6 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation — National Research Flagships Initiative

Summary

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation’s (CSIRO’s) National Research Flagships Initiative encompasses 10 large scale multi-disciplinary research partnerships with other research institutions, industry and government agencies to address a range of major human, environmental and economic challenges and opportunities facing Australia. The Flagships have now become a central feature of CSIRO’s corporate and research strategy. Estimated funding for Flagships in 2009–10 amounts to $419 million, with CSIRO appropriation funding accounting for $217 million and industry and other independent sources contributing a further $202 million.

The Flagships Initiative commenced its development phase in 2002 through an extensive process of reviewing CSIRO’s research strengths and developing potential research programs and partnerships that might be undertaken to address some of the nation’s most important challenges and opportunities. The resultant National Flagships Program was formally launched by the then Prime Minister in April 2003. The initial six Flagship projects were Water for a Healthy Country, Wealth from Oceans, Light Metals, Energy Transformed, Food Futures and Preventative Health.

In 2006, a government-mandated review, chaired by the then Chief Scientist, Dr Robin Batterham, was highly supportive of the National Flagships initiative. The review found ‘the Flagships offer the most promising mechanism yet to drive large-scale activity addressing Australia’s National Research Priorities in a collaborative, cooperative and intensively managed manner’. Consequently, in 2007–08, a further three Flagships were established — Climate Adaptation, Future Manufacturing and Minerals Exploration. The tenth Flagship, Sustainable Agriculture, was established in 2009.

The Flagships Initiative’s clearly articulated focus on national impacts, outcomes and partnerships with other organisations enabled CSIRO to put a radically different investment proposition to government. As a result, substantial additional government support has been provided to resource the Flagships program. Additional funding of $20 million was provided in the 2003–04 budget, followed by $305 million in the 2004–05 budget to enable full-scale implementation of the initial six Flagships and $174 million in 2007–08 to fund the further three Flagships.

The key feature of the Flagships is a networked approach which brings together multi-disciplinary research teams from across CSIRO and other research institutions under a partnership arrangement which also engages industry and/or government stakeholders in the research programs. This engagement is reinforced by the operation of Flagship Advisory Committees for each Flagship. Comprising relevant stakeholders, these Committees ensure that the program of research and development for each Flagship is responsive to the strategic research needs of industry and society.

The Flagships initiative has been supported by a profound organisational and cultural transformation within CSIRO from structures and processes centred on the pre-existing divisions, which operated in a largely autonomous manner, to a coordinated matrix leadership and management structure capable of supporting the thematic research programs and cross-organisational management structures of the Flagships. The extent to which this significant cultural change has been accepted internally was demonstrated by CSIRO’s most recent Staff Insight Poll, with the testing of Flagship importance and acceptance producing outcomes ranking in the top three positive responses across the survey.

The thematic approach adopted in developing the Flagships research programs has also now been applied across CSIRO, with its overall research portfolio being organised on the basis of research themes and reviewed annually via the Science Investment Process. The Science Investment Process is a two stage process involving the setting of broad research directions for the organisation, followed by the allocation of specific levels of investment to research themes.

Transformation of the way CSIRO does business, from largely autonomous Division-based research programs to an outcomes-focussed organisation-wide research strategy with the Flagships at its centre, continues to go together with a major organisational change strategy under a ‘One CSIRO’ banner. The transformation of the way CSIRO does business is integral to the successful implementation of the Flagships and associated organisational changes.

Relevant chronology

January 2001 — Dr Geoff Garrett appointed as CSIRO’s Chief Executive;

May 2001 — Strategic Action Plan for organisational transformation developed for CSIRO. The Plan was centred on six key messages: Look Out!!, Focus, Service from Science, One CSIRO, Partner or Perish, Go for Growth;

December 2001 — Catherine Livingstone appointed as Chair of the CSIRO Board;

2002 — CSIRO initiated its planning/development process for the National Research Flagships Initiative. Flagships were conceived as large scale multi-disciplinary research partnerships harnessing world class expertise from within CSIRO and partner organisations to tackle a range of national challenges and opportunities. A focus on outcomes, with each Flagship having a detailed strategy for delivering research solutions that target clearly defined goals, was a further distinguishing characteristic of Flagships compared with other research initiatives;

April 2003 — Prime Minister officially launched the National Research Flagships Initiative;

May 2003 — Additional Government funding of $20 million provided to CSIRO for the Flagships Program in the 2003–04 Budget. The Flagships were supported by the introduction of a coordinated, matrix leadership and management structure capable of supporting the thematic research programs and cross-organisational management structures of the Flagships. Each Flagship has a clearly defined research program, funded separately from the general research programs undertaken by CSIRO divisions, and its own management structure headed by a Flagship director. Flagship Advisory Committees comprising relevant stakeholders, with a role to ensure that the program of research and development of each Flagship is responsive to the research needs of industry and society, are a further distinguishing feature of the Flagships;

