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The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an
Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...
agency responsible for scientific research. CSIRO works with leading organisations around the world. From its headquarters in Canberra, CSIRO maintains more than 50 sites across Australia and in France, Chile and the United States, employing about 5,500 people. Federally funded scientific research began in Australia years ago. The Advisory Council of Science and Industry was established in 1916 but was hampered by insufficient available finance. In 1926 the research effort was reinvigorated by establishment of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), which strengthened national science leadership and increased research funding. CSIR grew rapidly and achieved significant early successes. In 1949, further legislated changes included renaming the organisation as CSIRO. Notable developments by CSIRO have included the invention of
atomic absorption spectroscopy Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) and atomic emission spectroscopy (AES) is a spectroanalytical procedure for the quantitative determination of chemical elemlight) by free atoms in the gaseous state. Atomic absorption spectroscopy is based o ...
, essential components of
Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...
technology, development of the first commercially successful
polymer banknote Polymer banknotes are banknotes made from a synthetic polymer such as biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP). Such notes incorporate many security features not available in paper banknotes, including the use of metameric inks. Polymer banknote ...
, the invention of the insect repellent in
Aerogard Aerogard is an Australian brand of outdoor insect repellent (that is applied directly to the skin). It comes in aerosol sprays, bottled creams and roll-ons, the manufacturer is owned by the Anglo-Dutch company Reckitt Benckiser. Active ingredient ...
and the introduction of a series of biological controls into Australia, such as the introduction of
myxomatosis Myxomatosis is a disease caused by ''Myxoma virus'', a poxvirus in the genus ''Leporipoxvirus''. The natural hosts are tapeti (''Sylvilagus brasiliensis'') in South and Central America, and brush rabbits (''Sylvilagus bachmani'') in North Ame ...
and
rabbit calicivirus Rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD), also known as viral hemorrhagic disease (VHD), is a highly infectious and lethal form of viral hepatitis that affects European rabbits. Some viral strains also affect hares and cottontail rabbits. Mortality rate ...
for the control of
rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...
populations.


Structure

CSIRO is governed by a board appointed by the Australian Government, currently chaired by
David Thodey David Ingle Thodey (born 14 May 1954) is an Australian businessman who is a former chief executive officer of Telstra and currenchairmanof accounting software company Xero. Thodey was born in Perth, Western Australia. He was educated at Nels ...
. There are nine directors inclusive of the chief executive, presently Dr. Larry Marshall, who is responsible for management of the organisation.


Research and focus areas

CSIRO is structured into Research Business Units, National Facilities and Collections, and Services.


Research Business Units

As at 2019, CSIRO's research areas are identified as "Impact science" and organised into the following Business Units: * Agriculture and Food * Health and Biosecurity *Data61 * Energy * Land and Water * Manufacturing * Mineral Resources * Oceans and Atmosphere


National facilities and collections


National facilities

CSIRO manages national research facilities and scientific infrastructure on behalf of the nation to assist with the delivery of research. The national facilities and specialised laboratories are available to both international and Australian users from industry and research. As at 2019, the following National Facilities are listed: *
Australian Animal Health Laboratory The Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP), formerly known as the Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL), in Geelong, Victoria, Australia is a high security laboratory, run by the CSIRO for exotic animal disease diagnosis and rese ...
(AAHL) *
Australia Telescope National Facility The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)'s radio astronomy observatories are collectively known as the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF), with the facility supporting Australia's research in radio astron ...
– radio telescopes included in the Facility include the
Australia Telescope Compact Array The Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) is a radio telescope operated by CSIRO at the Paul Wild Observatory, twenty five kilometres (16 mi) west of the town of Narrabri in New South Wales, Australia. Its opening ceremony took place on ...
, the
Parkes Observatory Parkes Observatory is a radio astronomy observatory, located north of the town of Parkes, New South Wales, Australia. It hosts Murriyang, the 64 m CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope also known as "The Dish", along with two smaller radio telescopes. T ...
,
Mopra Observatory The 22-metre Mopra Radio Telescope, located near Coonabarabran, New South Wales, is part of the Australia Telescope National Facility, operated by CSIRO. The name hails from the location of the facility close to Mopra Rock a geological formation ...
and the
Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) is a radio telescope array located at Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) in the Mid West region of Western Australia. The facility began as a technology demonstrator for the int ...
*
Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC) is a satellite communication station, part of the Deep Space Network of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), located at Tidbinbilla in the Australian Capital Territory. Opened in 19 ...
*
Energy Centre and National Solar Energy Centre In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat an ...
* Marine National Facility ( R.V. "Investigator") * New Norcia ground station * NovaSAR-1 satellite *
Pawsey Supercomputing Centre The Pawsey Supercomputing Centre (PSC) is the government-supported high-performance computing national facility located in Perth, Western Australia. Pawsey supports researchers in Western Australia and across Australia through the Pawsey Centre ( ...


