The Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI) in conjunction with the Australian Institute for Commercialisation (AIC) held a one-day R & D Forum in Townsville in June 2011.

The forum brought together prawn and Barramundi farmers and key industry stakeholders from research institutions, technology and industry solution providers and State Government representatives with the aim of facilitating cross-industry collaborative discussion around the topic "Driving Aquaculture Productivity".

The forum provided an opportunity for a whole-of-industry group to share knowledge, identify potential opportunities for collaborative research and to establish actions that could be identified, developed, funded and delivered to meet the needs of prawn and Barramundi farmers.

Possible solutions for priority industry issues were identified and the forum then determined the practicality, viability, beneficiaries and action pathway to implementation of each solution. This resulted in an Action Plan containing 8 key task to be implemented over the period July - Dec 2011.

This is a proposal to facilitate a follow up R & D workshop to maintain the momentum created at the Townsville forum. The aim is not only to review the progress of the Action Plan developed at the Townsville forum but also to work on new priorities that have since been presented by industry. The format of the workshop will again provide a whole-of industry approach involving key industry stakeholders with an emphasis on the issue of commercialisation.