CRC innovation and commercial success

The prestigious CRC STAR Award has been awarded to two separate CRCs this year, for their high-level achievement in developing successful enterprises through the transfer of CRC innovation.

Senator Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry Science and Research, presented the CRC STAR Award to the CRC for Greenhouse Gas Technologies and the CRC for Advanced Composite Structures for their outstanding efforts in developing new business opportunities with their small-to-medium enterprise partners.

“These two CRCs are excellent examples of the transfer of innovation from publicly funded research to research end users first envisaged by Prof Ralph Slatyer, Australia’s first Chief Scientist, when the CRC Program was conceived back in 1990,” Carr said at the ceremony.

“Not only have these CRCs created opportunities for their small-to-medium enterprise partners to flourish, but they are also helping to provide solutions to make Australia and the world cleaner and safer for all."

The CRC for Greenhouse Gas Technologies was recognised for its collaboration with Process Group and CanSyd Australia to develop several technically and environmentally safe innovative technologies with the potential to slash Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions.

“Innovations, like geosequestration and carbon emission monitoring, developed during collaboration between the CRC and small-to-medium enterprises, have helped position Australia to assume key roles in the burgeoning global carbon capture industry,” Carr said.

The CRC for Advanced Composite Structures developed fire-resistant technology to coat existing composite materials. This has been licensed by Regina Glass Fibre for use across the general composites market, like marine and ground transportation, where fire resistance is critically important.

“Both the CRC for Advanced Composite Structures and Regina Glass Fibre have reaped significant rewards from their partnership and, at the same time, have helped to make composite materials and their users safer,” Carr said.

Other award recipients were:

The CRC for Molecular Plant Breeding, for innovation in the application and use of research for their Cross Outcome Prediction project.

The CRC for Greenhouse Gas Technologies, for innovation in the application and use of research for the Otway Project.

The CRC for Oral Health Science, for innovation in the application use of research for their Tooth Mousse Plus project.

The CRC for Sustainable Resource Processing, for innovation in education and training and public outreach activities for their Teacher Professional Development Program.

Two awards were also made by the CSIRO for CRC Early Career Scientists, in recognition of the value placed on postgraduate students educated within a CRC.

The winner of the three-minute speaker award was Emily Piper, a PhD Student from the CRC for Beef Genetic Technologies, for her presentation 'Australian cattle producers are ticked off'. The winner of the 10-minute speaker award was David Nisbet, a PhD Student from the CRC for Polymers, for his presentation 'New stem cell strategies for nerve regeneration'.