May 2004 — Additional Government funding of $305 million provided in the 2004–05 Budget to enable full-scale roll out of the Flagships Program involving six Flagships (Energy Transformed, Food Futures, Light Metals, Preventative Health, Water for a Healthy Country and Wealth from Oceans). In recognition of the importance of collaborative research activities to Flagship outcomes, $97 million of this funding was set aside to establish the Flagship Collaboration Fund to support research contributions from universities and other publicly funded research agencies;

2005–06 — First round of the Science Investment Process (a two stage process used to allocate CSIRO’s investment in science across the organisation). Science Investment Process involved Broad Direction Setting followed by the allocation of specific levels of investment to research themes;

June 2006 — Positive assessment from the Review of the National Research Flagships Initiative chaired by the former Chief Scientist, Dr Robin Batterham. The review found ‘the Flagships offer the most promising mechanism yet to drive large-scale activity addressing Australia’s National Research Priorities in a collaborative, cooperative and intensively managed manner’;

May 2007 — Additional Government funding of $174 million was provided to expand the Flagships Program to include three new Flagships (Climate Adaptation, Future Manufacturing and Minerals Exploration), with $17.5 million earmarked for the Flagship Collaboration Fund;

June 2008 — The partnership arrangements under the various Flagship projects involved CSIRO working with over 400 different entities by the end of 2007–08; and

July 2009 — CSIRO established a tenth Flagship in Sustainable Agriculture resourced from pre-existing appropriation funding commitments and external partner contributions. Overall, estimated funding for Flagships in 2009–10 amounts to $419 million, with CSIRO appropriation funding accounting for $217 million and industry and other independent sources contributing a further $202 million.

Key observations from case study

Major innovations

The Flagships Initiative involves the creation of large-scale, multi-disciplinary research partnerships to address a range of major human, environmental and economic challenges facing Australia. The Initiative required a major revision of CSIRO’s research strategy and significant re-organisation within CSIRO, with the pre-existing divisional structure being transformed into a matrix environment that formally recognises the multi-disciplinary teams assembled to progress the Flagship research programs. The networked approach adopted in establishing and operating the Flagships also extends beyond CSIRO to include partnerships with other research institutions, industry and government agencies. The introduction of the Flagships Initiative has had a pervasive effect on CSIRO, with the processes used to develop the Flagships investment strategy subsequently being applied across the agency via the organisation of its research portfolio into research themes and the annual operation of its Science Investment Process.

Observations and lessons learned

• Innovation prompted by a problem — While CSIRO was a long-established, ‘iconic’ Australian research institution, it was recognised in 2001 that its corporate strategy needed to be updated to redefine CSIRO’s role in a more diversified national innovation system and to better harness the potential of multi-disciplinary research programs to deliver major innovation breakthroughs;
• Built on previous experience and expertise — CSIRO had previous experience in research partnerships through its extensive participation in the Cooperative Research Centres program and other initiatives. The Flagships Initiative represented a major ‘scale up’ of these activities to be the central element of the organisation’s corporate strategy;
• Analysis based on data, analysis and evidence — The development of a soundly-based, outcome-focussed set of Flagships projects was underpinned by a rigorous review of CSIRO’s research strengths. This activity was combined with wide ranging consultation with business, government and community groups in order to establish mutually agreed research goals for each Flagship. CSIRO then went further and implemented a road map based performance management framework for these programs that focussed on actively managing the Flagships’ ‘path to impact’ and encouraged redeployment of resources where either science outcomes or external factors meant impact would not be achieved;
• Importance of leadership — The Flagships Initiative has had a profound effect on CSIRO by virtue of both the structural changes inherent in the shift from a division based structure to a matrix environment encompassing the Flagships and the re-orientation of its research strategy and other business processes. Strong leadership from the Board and senior executives have been crucial in terms of their commitment to these changes and execution of a detailed change management strategy within the organisation;
• Organisational responsiveness — CSIRO has fundamentally transformed the way CSIRO does business as a consequence of the implementation of the Flagships and associated business process re-engineering. A major organisational change strategy under a ‘One CSIRO’ banner has therefore been implemented to underpin the shift from largely autonomous, division-based research programs to an outcomes focussed organisation-wide research strategy with the Flagships at its centre; and
• Recognition and reward — In 2008, CSIRO received a Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Sector Management for the National Research Flagships program. The Chair of the CSIRO Board from 2001 until 2006, Catherine Livingstone, was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia in January 2008 ‘For services to the development of Australian science, technology and innovation policies, to the business sector through leadership and management roles and as a contributor to professional organisations’. The CEO, Dr Geoff Garrett, was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia in June 2008 ‘For services to scientific research and administration through leadership of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, and the development and implementation of innovative research initiatives.’

 

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