(Narrator) Hi. Hands up all those people who’ve heard of CSIRO.
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You know, CSIRO, Australia’s own scientific
and industrial research organisation.
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It’s our very own scientific and industrial research organisation.
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So why do we need one of those? Everyone knows that
all the good ideas come from overseas.
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Well amazingly Australians have lots of good ideas,
and some smart person some 60 years ago said why don’t
we put all these clever people together and see
if they can solve some of our problems.
So away they went, and in lots of areas of endeavour they’ve
come up with some great, workable ideas.
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They’ve developed one of the world’s first digital computers,
you know those little things you carry around
to add up the shopping. The only miscalculation
was they made it the size of your kitchen.
They invented pigment emulsified creosote.
Now while that may not mean a lot to you if you were
a builder you’d be shouting it from the roof tops,
‘cause it stops timber from rotting and it even stops termites.
How about a compact electron multiplier?
What do you mean you’ve never heard of it?
OK, if you’re into, mass spectrometry, medicine and
space technology then this is a must.
Did you know that the Australian knitting industry is
saving itself a tidy $100 million a year because CSIRO
developed a faster and cheaper method of spinning worsted
weaving yarns called Sirospun. Of course you did.
Ha, but I’ll catch you out on this one, bet you
don’t know what a jumping gene is? Very funny.
No, it’s about using transposable DNA elements
to introduce new desirable characteristics into
crops like maize using genetic engineering.
Didn’t know that did you?
Question 4, describe the unique relationship between the
Sepik River in Papua New Guinea and the Brazilian Weevil? Buzz, give up?
The weevil killed off a dreaded weed called Salvinia that was
not only choking the river but making it very hard
to get a decent bath. Guess whose idea that was?
Yep, CSIRO. Here’s another one. How do you end
up with twice as many lambs and sheep without buying them at the sale years?
Firstly, you make sure they’re all ewes,
then you give them a shot of a vaccine called Fecundin.
And five months later, bingo, you’ve got heaps of twins.
Now maybe it doesn’t mean much to city dwellers or the
sheep, but it means a great deal to Australia’s farmers.
And guess what? Right, CSIRO invented it.
They also have this thing called VLSI.
Now most of you know what that means of course,
but for those of you who are ignorant it means Very Large Scale Integration.
So now you know it, it sort of makes you feel better
somehow doesn’t it? VLSI has meant the development
of a super silicon chip with 100 thousand
transistors which can be programmed to suit
specific tasks in high technology manufacturing.
Well now we’ve got you interested we’ll let fly with a few statistics
about the troops, the people who work their little hearts
out developing all these fantastic ideas. Ready?
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OK, now because there are so many of them involved
in such diverse projects all over Australia
and in close contact with heaps of colleagues OS,
they constitute a very big think tank, so they can very easily
apply their minds to all sorts of problems, and they do.
They are constantly in touch with each other and with
Australia’s primary and secondary industry to monitor and
apply their ideas. All very tidy really.
But then what else would you expect from such a dynamic
and efficient bunch of people? And now we come to the interesting bit.
How do these people go about identifying and selecting
research which is relevant to Australia in the future?
What’s in the community interest?
Which sectors of Australia’s economy indicate potential growth?
Which projects will generate wealth for Australia?
Which will provide more jobs? How about the
export potential? How likely is the promise of a major scientific advance?
Who will develop and market the end product if it is developed?
What is the availability of resources
and skills within the organisation?
Each potential project is put through the ringer and only
the most relevant survive. CSIRO’s number one
priorities include developing and encouraging the
application of computer based information technologies
in all sectors of industry and the community.
Developing technologies that are widely applicable in the manufacturing industry.
Contributing to the management of Australia’s precious resources
like its soil and water which are currently being seriously degraded.
Encouraging the development of an Australian space industry
and developing and applying biotechnological techniques
to improve Australia’s agriculture and create new
manufacturing opportunities.
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Impressive stuff and indicative of the effort
that the organisation puts into ensuring
that every one of the millions of dollars spent on
research on behalf of the people of Australia is
well spent and returns to the country where it
profits in the form of workable ideas and products
that Australian industry can pick up and develop
to create new wealth and jobs for all Australians.
[Applause]
Hang on, quiet, that’s not all, now settle down.
There are other priorities too. Like the control of
plant diseases, improving the health of all Australians
through research into nutrition. The CSIRO’s
track record is impressive. PSZ, are you with me?
What? PSZ. Partially Stabilised Zirconia. Oh it’s an important new ceramic
product which is being developed and marketed by an Australian company.
Another CSIRO development. Good heavens, there’s more.
Pulsed arc welding systems. Electromagnetic monitors.
Improved dairy and cheese making techniques.
Five star design ratings for energy efficient home design.
And would you believe it, the identification of the structure
of the influenza virus. So there you are folks, they’re out
there at CSIRO everyday working for Australia.
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Hey, what’s that you’re standing in? Is it a better Australia? I thank you.