Public good ‘should remain a CRC research priority’

A leading Australian business investment analyst has voiced concerns about the abolition of public good from the list of research criteria for Cooperative Research Centre funding.

Katherine Woodthorpe, who also chairs the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC, told journalists that research could provide national benefits without necessarily producing commercial goods or services.

She said public good research included analysis of bushfire season data by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, which was information that was “incredibly important to the Australian public”.