CSIRO 100 Years of Innovation

16 March 2016

Happy birthday to CSIRO, the Australian peak scientific research agency which celebrated on the 16 March, an important milestone in Australia's history of science – 100 years of putting science at the heart of industry and innovation.

One hundred years ago, our then Prime Minister, Billy Hughes, changed our nation forever when he established the Advisory Council of Science and Industry, a body we know today as the CSIRO or the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.  The formation of this Council paved the way for a century of breakthrough innovation, which has helped to shape the nation and improve the lives of our people both here and overseas.

Prime Minister Hughes’ vision was for a government funded, national scientific organisation that would ‘solve problems that seemed insoluble’, ‘open a thousand new avenues for capital and labour’ and lead to ‘healthier and better lives’ of all Australians. A vision that rings as true today as it did a century ago.

This year, the CSIRO celebrates a 100 years of breakthrough innovations that have had a profound impact on not only our industries and people but also the world.

NICM’s research interests intersect with CSIRO’s in the area of food, agribusiness and health-related value chain opportunities and turning these into innovative products, processes and services for domestic and premium export markets. NICM works closely with Austrade to maximise business opportunities for Australia at all stages of the complementary medicine value chain. Last year NICM worked with the Tropical Indigenous Ethnobotany Centre, James Cook University and CSIRO on a pilot project to identify bioactive characteristics of a range of medicinal plants of the Mbarabam Peoples.

[Source: Australian Government, The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science​]