The Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator the Hon Kim Carr, late last week announced funding of $243 million for “world-class collaborative research and innovation” under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program.
According to a media release from the Minister’s office, “The Government is highly committed to supporting innovation and promoting collaboration between research agencies and end-users. The research undertaken by these CRCs will deliver significant social, environmental and economic benefits to Australia.”
“This significant investment by the Australian Government will support critical work in areas of climate change and Indigenous health. The CRCs will also support our small and medium enterprises and provide them with technological advances to ensure they remain competitive in the tough economic times,” said Senator Carr.
The successful grants include:
$20.1 million to the CRC for Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems – focuses on the world’s understanding of climate change in relation to Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, which is critical to our understanding of global warming.
$25.5 million for the Aboriginal Health CRC – will contribute to closing the gap in Indigenous health by addressing identified priorities and the needs of the end-users in the Aboriginal health sector.
$31.6 million for the ORAL Health CRC – will work to reduce the prevalence and cost of oral disease in Australia and identify links between dental and general health.
$17.5 million to establish a new CRC in Energy Pipelines – will enable Australia to meet the increased demand for gas transportation arising from the need to decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
$28 million to establish the Deep Exploration CRC – will focus on developing new technologies to drill faster, cheaper, deeper and safer to address increasingly high production costs and low mineral exploration success achieved to date in Australia.
Full details of the successful applicants are available in the linked fact sheet.
