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Status: Open

Find out information about the aims, funding, key dates, resources and contacts for the Cooperative Research Centres.

Aim

Programme Objectives

The objectives of the CRC Programme are to assist in:

  1. supporting science, research,and commercialisation; and
  2. enabling growth and productivity for globally competitive industries.

Programme Aims

The programme aims to:

  • improve the competitiveness, productivity and sustainability of Australian industries, especially where Australia has a competitive strength, and in line with Government Priorities.
  • foster high quality research to solve industry-identified problems through industry-led and outcome-focused collaborative research partnerships between Industry Entities and Research Organisations.
  • encourage and facilitate Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) participation in collaborative research.

About the CRC initiative

Funding Streams

The CRC Programme contains two funding streams:

  1. Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) to support medium to long term industry led collaborations.

    Centres can be up to a maximum of ten years duration with no set upper funding limit.  However, requests for Program funding of between $4m - $7m per year have been typical.  Resources (cash and in-kind) must be contributed by Centre partners and at least match the amount of Programme funding requested.

  2. Cooperative Research Centres-Projects (CRC-P's) to support short term, industry-led collaborative research.

    This stream supoprts small collaborations working on short project timelines with simple governance and administration arrangements. CRC-P's will deliver a short term, industry-identified and industry-led collaborative research project to develop a product, service or process that will solve problems for business and deliver tangible outcomes. Projects should benefit SME's and increase their capacity to grow and adapt in changing markets. Projects can be up a maximum of three years duration and $1m per year.

The CRC/CRC-P collaboration must at least match the amount of grant funding sought through cash and/or in-kind contributions. In-kind contribution means non-cash resources provided by a participant to conduct the activities of the CRC or the project of the CRC-P. They may be staff or non-staff resources.

Funding can be used to support the costs of:

  • research
  • salaries
  • student placements
  • commercialisation
  • capital items, such as equipment.

A CRC must have at least:

  • one Australian industry organisation and
  • one Australian research organisation

A CRC-P must have at least:

  • two Australian industry organisations including at least one small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) and
  • one Australian research organisation

Lead Applicant: The application must be submitted by an SME, not by a university or research organisation.

Further information on CRC and CRC-P eligibility criteria is available in the CRC Programme Guidelines.
Major Initiatives Notice of Intent (NOI)

Applicants should notify the University of their intent to apply for major initiatives through the NOI form. The Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) is a major initiative and the NOI form applies to this scheme. The NOI form allows intending applicants to request support in the development of their bid.

Note: The NOI only allows for resource requests for application development. For  resourcing support to be included as a Macquarie University contribution in the CRC grant application, please use the DVCR Co-Funding application form.
CRC Key Dates for Round 26:
  • Stage 1 Open: 7 March 2025
  • Stage 1 Close: 29 April 2025
  • Stage 1 Outcomes: July / August 2025
  • Stage 2 Open: September 2025 (anticipated)
  • Stage 2 Close: October / November 2025 (anticipated)
  • Interviews: TBC
  • Stage 2 outcomes will be announced: early 2026 (anticipated)
  • Funding will commence: 1 July 2026
CRC-P Key Dates Round 18:
  • Round open: 25 August 2025
  • Round closes: 7 October 2025 5:00PM AEDT
  • Outcomes will be announced: Early 2026
  • Funding will commence: Early 2026

Outcomes from Round 17 and previous rounds can be found here.

Major Research Initiatives (MRI) Intranet

Further information on both schemes (CRCs and CRC-Ps) can be found on the MRI intranet page here.

Macquarie Internal Fact Sheet

Further information on the CRC-P scheme can be found here.

Cooperative Research Australia (CRA)

Macquarie is a member of Cooperative Research Australia (CRA), a not-for-profit organisation that provides a range of services, advice and guidance for prospective and established CRCs and CRC-Ps.

Contacts

Contact us for more information about the CRC program, research partnerships, research innovation and enterprise.

Jo Tuck
Senior Manager
Major Research Initiatives
E: jo.tuck@mq.edu.au

Irina Zakoshanski
Senior Manager
Major Research Initiatives 
E: irina.zakoshanski@mq.edu.au