Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) are now fighting the recommendation that funding for the CRC Program be cut from $149 million to $29 million per year, and the CRC Program is undergoing an interdepartmental review. Dr Mark Sceats, Deputy Chairman of the CRC Association, says that the CRC Program has created much-needed profitable links between research and industry.

'A major and justified criticism levelled at Australian scientific research is that ideas and inventions developed here are lost to overseas interests, with little or no benefit returning to Australia. A second major criticism is that Australian researchers are isolated from the needs and demands of industry.

'To suggest, as the Mortimer Review does, that the Program should now be cut down is a really shortsighted shot at the goose that is laying the golden egg', says Dr Sceats.

Professor Brian Holden, Director of the CRC for Eye Research and Technology, says that one of the most important aspects of the Program has been to provide CRCs with the equity to enable them to retain ownership of intellectual property. This ensures that the rewards for these developments are returned to Australia, rather than researchers being required to sell off their research to the highest bidder, as has so often been the case. Without the equity provided by Commonwealth funding, this control, and possible profits, will be lost.

'Even in the short time that it has been in operation, the CRC Program is creating a major change in Australia's research culture. The Program has been acclaimed in both Australia and overseas and is now being emulated by other countries. Yet it is under attack in its own country', says Professor Holden.

Dr Sceats believes that the Mortimer recommendation is based on misconceptions.

'The Review categorised the CRC Program as a "business assistance" program. But the Program is designed to foster collaboration between research and industry. The suggestion that most CRCs conferred a "private gain" demonstrates a misunderstanding of the aims and operations of CRCs. All CRCs must act in the Australian interest, and deliver benefits to Australia through job creation, wealth generation, education programs which provide industry-familiar graduates for Australian industry and the development of spin-off companies which contribute to a growing economy.

Says Professor Holden, 'Attacking this program attacks science just where Australia needs it most. Cutting the CRC budget may well save money in the short term, but in the long term the government is killing the development which will bring in export dollars and lucrative industrial agreements. If Mortimer's recommendations are accepted, Australia will lose a unique system that is contributing significantly to the creation of new products, jobs and wealth.'

Chris Crossland, Director of the Cooperative Research Centre for Ecologically Sustainable Development of the Great Barrier Reef comments:

'This Centre, like Australia's other 65 CRCs, involves industry and management agencies directly in the research programs. It allows industry demands, policy needs and research capabilities to be closely linked, so that research targets the problems and challenges relevant to those needs.

'Employers and government have expressed the need for graduates who are experienced in industry. The unique educational environment created in CRCs is producing highly trained and experienced graduates, with the majority obtaining employment in industry and research institutions associated with applied research. Cooperative Research Centres have exposed researchers, including postgraduate students, to interaction at all levels with industry, from product development through to the development of new public policy.

'Following the Centre's third-year review, 32 individual achievements were listed, demonstrating an array of direct benefits to the Reef's fishing, tourism and shipping industries, and to various government management agencies. A list is available from the Centre's Secretariat, telephone +61 7 4781 4976.

'This list, though not a complete record, has been sent to all Australian Members of Parliament and most Queensland MPs to make them aware of the Centre's progress. It has helped many Reef operators better understand how a part of their environmental management charge is being used. It has even helped our own (CRC) staff appreciate scientific achievements in a range of disciplines outside their area of expertise.'