Stephen Matchett | August 05, 2008
IN a damning indictment of the last Labor government's applied research flagship program, Mary O'Kane says Co-operative Research Centres have "declined in appeal to research providers and not attracted firms in sufficient numbers to generate innovation on a whole-of-industry basis".
Professor O'Kane's report for Innovation Minister Kim Carr was released this morning.Speaking to Higher Education, Professor O'Kane said the CRC program constituted "money well spent - but it could be spent better".
"We can develop more breakthroughs for industry if we focus on problems rather than look at a domain in a grand sense."
Professor O'Kane puts the program on notice, suggesting it continue in a modified form, subject to a decision on its long-term survival following a future assessment in the context of the impact of the Innovation White Paper, which is due at the end of the year.
In the meantime, every CRC should be subjected to a "hard nosed" performance review after 3 years, or earlier "if there are early warning signs of failure".
The CRC program was established by the Hawke government in 1990, and the 180 centres which have existed over its 18 years have cost the commonwealth $3 billion. Professor O'Kane praised the original vision for the program but said that it "had evolved a long way from the original intention".
"It is time to move CRCs back to being end-user focused, research joint ventures in which the collaborating parties work together to a purpose which is mutually beneficial with resources they contribute themselves, with some help from the commonwealth, rather than as independent research organisations focusing on research commercialisation and adoption and funded by public and private sector partners and the commonwealth," the O'Kane report states.
In a core recommendation, Professor O'Kane calls for CRCs to address new or emerging problems in industry and society, beyond the capacity of a single firm to tackle and also recommends the program increase its inputs to the small and medium enterprise and service sectors.
Professor O'Kane's specific recommendations include:
* Annual selection rounds to address "emerging market failure/creation and urgent public good issues.
* No upper limits on PhD stipends offered by CRCs.
* A $45 million ceiling on commonwealth funds over the maximum 10-year life of a CRC.
* A new program to assist industry and other end-users with little experience of collaborative research to establish programs.
* Encouraging CRC applications in the humanities and social sciences.
* Continuing to require at least one Australian university as a partner.
Michael Hartmann, chair of the CRC umbrella organisation welcomed the report, commending Professor O'Kane and her team for "their approach to the task".