The other Big Australian

As Australia's biggest public research institution, CSIRO occupies a unique niche. Employing 6500 people, the organisation has a huge diversity of scientific skills to apply to Australia's industries.

In terms of biotechnology, CSIRO accounts for about 29 per cent of the Federal government's investment into biotechnology research, as published in Ernst and Young's Australian Biotechnology Report 2001.

Out of the 21 divisions at CSIRO, 12 are primarily involved in biotechnology activities, with Plant Industry, Livestock Industries, Health Sciences and Nutrition, Molecular Sciences and Entomology the most actively involved. Between them, these five divisions account for about 90 per cent of the $112 million spent annually by the organisation on biotechnology research, about 12 per cent of the annual CSIRO budget.

Now, in recognition of the size and scope of its biotech research effort, the organisation has launched its biotechnology strategy, the first step in a process designed to streamline and enhance the myriad of biotechnology activities going on within the organisation. Ultimately, the organisation would like to be positioned as a key player in the Australian biotechnology industry, and plans to use the strategy to grow its capabilities over the next five years.

Dr Mikael Hirsh, the coordinator of CSIRO's Biotechnology Strategy Group, says that the strategy statement is really only the first part of the task ahead. "The strategy document is pretty broad," he says. Now he and his team will start focusing in on specific areas to develop more targeted strategies to achieve their goals.

"We want to know what we are doing in agriculture, what we are doing in environmental biotechnology, and so on," explains Hirsh. "That is the next level of strategy documents to come."

Pump up the volume

The strategy outlines a number of key objectives for CSIRO's biotechnology activities, covering health, safety and the environment, science, potential for industry adoption, the business environment, development of government policy and the capacity to respond to global opportunities. Among the objectives is the need to build internal centres of excellence in several core technologies, pump up and consolidate the infrastructure and develop the capacity to rapidly embrace new technologies as they emerge.

According to the strategy, there are three main goals ahead for the organisation. The first is to ensure that biotechnology knowledge, capabilities and investments are shared across the organisation. Secondly, CSIRO wants to position itself for significant growth in biotechnology and develop a growth strategy focusing on specific research areas. And finally, CSIRO aims to identify key areas of national interest and develop collaborations with industry partners to strengthen national capabilities in these areas and position itself globally.

"The biotech strategy provides a framework for us to move forward as an organisation rather than as divisions," says Shaun Coffey, the chief of the Livestock Industries division.

CSIRO Molecular Sciences chief Dr Annabelle Duncan agrees, and says that the most important objective for the strategy is to make sure that everyone across CSIRO is linked together and skills are utilised across the organisation.

According to Hirsh, there are plans to assemble an overview of biotechnology research at CSIRO, as well as create an internal biotechnology "community". CSIRO is already holding internal biotechnology conferences to bring scientists from the various divisions together to talk to one another. "Communication face-to-face leads to results," says Dr Jim Peacock, who heads CSIRO's Plant Industry division.

Getting to the core

Biotechnology capabilities across CSIRO will also be examined and built up where necessary. The strategy has identified a number of core technologies that CSIRO plans to build up, including genomics and proteomics, structural biology, bioprocessing, and high-throughput approaches to biodiscovery and bioinformatics.

For example, Peacock notes that CSIRO is planning to build a major computer cluster to act as a centralised bioinformatics facility for all in the organisation to use. Another project will put more money into a structural biology facility in Melbourne, and access to high-throughput and robotics systems will be increased at sites around Australia.

Hirsh sees CSIRO as having a number of roles in Australia's biotechnology industry. "Certainly there is a role for straight science. Biotechnology is in its infancy and survives on excellent science, this is bread and butter for CSIRO," he says. Divisions such as Plant Industry have made tremendous advances in plant science that are significant not only for agriculture but also in themselves. But Hirsh also notes that CSIRO has a role in bringing together players from within CSIRO and outside the organisation to solve bigger problems. In addition, CSIRO can play a role in directly fostering new industries, in the form of spin-offs and joint ventures, he says, explaining that when there is the potential for a new industry CSIRO can play a support role.

"One reason for getting into top gear is to present the best opportunities to industry for collaborations," says Peacock.

Collaboration and commercialisation is key to the development of CSIRO's role in biotechnology. The organisation already has extensive collaborations with research and industry in Australia, but with CEO Geoff Garrett's emphasis on external revenue, there is plenty of room for more. Peacock says there are two main paths to follow to develop links to industry. One is to form collaborations with industry, a method that his Plant Industry division uses frequently. The other way is to act as a consultant to solve specific problems. He notes that at present, 48 per cent of Plant Industry's funding comes from external sources.

"There are a raft of opportunities to be aware of," says Livestock Industries' Coffey, who agrees with Garrett that the strength of CSIRO's relationships with the commercial world could be improved.

Spin and win?

To date CSIRO has spun out a number of biotechnology companies. A recent example is Entocosm, which has been set up by scientists in the Entomology division - a national pioneer in bioinformatics - to identify potential therapeutics from insects. But quite often CSIRO elects to license out its technology rather than develop it by itself. Duncan, from Molecular Sciences, believes that there are plenty of opportunities for spin-offs, both from her division, especially in chemical biotechnology and from other divisions too.

Molecular Sciences was involved in the spin-out of AorTech Biomaterials (formerly Elastomedic) from the CRC for Cardiac Technology, and Duncan says that the division is hoping to spin off another venture in chemical biotechnology in the near future.

Biotechnology industry consultant Lyndal Thorburn believes that CSIRO and other public research organisations need to balance applied and basic research and development activities, explaining that there should be a balance between the expectations of public good R&D and the need to commercialise. She notes that the majority of biotechnology companies in Australia are currently spinning out of research organisations, something she believes will change eventually. "Organisations need to be very cautious that they are not just jumping on the spin-off wagon, they need to ensure viability," she says.

Chief among CSIRO's strengths is its ability to put together a multidisciplinary team to focus on a problem. Its size and breadth of skills is unparalleled in Australia. But hand in hand with this are the disadvantages that come from being a large, and at times unwieldy, organisation, with multiple centres across Australia.

"There are always weaknesses in a large organisation - being spread so wide, keeping up with technology, the capacity to move quickly. There are always lots of things we could do much better," says Hirsh, who believes the biotechnology strategy will address some of these issues.

He says that while CSIRO has suffered from a perception of aloofness in the past, the organisation is now trying to escape such connotations. "We're trying to get everyone going in the same direction or we'll end up llosing the plot," Hirsh says.

The organisation has suffered in recent years from significantly decreased funding, and CEO Garrett's emphasis on the need for increased external revenue has led to criticism that CSIRO scientists spend more time looking for funding than doing research. "There will always be people outside trying to tell us what we should be better at, there will always be issues we have to address," says Hirsh. "We can't be everything to everybody in biotechnology, we need to focus on Australia's real opportunities."