Collections

CSIRO manages a number of collections of animal and plant specimens that contribute to national and international biological knowledge. The National Collections contribute to taxonomic, genetic, agricultural and ecological research. As at 2019, CSIRO's Collections are listed as the following: * Australian National Algae Culture Collection * The
Atlas of Living Australia The Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) is an online repository of information about Australian plants, animals, and fungi. Development started in 2006. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an organisation sign ...
* Australian Tree Seed Centre * Australian National Fish Collection * Australian National Insect Collection *
Australian National Herbarium The Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG) is a heritage-listed botanical garden located in , Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Established in 1949, the Gardens is administered by the Australian Government's Departme ...
* Australian National Soil Archive (managed through A&F) *
Australian National Wildlife Collection The Australian National Wildlife Collection (ANWC) is a collection of almost 200,000 zoological specimens, including skeletons, skins, spirit specimens, birds’ eggs, frozen tissue samples and a wildlife sound library, mainly of vertebrate anima ...
*
Cape Grim Air Archive The Cape Grim Air Archive (CGAA) is a facility of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station, Tasmania, that aims to collect air samples starting from 1978. The archive is a facility of CSIRO agency. The place ...


Services

In 2019, CSIRO Services are itemised as follows: * Materials and infrastructure services * Agricultural and environmental analysis * Environmental services * Biological, food and medical science services * Australian Animal Health Laboratory services Other services are noted as including education,
publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
, infrastructure technologies, Small and Medium Enterprise engagement and CSIRO Futures.


History


Evolution of the organisation

A precursor to CSIRO, the Advisory Council of Science and Industry, was established in 1916 on the initiative of prime minister
Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country during World War I, but ...
. However, the advisory council struggled with insufficient funding during the First World War. In 1920 the council was renamed the Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry, and was led by
George Handley Knibbs Sir George Handley Knibbs (13 June 1858 – 30 March 1929)Bambrick, S.. ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 9, Melbourne University Press, 1983, pp. 620-621. Retrieved 24 August 2009 was an Australian scientist, the first Commonwea ...
(1921–26), but continued to struggle financially. Implementing the 1923 Imperial Conference's call for colonies to broaden their economic base, in 1926 the
Australian Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the ...
modified the principal Act for national scientific research (the ''Institute of Science and Industry Act 1920'') by passing ''The Science and Industry Research Act 1926''. The same conference led to the creation of the
Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR was the name of several British Empire organisations founded after the 1923 Imperial Conference to foster intra-Empire trade and development. * Department of Scientific and Industria ...
in New Zealand. The new Act replaced the institute with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). With encouragement from prime minister
Stanley Bruce Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, (15 April 1883 – 25 August 1967) was an Australian politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Australia from 1923 to 1929, as leader of the Nationalist Party. Born ...
, strengthened national science leadership and increased research funding, CSIR grew rapidly and achieved significant early successes. The council was structured to represent the federal structure of government in Australia, and had state-level committees and a central council. In addition to an improved structure, CSIR benefited from strong bureaucratic management under
George Julius Sir George Alfred Julius (29 April 187328 June 1946) was an English-born Australian inventor and entrepreneur. He was the founder of Julius Poole & Gibson Pty Ltd and Automatic Totalisators Ltd, and invented the world's first automatic totalisa ...
,
David Rivett Sir Albert Cherbury David Rivett, KCMG (4 December 1885 – 1 April 1961) was an Australian chemist and science administrator. Background and education Rivett was born at Port Esperance, Tasmania, Australia, a son of the Rev. Albert Rivett ( ...
, and Arnold Richardson. Research focused on primary and secondary industries. Early in its existence, CSIR established divisions studying animal health and animal nutrition. After the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, research was extended into manufacturing and other secondary industries. In 1949 the Act was changed again, and the entity name amended to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. The amendment enlarged and reconstituted the organisation and its administrative structure. Under
Ian Clunies Ross Sir William Ian Clunies Ross CMG (22 February 189920 June 1959) was an Australian veterinary scientist. He has been described as the 'architect' of Australia's scientific boom, for his stewardship of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial ...
as chairman, CSIRO pursued new areas such as radio astronomy and industrial chemistry. CSIRO still operates under the provisions of the 1949 Act in a wide range of scientific inquiry. Since 1949 CSIRO has expanded its activities to almost every field of primary, secondary and tertiary industry, including the environment, human nutrition, conservation, urban and rural planning, and water. It works with leading organisations around the world and maintains more than 50 sites across Australia and in France, Chile and the United States of America, employing about 5500 people.


