Over 5000 FRDC R&D projects funded over the past 30 years will soon be more accessible and easier to find than ever, using new innovative technology.
By Catherine Norwood
Almost all 5000 FRDC funded projects will soon be included on the Research Link Australia platform as well as on FRDC’s website, making them more discoverable and accessible, alongside other similar research.
Many FRDC-funded projects have been the subject of articles in research journals, accessible to the broader scientific community through easily searched international journal databases such as ‘Web of Science’.
But the results of many more projects, such as those sector-specific topics and using applied research and development, may not have been published more broadly.
FRDC’s General Manager of ICT and Digitalisation Kyaw Kyaw Soe Hlaing, says when research is hard to find there’s a risk that it either won’t be used, or that someone else will duplicate work that has already been done.
“The Australian Research Data Commons co-funded a project with us, which we’ve called ‘Sailing the Marine Knowledge Landscape’. The project will enable all FRDC publicly available research to be made accessible on the Research Link Australia platform. It’s part of maximising the value of FRDC-funded research and the efficient use of research dollars more broadly,” says Kyaw Kyaw.
“Funding is a limited resource - we need to make it go as far as possible.”
Research knowledge platform
The Research Link Australia platform was launched in 2024. The ‘Sailing the Marine Knowledge Landscape’ will make FRDC’s research more discoverable as part of a larger curation of national research activities and research capabilities.
The platform aims to help translate research into real-world applications and to help the fishing and aquaculture sectors find research collaborators to enhance their R&D capabilities.
FRDC projects will be automatically and continuously added to the platform when they start, with approximately 400 active projects underway at any one time, and over 60 new projects commencing each year.
Another platform that already links FRDC research to business, research, and government is GrowAg, hosted by AgriFutures Australia, and focused more on commercialisation and investment opportunities.
“FRDC’s R&D portfolio represents hundreds of millions of dollars of investment”, says Kyaw Kyaw.
“The Research Link Australia and GrowAg platforms provide opportunities to share knowledge and information, and we hope they will encourage more interdisciplinary research and collaborations.”
While recent final reports are available in digital formats, FRDC is in the process of digitising older final reports to make them more accessible and publicly available.
Barriers to research uptake
Kyaw Kyaw also recently joined an expert panel discussion as part of an Australian Research Data Commons leadership forum.

He says the forum identified key barriers that prevent the translation of research into commercial outcomes. These include:
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poor flow of information from universities to industry, and vice versa, which prevents cross-fertilisation of ideas
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lack of accessible and secure data
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underutilised innovation due to difficulties researchers face navigating the commercialisation landscape
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lack of a coherent national research data policy and coordination body to manage data
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bureaucratic hurdles that make it challenging to access government programs like R&D tax concessions
“It was great to be part of forum and the panel, that featured diverse industries –biotechnology, digital health and a start-up entrepreneur, as well as fisheries. These events help to broaden our views and identify shared challenges. By expanding our networks, we can work together to solve these problems,” says Kyaw Kyaw.
Related FRDC project
2023-204: Sailing the marine knowledge landscape: Enhancing the discoverability, accessibility, and usability of FRDC investment