Cooperative Research Australia (CRA) revealed four award recipients at its Excellence in Innovation Awards gala event at Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday night (March 31).
Keynote speaker David Thodey AO presented Excellence in Innovation Awards to (please see links below for full media releases for each CRA award recipient):
· World-renown hearing expert Professor Robert Cowan (HEARing CRC): Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Industry-Research Collaboration.
· Professor Calum Drummond (RMIT University): Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Industry-Research Collaboration.
· Cancer Therapeutics CRC/Canthera Discovery: Excellence in Innovation Award for Research Commercialisation.
· Oral Health CRC researchers at the University of Melbourne, Mondelez International, GC Corporation and CSL Limited: Excellence in Innovation Award for Enduring Industry-Research Collaboration.
The event also marked the 30th Anniversary of the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program, and was opened by Federal Science Minister Melissa Price.
CRA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Professor Robert Cowan said:
"It's a huge honour to accept this award, both for myself and for the many wonderful colleagues from industry, university, hospital, healthcare and early intervention services, all of whom put their hearts and minds into improving hearing loss prevention and healthcare services.
"The CRC Program shows that through collaboration we can address the major problems facing Australia, and I encourage government to continue and expand its funding for long-term industry-focused CRC research collaborations."
CRA CEO Jane O'Dwyer said:
"Professor Bob Cowan deserves great credit and recognition for creating a remarkable legacy of collaboration between industry, universities, clinical services and professionals serving the needs of people with hearing loss not just here in Australia and but all around the world
"He is an exemplar of the very best of what the CRC Program has to offer the nation, leaving behind a great track record of innovation, worldwide clinical take-up, and commercialization, as well as creating new jobs with a highly skilled workforce of industry-trained PhDs.
"Cooperative Research Australia is delighted to award Professor Cowan a richly-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Industry-Research Collaboration."
CRA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Professor Calum Drummond said:
"I have always had the mindset that conducting excellent research is necessary but not sufficient by itself - it is what you do with the excellent research to benefit others beyond the academic community that is most important.
"My research and collaboration efforts, including with CRCs, are driven by the desire to innovate and partner for impact, through understanding and solving problems faced by industry and the community. It is humbling and indeed an honour to receive recognition for our work."
CRA CEO Jane O'Dwyer said:
"Professor Drummond has made an astonishing impact in a remarkable career to date, and has been a steadfast champion of the CRC Program going back 30 years. His approach to conducting and managing research is one which is founded on an uncompromising focus on research excellence coupled with passionate pursuit of research translation outcomes that contribute to the prosperity of Australia.
"Cooperative Research Australia is delighted to award Professor Drummond a richly-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Industry-Research Collaboration."
Accepting the Excellence in Innovation Award for Enduring Industry-Research Collaboration (Oral Health CRC researchers at the University of Melbourne, Mondelez International, GC Corporation and CSL Limited), Professor Eric Reynolds from University of Melbourne said:
"It's incredibly satisfying to know that millions of people are now using the technologies that we have developed and that they are having a major impact in lowering not just the economic but also the social burden of oral diseases, and therefore improving quality of life.
"The collaboration with all the commercial companies who partnered with us is still ongoing years after funding from the Commonwealth ceased. In fact, the collaboration with Mondelez International, GC Corporation and CSL Limited is now going on twenty plus years and shows an enduring and profitable partnership, a legacy we are immensely proud of."
CRA CEO Jane O'Dwyer said:
"Oral Health CRC and University of Melbourne's long-standing partnership with CSL Limited, Mondelez International and GC Corporation serves as an outstanding example of enduring industry and CRC/university collaboration that has generated significant benefits for oral and general health worldwide.
"The scientific and commercial synergies and collaboration between the parties has enabled the research programs to succeed and develop a range of commercial products that is used to reduce the social and economic burden of oral diseases in over 50 countries.
"Cooperative Research Australia is delighted to present Oral Health CRC and its collaborators and commercial partners Mondelez International, GC Corporation and CSL Limited a richly-deserved Award for Enduring Industry-Research Collaboration."
On Cancer Therapeutics CRC/Canthera Discovery's award, Alan Robertson, Managing Director of Canthera Discovery said:
"Every new cancer drug starts with a great idea, however what Australia lacked was a good mechanism to convert these ideas into potential new medicines. This is the niche that Cancer Therapeutics filled with CRC Program funding – research and commercialisation work that is now being taken forward at astonishing pace and ingenuity by Canthera Discovery."
Brendon Monahan, Canthera's Chief Scientific Officer added:
"We are delighted to receive the Cooperative Research Australia Award for Research Commercialisation as it recognises something fundamentally important about why we do what we do. It's about getting cutting edge Australian research translated – via commercialisation - for the benefit of patients. We want to see our innovations make the often arduous journey from laboratory bench to the pharmacy shelf to meet unmet medical needs, not just for Australians but people all over the world."
CRA CEO Jane O'Dwyer said:
"The CRC Program funded Cancer Therapeutics CRC with $71m over 13 years. In potentially returning some ten times that investment and counting in licensing deals, Cancer Therapeutics CRC and Canthera Discovery have been a shining example of the strength of the CRC Program in bridging the gap between domestic world class research and innovation, and global commercialisation."
"Cooperative Research Australia is delighted to present Canthera Discovery and Cancer Therapeutics CRC with the Award for Research Commercialisation."
