Welcome to another edition of eChook!
The Poultry CRC underwent a major performance review by an expert panel put together by the Australian government in late May this year. The Review, conducted over 2.5 days, covered all aspects of our operation with the aim to examine whether the activities of the Poultry CRC have delivered and will deliver significant benefits to the Australian poultry industry in terms of research and capacity building. In a series of eChook stories, I will present to you the key recommendations arising from the Review and our strategies in addressing them. In this eChook welcome, I present to you the Executive Summary of the Panel’s recommendations in its entirety.
Regards, Mingan
“The Poultry CRC is conducting direct and innovative research that offers a comprehensive approach to addressing the sustainability, environmental, economic and ethical poultry production challenges facing Australia’s poultry industry. The CRC’s leadership team and overall integrity is strong. The CRC has a robust governance structure and a highly skilled and competent Board and management team.
The CRC is characterised by very strong industry end-user engagement that contributes to drive the CRC’s research agenda. The calibre of the CRCs participants is impressive with 98% of the Australian poultry industry represented within the CRC. The CRC’s participants are genuinely involved in the research and research outcomes. As a result of these long-standing relationships and the trust created within the organisation, the CRC has been able to establish a very clear delineation between the roles of the partners and their intellectual property.
The CRC’s education, training and skills programs are exemplary and are assisting the training of the next generation of researchers, industry workers and farmers to ensure Australia continues to be a world leader in the poultry industry. The CRC’s key achievements in 2011-12 included receiving two prestigious awards; the Australian Collaborative Innovation Award and the World’s Poultry Science Association’s Education Award; the CRC is the only organisation in the world to have ever received two awards from the World’s Poultry Science Association.
The CRC has recognised the importance of early planning for transition in order to build on the relationships it has established and the progress it has made to date on its research. The CRC needs to begin to plan more comprehensively in the areas of commercialisation, intellectual property opportunities and alternate national and international funding sources if it is to maximise research and successfully sustain itself beyond Australian Commonwealth funding.”
