The Cooperative Research Centres Program (CRC Program) is an initiative of the Australian
Commonwealth Government , and was established in 1990.
The
CRCs bring together researchers from universities, CSIRO and other government laboratories,
and private industry or public sector agencies, in long-term collaborative arrangements, which
support research and development and education activities that achieve real outcomes of
national economic and social significance.
The program emphasises the importance of developing collaborative arrangements between
researchers and between researchers and research users in the private and public sector in
order to maximise the capture of the benefits of publicly funded research through an enhanced
process of commercialisation or utilisation by the users of that research.
The Australian Government awards between $20-40 million in funding to each CRC over a seven year period. This funding must be matched by cash and/or in-kind contributions (such as expertise and research facilities) from CRC participants.
The established CRCs cover many areas of natural science and engineering: manufacturing
technology, information and communications technology, mining and energy, agriculture and
rural based manufacturing, environment and medical science and technology.
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