The increased involvement of industry with the CRCs is very encouraging. The Academy believes that industry association with CRCs will enhance their appreciation of the value of strategic research to their industry, but industry dominance of CRCs could militate against strategic research for the public good. An input which the Academy has received from one of its Fellows relates to the question of confidentiality. He considers that confidentiality is at risk because of the general lack of commercial awareness throughout the CRCs and the imperatives of research in academia. With more than one industry partner, conflicts will undoubtedly arise in the exploitation of research results.
Commercial rivalries can seriously compromise the extent of involvement of an industry partner.
He believes that a CRC is less able to respond rapidly to changing circumstances than industry itself. Intellectual property is also an issue with commercial partners, and can be a problem if there is a conflict between a commercial partner and CRC researchers wishing to publish research results. Education An important objective of the CRC program was the active involvement of researchers from outside the higher education system in educational activities, particularly in the training of graduate students. The involvement of joint supervisors of research students from outside the higher education system varies considerably between CRCs, but where it occurs it can be beneficial to the students involved. The perspectives of a research topic are broadened and the student can gain valuable insights, not only into the potential application of their own research, but to the carrying out of more applied research in industry and government research laboratories.