Inventions

Notable inventions and breakthroughs by CSIRO include: * A4 DSP chip *
Aerogard Aerogard is an Australian brand of outdoor insect repellent (that is applied directly to the skin). It comes in aerosol sprays, bottled creams and roll-ons, the manufacturer is owned by the Anglo-Dutch company Reckitt Benckiser. Active ingredient ...
, insect repellent *
Atomic absorption spectroscopy Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) and atomic emission spectroscopy (AES) is a spectroanalytical procedure for the quantitative determination of chemical elemlight) by free atoms in the gaseous state. Atomic absorption spectroscopy is based o ...
*
Biological control Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, such as insects, mites, weeds, and plant diseases, using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms, but typically also invo ...
of
Salvinia ''Salvinia'', a genus in the family Salviniaceae, is a floating fern named in honor of Anton Maria Salvini, a 17th-century Italian scientist. Watermoss is a common name for ''Salvinia''. The genus was published in 1754 by Jean-François Séguier ...
* Development of
Linola Linola is the trademark name of solin, cultivated forms of flax (''Linum usitatissimum'') bred for producing linseed oil with a low alpha-linolenic acid content. Linola was developed in the early 1990s by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial R ...
(a
flax Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...
variety with low
alpha-linolenic acid ''alpha''-Linolenic acid (ALA), also known as α-Linolenic acid (from Greek ''alpha'' meaning "first" and ''linon'' meaning flax), is an ''n''−3, or omega-3, essential fatty acid. ALA is found in many seeds and oils, including flaxseed, waln ...
content) with a longer life used as a stockfeed *
Distance measuring equipment In aviation, distance measuring equipment (DME) is a radio navigation technology that measures the slant range (distance) between an aircraft and a ground station by timing the propagation delay of radio signals in the frequency band between 9 ...
(DME) used for aviation navigation * Gene shears * Interscan
Microwave landing system The microwave landing system (MLS) is an all-weather, precision radio guidance system intended to be installed at large airports to assist aircraft in landing, including 'blind landings'. MLS enables an approaching aircraft to determine when it ...
, a microwave approach and landing system for aircraft * Use of
myxomatosis Myxomatosis is a disease caused by ''Myxoma virus'', a poxvirus in the genus ''Leporipoxvirus''. The natural hosts are tapeti (''Sylvilagus brasiliensis'') in South and Central America, and brush rabbits (''Sylvilagus bachmani'') in North Ame ...
and
calicivirus The ''Caliciviridae'' are a family of "small round structured" viruses, members of Class IV of the Baltimore scheme. Caliciviridae bear resemblance to enlarged picornavirus and was formerly a separate genus within the picornaviridae. They are p ...
to control rabbit numbers *
Parkes Radio Telescope Parkes may refer to: * Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896), Australian politician, one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for Australian federation Named for Henry Parkes * Parkes, New South Wales, a regional town * Parkes Observatory, a radi ...
* The permanent
pleat A pleat (plait in older English) is a type of fold formed by doubling fabric back upon itself and securing it in place. It is commonly used in clothing and upholstery to gather a wide piece of fabric to a narrower circumference. Pleats are cat ...
for fabrics * Plasma sintering *
Polymer banknote Polymer banknotes are banknotes made from a synthetic polymer such as biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP). Such notes incorporate many security features not available in paper banknotes, including the use of metameric inks. Polymer banknote ...
* Production of metals from their halides *
Relenza Zanamivir is a medication used to treat and prevent influenza caused by influenza A and influenza B viruses. It is a neuraminidase inhibitor and was developed by the Australian biotech firm Biota Holdings. It was licensed to Glaxo in 1990 and ...
flu drug * Sirosmelt lance * "Softly" woollens detergent *
Phase-contrast X-ray imaging Phase-contrast X-ray imaging or phase-sensitive X-ray imaging is a general term for different technical methods that use information concerning changes in the phase of an X-ray beam that passes through an object in order to create its images. Sta ...
* Method to use titanium in
3D printing 3D printing or additive manufacturing is the Manufacturing, construction of a three-dimensional object from a computer-aided design, CAD model or a digital 3D modeling, 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is ...
*
UltraBattery UltraBattery (commonly sold as Lead-Carbon batteries) is a hybrid energy storage device invented by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). UltraBattery combines ultracapacitor technology with lead-acid ...
* WiFi * Essential components of
Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...
technology


