A cooperative process for conducting R&D in the alumnium casthouse products sector

CAST is one of Australia's 65 Cooperative Research Centers and conducts research, commercialisation and education activities across four industry sectors within the light metals industry. The Aluminium Casthouse Products sector spans activities ranging from improving production processes to expanding product range and quality, and providing technical support for downstream users. Strategic and industry-focused projects with medium to long term goals are conducted with Centre partners and are supplemented with shorter-term projects with fee-for-service customers. The strength of the Cooperative Research Centre approach for providing innovative solutions lies in the networking of appropriately-skilled teams and the creation of value chains across diverse organisations. There is flexibility and creativity in funding, intellectual property and commercialisation arrangements. Cross-fertilisation of ideas from adjacent sectors enhance the solution-generation process. This paper explores the CRC process as a model for conducting industrial R&D and uses examples to elucidate the basic principles. Comparisons are made with more traditional RD approaches.