Frequently asked questions

Contact Simon Barry (Deputy and Science Director Data61 CSIRO) via Simon.barry@data61.csiro.au (Cc Data61UniversityRFI@csiro.au) or (02) 6216 7157 (W) 0409 106 968 (M) to arrange further discussions.

The partnerships will invest in long-term (3-5 years) co-invested and co-designed initiatives that address agreed long-term science research and development areas of national significance. Funds will explicitly support new resources such as PhD students, postdoctoral fellows, and research assistants, rather than in-kind contributions. The minimum three-year project timeframe will allow time for staff recruitment and will include co-design of science direction and potential outcomes.

CSIRO is committed to innovating in all of things we do. While the approach we are experimenting with here would be potentially appropriate across the wide range of things that CSIRO works on for this trial we are focussing on opportunities that are underpinned by innovation in information/digital technologies.

CSIRO is bringing a commitment to investing $1.0M pa (initially over 3 years) in new resources such as postdoctoral fellows, PhD students or research assistants to support each initiative. We will potentially bring significant industry and government engagement. For each potential partnerships we will need to work through the value and synergies that each partner brings to develop effective long term collaboration.

The CSIRO missions program https://www.csiro.au/en/about/challenges-missions is a key part of CSIRO strategy and is aimed at large-scale scientific and collaborative initiatives that can make significant breakthroughs. This RFI process is a separate initiative to expand our collaboration with the university sector and to deliver on CSIRO’s strategy to find solutions to Australia’s biggest challenges. While they are separate activities, there are substantial opportunities to use digital sciences in areas covered by missions and there are thus many opportunities to collaborate in areas that are strategically important to CSIRO.

Yes, but it is expected that digital sciences will be the core research component of the project.

Each strategic collaboration will be governed by a Steering Committee comprising equal representation from CSIRO and university partners, chaired by a member nominee. Details of this will be developed during contractual negotiations.

If a partnership includes more than one university partner, each university will still commit $1M per annum to ensure that all partners are equal and contributing at scale. CSIRO’s contribution will remain capped at $1M per annum for each strategic collaboration and will not increase where there is more than one university partner.

Funds will explicitly support new resources such as PhD students, postdocs and research assistants, rather than in-kind contributions. The minimum three-year project timeframe will allow time for staff recruitment and will include co-design of science direction and potential outcomes.

Salary related on costs and reasonable management overheads.

No.

The partnerships would at a minimum have a total lifetime value of $6m ($10m, with a 2 year extension), with each party contributing $1m per financial year.

The projects we pursue through this process will be consistent with CSIRO’s strategy. We will look for partnerships that address aspects of key national challenges and have a pathway to significant real world impact.

Not as part of this program but we are always open to developing collaborative projects with the university sector.

Background IP (BIP) will remain vested (i.e. retain ownership of that IP) in the participant making it available to a project and will grant the other participants a license to use the BIP for that approved project. BIP will be expressly identified in the project agreements or updated in an IP register that will be maintained for each project, so that there is no dispute about what is BIP and what is Project IP.

Each participant reserves research rights and commercialisation rights to its BIP in all areas. On a case-by-case basis, if further rights to the BIP is required to commercialise the Project IP, agreements will be negotiated to allow the commercialisation partner (‘CP’) to commercialise the Project IP. If the BIP of any party is considered of such value that the party would not negotiate in good faith with the CP to provide a commercialization outcome, the BIP should not be considered for the project. Such expectations will be made clear between the parties and will require careful ongoing management.

Each participant owns improvements to its BIP, and this can be used by that participant outside of the projects. In relation to ownership of IP created by the participants, the CP will own the legal rights in the IP, excluding improvements to BIP. The beneficial rights in the IP will be shared between the participants and CSIRO in proportion to their contributions to a project.

Returns on investment will be directly proportional to contributions made to the development of relevant IP on a project-by-project basis. This will be detailed in the project plans before a project is approved. This will be expressly identified in the project plan, so that there is no dispute about commercialisation benefits.

The Steering Committee can consider a different contribution if the project plan changes. Participants have the non-exclusive and royalty free right to use Project IP for the purposes of undertaking the activities agreed to as well as for research (including research services for fees), education and training purposes.

No participant may deal with, otherwise commercialise, dispose of or encumber any interest which it might hold in Project IP, without the written consent of the Steering Committee.