Research and Development Plan lifts off to further engagement

The FRDC’s new R&D Plan sets the organisation on a more flexible, consultative path to achieve outcomes for Australia’s diverse fishing and aquaculture stakeholders.

After more than a year of consultation and development, the FRDC’s R&D Plan 2020–2025 is ready for use.

The Plan establishes the focus for the organisation’s activities for the next five years and outlines strategies to get there. Importantly, it will be adaptable and respond to further input from our stakeholders.

At the core of the R&D Plan and investment are five R&D outcomes and five enabling strategies that will help us achieve those outcomes.

Five R&D outcomes

  1. Growth for enduring prosperity;
  2. Best practices and production systems;
  3. A culture that is inclusive and forward thinking;
  4. Fair and secure access to aquatic resources; and
  5. Community trust, respect and value.

Five enabling strategies

  1. Drive digitisation and advanced analytics;
  2. Strengthen adoption for transformative change;
  3. Promote innovation and entrepreneurship;
  4. Build capability and capacity; and
  5. Provide foundational information and support services. 

These 10 items guide where we are going and why. We are now working with stakeholders to develop more detailed roadmaps for achieving each of the five outcomes.

Calling all fishing and aquaculture stakeholders

Roadmapping workshops will be held online, enabling stakeholders to collaborate from wherever they are to identify how to achieve each outcome.  

The first online roadmapping workshop will focus on R&D outcome 1: Growth for enduring prosperity. This workshop will be run in collaboration with Food Innovation Australia Ltd, which is undertaking a similar process focused on growing the market share of Australia food globally.

Fishing and aquaculture stakeholders are invited to participate in online roadmapping workshops on the following dates:

  • Outcome 1 Growth for enduring prosperity – Thursday 15 October
  • Outcome 2 Best practices and production systems – Friday 16 October
  • Outcome 3 A culture that is inclusive and forward thinking – Wednesday 21 October
  • Outcome 4 Fair and secure access to aquatic resources – Friday 23 October
  • Outcome 5 Community trust, respect and value – Tuesday 27 October

These dates are tentative. Final dates for workshops and other FRDC meetings will be posted on our website. To participate and keep up to date on these and other FRDC meetings, subscribe here. Make sure to select ‘FRDC meetings’.

Ongoing calls for applications

As the FRDC develops the structures and processes to implement its new R&D Plan, it is important that urgent and necessary research is not delayed. In late October we will publish a call for applications against existing R&D priorities in line with the Plan. This call will be made on our website and through an email alert to FRDC update subscribers. To subscribe click here. We will use a variety of approaches to call for research that will address the Plan’s priorities, including competitive calls, select and direct tenders, and investment in startups and technologies.

More information

Full R&D Plan 2020–2025, http://rdplan.frdc.com.au

Summary of the Plan, https://frdc.com.au/research/rde-planning-and-priorities