Cooperative Research Centres

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (14:43): My question is to the Minister for Science and Information Economy. Can the minister update the chamber on the success of the Cooperative Research Centres Program and its impact on research outcomes in South Australia?

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: I'm sure he can, but will he, is the question.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:43): I can and I will: it's a heaps good question from the Hon. Justin Hanson, and I thank him for his ongoing interest in a whole lot of stuff, including Cooperative Research Centres, which we have occasion to discuss as we are going through various things.

The federal government's Cooperative Research Centres Program was established in 1990 to provide funding to support industry-led collaborative research partnerships between industry, universities, business and the community, to drive research and development and commercialisation. The program supports research that tackles major challenges facing Australia. The state government, through the CRC (Cooperative Research Centres) assistance program, provides funding on a competitive basis through the Premier's Research and Industry Fund to make sure we get strategic benefits from the federal government program within South Australia.

Recently, three CRCs in South Australia focusing on farming, food and transport were successful in their applications for node funding through the CRC program. All three will share in a total of $750,000 of state government funding over three years to drive innovative solutions in key industry sectors, facilitating new collaborative approaches between industry, universities, government and research organisations. These three new CRCs will complement South Australia's reputation as a world-class leader in research, bringing new opportunities to our state's economy for international collaborations, job creation and economic growth.

The new CRCs include the High Performance Soils CRC, which was awarded $300,000 in state government funding, $40 million in commonwealth support and more than $135 million from local and national participants. The CRC partners will develop a greater understanding of soil science, creating tools and products that can be easily and effectively used by farmers, agronomists and other scientists. The lost opportunity resulting from poor soil in some Australian areas costs the economy many, many dollars each year. This will be exacerbated as the world's demand for food is estimated to double by 2050.

An example of a CRC research project is one that involves the Australian Organics Recycling Association, which aims to raise the awareness of the benefits of recycling organic resources. The role of recycling organics resources and enhancing and supplementing agricultural soils may well feature high in the research undertaken by the CRC, with the recovery of nutrients from organic material being a key outcome in this particular bid. Some things the CRC aims to achieve are:

an increase in crop and pasture productivity on targeted soils of between 50 and 100 per cent;

to assist farmers to attract price premiums through proving and marketing the higher environmental standards and outcomes of their production systems for consumers;

to increase employment from the manufacture of related tools, services, fertilisers and materials that are sold in South Australia and exported internationally; and

to increase economic activity of at least $2 billion per annum after 10 years.

Another CRC is the Food Agility CRC. It was awarded $150,000 in state government funding, $50 million in commonwealth support and more than $160 million from local and national participants. This CRC will develop and use digital technologies for sharing data across the food value chain, providing producers with the opportunity to respond to changing consumer preferences, drive the growth of Australian brands, improve environmental and sustainable practices and increase workforce knowledge and expertise.

The CRC partners are using the internet of things to improve shelf life of things like bagged lettuce, which is dramatically affected by its water content when harvested. Combining on-farm data with data from processing and retailers optimises those harvesting decisions. Just one day of shelf life dramatically improves yield and reduces food wastage, potentially worth billions of dollars to the food industry.

Finally, the iMove CRC was awarded $300,000 in state government funding, $55 million in commonwealth support and more than $170 million from local and national participants to create new knowledge technology and leaders to help deliver intelligent transport systems. Vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure connectivity is rapidly evolving, with a need for higher levels of connectedness, larger data requirements and reduced costs.

This connectivity could improve the travel experiences for passengers with real-time data and more personalised experiences, all the way up to a system-wide level in developing intelligent infrastructure, and to develop new modelling, methods and software to proactively manage the entire transport freight and mobility network. Success for this CRC will be dependent on the specific research projects undertaken but, overall, the CRC aims to reduce congestion, fuel use and emissions and improve national productivity and competitiveness.

Investing in research and development will drive new ideas and solutions across many sectors of the economy. Certainly, those are priorities for South Australia, helping the state to transition to a modern innovative economy.