated HydrometallurgyHydrometallurgyHydrometallurgy is part of the field of extractive metallurgy involving the use of aqueous chemistry for the recovery of metals from ores, concentrates, and recycled or residual materials...
Solutions - CRC for Clean Power from LigniteLigniteLignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat...
- CRC for CoalCoalCoal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
in Sustainable DevelopmentSustainable developmentSustainable development is a pattern of resource use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come... - CRC for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC)
- CRC for Landscape Environments and Mineral Exploration
- CRC for Mining
- CRC for Sustainable Resource Processing
- Predictive Mineral Discovery CRC
AgricultureAgricultureAgriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
and Rural Based Manufacturing
- Aquafin CRC (CRC for Sustainable AquacultureAquacultureAquaculture, also known as aquafarming, is the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants. Aquaculture involves cultivating freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the...
of Finfish) - Australian BiosecurityBiosecurityBiosecurity is a set of preventive measures designed to reduce the risk of transmission of infectious diseases, quarantined pests, invasive alien species, living modified organisms...
CRC for Emerging Infectious Disease - Australian Sheep Industry CRC
- Cotton Catchment Communities CRC
- CRC for an Internationally Competitive Pork Industry
- CRC for Beef Genetic Technologies
- CRC for Forestry
- CRC for Innovative Dairy ProductsDairy productDairy products are generally defined as foods produced from cow's or domestic buffalo's milk. They are usually high-energy-yielding food products. A production plant for such processing is called a dairy or a dairy factory. Raw milk for processing comes mainly from cows, and, to a lesser extent,...
- CRC for National Plant Biosecurity
- CRC for SugarSugarSugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
Industry Innovation through BiotechnologyBiotechnologyBiotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose... - CRC for Sustainable RiceRiceRice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
Production - CRC for Sustainable Sugar Production
- CRC for Tropical Plant Protection
- CRC for Value Added WheatWheatWheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
- CRC for ViticultureViticultureViticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...
- Innovative Grain Foods CRC
- Poultry CRC
EnvironmentEnvironmental scienceEnvironmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physical and biological sciences, to the study of the environment, and the solution of environmental problems...
- Bushfire CRC
- CRC for Australian WeedWeedA weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...
Management - CRC for Coastal Zone, EstuaryEstuaryAn estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
and WaterwayWaterwayA waterway is any navigable body of water. Waterways can include rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, and canals. In order for a waterway to be navigable, it must meet several criteria:...
Management - CRC for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment
- CRC for The Great Barrier ReefGreat Barrier ReefThe Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...
World Heritage Area - CRC for GreenhouseGreenhouseA greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
Accounting - CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland SalinitySalinitySalinity is the saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water. It is a general term used to describe the levels of different salts such as sodium chloride, magnesium and calcium sulfates, and bicarbonates...
- CRC for Tropical RainforestTropical rainforestA tropical rainforest is an ecosystem type that occurs roughly within the latitudes 28 degrees north or south of the equator . This ecosystem experiences high average temperatures and a significant amount of rainfall...
Ecology and Management - CRC for Tropical Savannas Management
- CRC for Water QualityWater qualityWater quality is the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of water. It is a measure of the condition of water relative to the requirements of one or more biotic species and or to any human need or purpose. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which...
and Treatment - CRC for Irrigation Futures
- CRC for The AntarcticAntarcticThe Antarctic is the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence...
Climate & Ecosystems - CRC for Landscape Environments and Mineral Exploration
- CRC for The Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems
- CRC for Water Quality and Treatment
- DesertDesertA desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
Knowledge CRC - Environmental BiotechnologyBiotechnologyBiotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
CRC - eWater CRC
- Invasive Animals CRC
- Sustainable Tourism CRCSustainable Tourism CRCSustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre , headquartered in Gold Coast, Queensland, was an Australian Cooperative Research Centre established by the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centres Program to establish a competitive and dynamic sustainable tourism industry in Australia...
Medical ScienceMedicineMedicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
and Technology
- Biomedical Imaging CRC
- CRC for AboriginalIndigenous AustraliansIndigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
Health - CRC for AsthmaAsthmaAsthma is the common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath...
- 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 VaccineVaccineA vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...
Technology - The Vision CRC
See also
- NICTA - Australia's national information and communication technology research centre
- CSIROCommonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research OrganisationThe Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation is the national government body for scientific research in Australia...
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation