Message from the Chair

Australian agriculture in the last year has been characterised by the challenges of ongoing and unprecedented drought in some regions, combined with the challenges of drought recovery in other areas. Superimposed on these developments have been the added uncertainties of funding constraints as a consequence of the drought, currency fluctuation, commodity price movements and international trade and political volatility

All of these influences have underlined the critical importance of strong partnerships and communication between industry, government and the research communities to achieve the common objectives of improved productivity, profitability and sustain ability for Australia's agricultural and food industries.
As Australia's most diverse research and development corporation, RIRDC’s activities in 2003–04 have been closely focused on fostering the development of new industries, enhancing the prospects for its portfolio of established industries and addressing critical cross-sectoral issues facing the rural sector. All these areas of endeavour have been very challenging in the past year as we have moved definitively to address the national and rural research priorities and to implement the key goals in the 2003-2008 Corporate Plan which has been approved by our industry and government stakeholders.

The 2003-2008 Corporate Plan has identified four key goals for RIRDC, supported by the new program structure.

These are:

  1. to develop new opportunities by achieving a more diverse rural sector through development of new agricultural and related industries
  2. to adopt new technologies and systems for established industries by enhancing and fostering innovative rural industries through targeted investment in research
  3. to improve the competitiveness and sustainability of Australian agriculture by research into trade and environmental options
  4. to underpin innovation and change in Australian agriculture by building a broader comprehension of farm and regional community opportunities and human capacity for change, learning and innovation in Australian agriculture.
This annual report shows the details of progress and achievement in these four R&D areas and the priorities contained in the 2003–04 Operational Plan which addressed the challenges and opportunities in the past year.
New opportunities

In current circumstances the interest in new industries has taken on an added impetus. Climatic and market circumstances continue to put structural adjustment pressures on a range of farm activities. RIRDC has contributed to meeting these

pressures by actively managing research into the development of viable opportunities for enterprise and product diversification.
Some examples of work undertaken in 2003–04 include scientific, economic and market studies with tropical fruits, coffee, tea, native food plants, essential oils and Asian vegetables. In the case of animal industries examples include emerging ani-mal skin industries, water buffalo, kangaroo indus-try, rabbit industry genetics, prospects for silk and snail production, crocodile nutrition, genetic evaluation of alpacas. RIRDC is now working with some 80 new and potentially new industries in Australia.

Established industries
This has been a difficult and challenging year for many of RIRDC’s established industries. The impact of drought and water shortages on production levels has been manifest. This in time has reduced the receipts from R&D levies for some important industries, although RIRDC has utilised and man-aged program reserves to maintain research activ-ity levels. The Corporation has also worked with relevant industries to examine means of maintain-ing the R&D funds if production levels remain sub-dued into the future.

In addition to RIRDC’s ongoing research into pro-duction, marketing and environmental manage-ment across industries, this year has seen an added emphasis on the topical issues of product integ-rity, quality assurance and through chain linkages. Human nutrition and health is an increasingly important matter for our industries and RIRDC has responded positively to this challenge in partner-ship with our stakeholders last year.
We anticipate a continuous and increasing empha-sis on both food quality and environmental cre-dentials in the future from ‘paddock to plate’ and have commenced this process as a new element in the current Corporate and Operational Plans.

Cross-sectoral research
RIRDC is responsible for a wide array of cross-sectoral research matters with a focus on international competitiveness, human capital and communica-tions, and environmental challenges. Much of this is undertaken in partnership with other research agencies across Australia.

During 2003–04 RIRDC’s international R&D has responded to the critical problem of significant trade distortions in agriculture and the requirements for effective multilateral and bilateral trade negotiations. In partnership with government and industry organisations a number of timely projects were completed and contributed directly to Australia’s negotiations and submission to ongo-ing world trade talks. Both government and indus-try leaders have utilised this material extensively during the past year.

Similarly a wide array of projects directed to address the economic and social aspects of farm adjustment in Australia with a particular emphasis on strengthening the capacity of rural communi-ties to respond to change.

The increasing urgency of meeting the impera-tive of improved natural resource management and sustainability was also fully acknowledged in RIRDC’s research during the year. An emphasis on researching the practicalities of environ-mental management systems (EMS) was a new area of investment this year which will continue. The Corporation has also given new attention to rangeland management and the commercial utilisation of wildlife and agroforestry systems as a component of both basic and strategically diverse research to meet the obstacles associated with dryland salinity and acidity in Australia. These comprise longer term projects to help in the res-toration over time of our soil and water resource base.

Research adoption and commercialisation
The Board and management have given added attention to improving the rate of research adop-tion and utilisation by users. A number of pathways including commercial partnerships and enhanced IP management were addressed during the year.

An active commercialisation strategy has been commenced and is being refined as a basis for R&D adoption. At the same time our PI Register has been actively managed to maintain momentum in utilising such assets with our research partners.

A close working partnership with the Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture was established and a range of sta. have completed a .first stage training program in IP issues. This train-ing will continue to enable active engagement in this important research management issue.

A major project portfolio review was completed in the last year covering over 100 projects to assess commercial potential. Each of these projects was subjected to scrutiny and action is now underway to progress commercialisation plans for a selected number of projects.

RIRDC managers are also working with other research and development corporations to estab-lish improved means of measuring the rate of adoption. This is designed to improve accountabil-ity and performance measurement in agricultural research.

Communications and innovation
An essential component of achieving adoption of research results is through well targeted com-munication. RIRDC has a well acclaimed publications and website record. These communication channels are complemented by newsletters, work-shops, conferences and field days.

The Corporation has reviewed its communications systems as a means of achieving improved R&D outcomes in the years ahead. The review has indicated that the awareness and reputation of RIRDC among stakeholders is very high. Both the website and publications were also well regarded. There is scope however to continue to diversify the channels of communication and to increase such work with industry groups. This will be addressed as a matter of priority. We are also examining the scope for better partnerships with key stakeholders in disseminating R&D information to target groups. Communications is an essential prerequisite to improved adoption rates.

Collaboration and R&D partnerships
The research environment in Australia and over-seas has become more competitive both within agriculture and other sectors. The implementa-tion of effective partnerships and collaborative R&D arrangements has been underlined both by Government and industry leaders to meet the challenge of achieving competitive research results for Australia.

RIRDC has responded with enhanced attention to collaborative activity during 2003–04. A new busi-ness plan has been established for the Cooperative Venture on Human Capacity to secure future investments and new research funding alliances have been completed. A proposed new structure  for the Joint Venture Agroforestry Program has also met with positive responses from all partners.

During the year RIRDC has also engaged with the new Food Safety Science Centre. Working part-nerships with the Australian Poultry CRC have also been cemented as a long term partnership. Working relations with Plant Based Management of Dryland Salinity CRC have continued and RIRDC has also participated actively in the Managing Climate Variability program with other Research and Development Corporations.

In the current CRC round RIRDC is working with a range of applicants to achieve new CRC’s for the organic industry, equine industry, rice industry and plant biosecurity. If achieved these will add considerably to the R&D critical mass in these important agricultural areas.

National and Rural Research Priorities
RIRDC has revised its current five-year plan to build the Governments priorities into its future strategies and supported this emphasis with specific expenditure of $194 000 during 2003–04. An additional $164 000 was expended in progressing of commercialization objectives and capability.

The Joint Venture Agroforestry Program has been an important vehicle for RIRDC to contribute to the Government’s objective of an environmentally sus-tainable Australia, particularly through its focus on promoting agroforestry in medium to low rainfall areas. The rural goal of improving competitiveness has been pursued in all RIRDC’s industry programs though an emphasis on developing supply chains and this has been complemented by an expanded Global Competitiveness program that supports research to help Australia improve its trade and market access.

A number of RIRDC’s programs have undertaken projects aimed at promoting health, maintain-ing food integrity and protecting Australia from invasive pests and diseases. Priorities in 2003–04 included food safety in the chicken industry and researching new incentives for farm health and safety.

RIRDC also places high priority on supporting the use of frontier technologies and promoting an innovative culture in Australian agriculture. In 2003–04 it published a significant report on new pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and industrial products in Australian agriculture and continued its support for scholarships and the highly successful Rural Women’s Award as a means of maintaining Australia’s rural research and development capacity into the future.

Board membership
On 18 January 2004 Professor Beth Woods relinquished the position of RIRDC Chairperson after six years. During her time as the Chairperson of RIRDC the Corporation has made enormous strides in meeting its com-plex and diverse mission and in ensuring high quality R&D and good gov-ernance. On behalf of the Board and staff of RIRDC I extend our enormous gratitude to her for her contribution to RIRDC and for her leadership of the Corporation.

Barry Buffier has also left the Board, resigning on 19 May 2004, to take up his new and challenging position of Director General of the NSW Department of Primary Industries. We shall miss his energetic and incisive contributions based on a lifelong experience in agriculture. We wish him well in his new endeavours and look forward to an ongoing association with RIRDC in his new capacity. John Lawrenson has been appointed to this position. His wealth of experience, including serving as Managing Director of the Australian Wheat Board from 1990–97, will be of great benefit to RIRDC. I welcome John to the board and look forward to working with him.

In conclusion
Our Managing Director, Dr Simon Hearn, has recently advised that he will be leaving RIRDC at the end of the year to undertake agricultural con-sultancy assignments and to participate in family matters in Australia and overseas. Simon has been Managing Director since July 2002 during which time the corporation has reappraised its strategic directions, implemented a new and more streamlined program structure, and laid the groundwork for enhanced commercialisation and adoption of R&D through commercial partnerships. We thank Simon for his significant contribution to the corporation and wish him well in his future endeavours.

Over the next few months the Board will be working closely with Simon to ensure a smooth transition and ongoing e.ectiveness for RIRDC while also recruiting a new Managing Director to commence in early 2005.

The outcomes and activities outlined in this report have been achieved through the commitment and e.ort of our people and in partnership with our industry and government stakeholders. On behalf of the board I would like to acknowledge and thank our Managing Director, managers and the RIRDC staff, as well as our industry advisory committees and government colleagues, for the individual and collective contributions to a year of solid achievement.

Mary Boydell
Chairperson
 


Commercialisation and intellectual property
While the emphasis on commercialisation has been increased in RIRDC, this does not diminish the continuing work on other methods of dissemination and utilisa-tion including the well regarded publications and other communication systems.RIRDC is also aware that stakeholder expectations do not uniformly encourage commercial outcomes.

RIRDC is also involved in activities that would be classed as “common good” which will not always lead to commercial outcomes. In these cir-cumstances other adoption pathways are being used in consultation with research partners, government and industry stakeholders.

RIRDC has adopted a revised program based structure in the last year for consid-eration and management of investment and stakeholder interests. An external assessment considered the likelihood of near-term commercialisable outcomes in general terms as follows by program:

The above broad description applies to ‘near term’ commercialisable outputs and does not suggest that broader industry economic benefit and productivity gains from other R&D projects is not significant.

During the year the Corporation continued with implementation of the commercialisation principles which commenced in 2002–03. Specicactions included:

Ten principles to foster commercialisation
Commercialisation is de.ned as the exploitation of the various forms of Intellectual Property together with product pricing and other arrangements to achieve utilisation and adoption of research and devel-opment.
  1. In all cases, RIRDC will manage research outputs in such a way as to maximise the bene.t to its stakeholders. In some cases this will be achieved through commercialisation of research results.
  2. RIRDC will proceed on the basis that if research results are commercialised it will own a share of the IP. This share of IP ownership will be agreed by all parties when projects are contracted.
  3. Commercialisation will be implemented when it provides faster, more sustainable or more practical avenues for making new products, processes and services available to RIRDC’s primary stakeholders.
  4. The primary objective of commercialisation is not to raise funds for RIRDC. Rather RIRDC’s goal is to maximise the uptake and bene.ts .owing from its investments in rural research. The aim is to make new technologies available to stakeholders as quickly and as cost-e.ectively as possible.
  5. Research must be managed on the basis that it may generate valuable intellectual property. That is, appropriate arrangements need to be made to ensure that the research is placed in a format so that it is capable of being protected.
  6. RIRDC recognises that other organisations are often better placed to commercialise intellectual property than RIRDC. RIRDC will therefore not be directly involved in the process of commercialisation, other than in exceptional circumstances.
  7. Decisions about the terms under which the commercialisation will proceed will be made on a case by case basis, drawing on the principles set out here.
  8. When commercialisation is identi.ed as the appropriate adoption mechanism prior to the execution of a Research Agreement, a process to de.ne a strategy, a lead agent and a timetable for commercialisation will be included in the Research Agreement.
  9. RIRDC undertakes to ensure that all sta. who may be involved in the creation, identi.cation, protection or management of intellectual property are properly trained.
  10. RIRDC will ensure that its research partners have adequate intellectual property policies in place and that their sta. have been properly trained.

Managing Director's Report

The last year has been one of interesting change both in the agricultural research community and in the wider R&D envi-ronment.

Competition for funding has become more demanding both within agriculture and between agriculture and other sectors. In this context the government’s national and rural R&D priorities have taken on an added significance which required early attention. In addition the emphasis on adop-tion (and improved measurement of adoption), commercialisation of research, management of IP, collaboration and critical mass through effective partnerships have become increasingly important imperatives for RIRDC for which we are accountable to our government and indus-try stakeholders.

While the delivery of these goods and services is often an ongoing process, I believe that RIRDC has addressed and participated in the new environment in a very posi-tive and pro-active manner. This annual report outlines the progress made in 2003–04 which witnessed the introduction of important changes and reforms in RIRDC to meet future challenges. These will continue next year.

RIRDC delivered a new five-year corporate plan in September 2003 which fully addressed the new national and rural R&D priorities. This annual report is the first to address progress against the key goals in that plan and the associated opera-tional plan.

The corporate plan also incorporated a new program structure to achieve improved outcomes over the period of the plan. This included a consolidation and simplification of some sub-programs with an increased emphasis on diversi?cation of agriculture, environmental outcomes and ensuring a clean and green production system for food and agriculture. Timely delivery of R&D on current trade research, communication / extension and farm adjustment policies are also important fea-tures of the new structure. These represent an early down payment on the gov-ernment’s priorities. The new sub-programs on Food Integrity and Biosecurity and Rangeland and Wildlife Systems are also examples of early action. RIRDC has also been a leading participant in addressing the progression of environmental man-agement (EMS) issues with industry partners.

The new structure has been implemented in a seamless manner that has not been disruptive to either our stakeholders or research partners. This has involved the investment of considerable effort in communication to all relevant partners including our Advisory Committees. Necessary adjustments to the database and the active engagement of internal and external managers has also been achieved during this last year in advance of o?cial commencement of new programs.

The Communications unit continued to produce high quality documents and the website is highly regarded by stakeholders and other users. The RIRDC website has recorded a very high hit rate of between 600 000 to 700 000 hits per month.

Simon Hearn
Managing Director
September 2003

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Last updated: Novemebr 2004
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