Historic research

CSIRO had a pioneering role in the scientific discovery of the universe through radio "eyes". A team led by Paul Wild built and operated (from 1948) the world's first solar radiospectrograph, and from 1967 the radioheliograph at Culgoora in New South Wales. For three decades, the Division of Radiophysics had a world-leading role in solar research, attracting prominent solar physicists from around the world. CSIRO owned the first computer in Australia,
CSIRAC CSIRAC (; ''Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Automatic Computer''), originally known as CSIR Mk 1, was Australia's first digital computer, and the fifth stored program computer in the world. It is the oldest surviving first-gene ...
, built as part of a project began in the Sydney Radiophysics Laboratory in 1947. The CSIR Mk 1 ran its first program in 1949, the fifth electronic computer in the world. It was over 1,000 times faster than the mechanical calculators available at the time. It was decommissioned in 1955 and recommissioned in Melbourne as CSIRAC in 1956 as a general purpose computing machine used by over 700 projects until 1964. The CSIRAC is the only surviving first-generation computer in the world. Between 1965 and 1985,
George Bornemissza George Francis Bornemissza (born György Ferenc Bornemissza; 11 February 1924 – 10 April 2014) was a Hungarian-born entomologist and ecologist. He studied science at the University of Budapest before obtaining his Ph.D. in zoology at the Un ...
of CSIRO's Division of Entomology founded and led the Australian Dung Beetle Project. Bornemissza, upon settling in Australia from Hungary in 1951, noticed that the pastureland was covered in dry cattle dung pads which did not seem to be recycled into the soil and caused areas of rank pasture which were unpalatable to the cattle. He proposed that the reason for this was that native Australian dung beetles, which had co-evolved alongside the marsupials (which produce dung very different in its composition from cattle), were not adapted to utilise cattle dung for their nutrition and breeding since cattle had only relatively recently been introduced to the continent in the 1880s. The Australian Dung Beetle Project sought, therefore, to introduce species of dung beetle from South Africa and Europe (which had co-evolved alongside bovids) in order to improve the fertility and quality of cattle pastures. Twenty-three species were successfully introduced throughout the duration of the project and also had the effect of reducing the pestilent bush fly population by 90%.


Domain name

CSIRO was the first Australian organisation to start using the Internet and was able to register the
second-level domain In the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy, a second-level domain (SLD or 2LD) is a domain that is directly below a top-level domain (TLD). For example, in , is the second-level domain of the TLD. Second-level domains commonly refer to the organ ...
csiro.au (as opposed to csiro.org.au or csiro.com.au). Guidelines were introduced in 1996 to regulate the use of the
.au .au is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Australia. It was created on 5 March 1986. Domain name policy is managed by .au Domain Administration (auDA). As of July 2018, the registry is operated by Afilias. History The d ...
domain.


Governance and management

When CSIR was formed in 1926, it was led initially by an executive committee of three people, two of whom were designated as the chairman and the chief executive. Since then the roles and responsibilities of the chair and chief executive have changed many times. From 1927 to 1986 the head of CSIR (and from 1949, CSIRO) was the chairman, who was responsible for the management of the organisation, supported by the chief executive. From 1 July 1959 to 4 December 1986 CSIRO had no chief executive; the chairman undertook both functions. In 1986, when the
Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...
changed the structure of CSIRO to include a board of non-executive members plus the chief executive to lead CSIRO, the roles changed. The chief executive is now responsible for management of the organisation in accordance with the strategy, plans and policies approved by the CSIRO Board which, led by the chair of the board, is responsible to the Australian Government for the overall strategy, governance and performance of CSIRO. As with its governance structure, the priorities and structure of CSIRO, and the teams and facilities that implement its research, have changed as Australia's scientific challenges have evolved. Numerous CSIRO scientists have gone onto distinguished careers in the university sector. Several have been appointed to the role of Vice-Chancellor/President. They include: Sir
George Currie George Currie may refer to: * George Currie (Northern Irish politician) (1905–1978), Northern Irish barrister and politician * George Currie (musician) (born 1950), Scottish musician and amateur archaeologist * George Currie (academic) (1896–19 ...
(UNZ 1952-62 Western Australia 1945-52),
Paul Wellings Professor Paul William Wellings CBE DL FRSN FRSA FAICD is an Australian/British ecologist and long serving university leader. He is notable for his past service as Vice-Chancellor of University of Wollongong (2012-21), Vice-Chancellor of Lanca ...
CBE (Wollongong 2012-21 Lancaster 2002-12), Michael Barber AO (Flinders 2008-14), Mark Smith CBE (Southampton 2019-ff Lancaster 2012-19),
Annabelle Duncan Annabelle Duncan (born in Nelson, New Zealand in 1953), is a microbiologist who held the post of Vice-Chancellor at the University of New England (UNE) from 2014-2019. Early life and education Duncan was born the youngest of two girls to parent ...
(UNE 2014-19),
Attila Brungs Attila Brungs is the Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of New South Wales. He was appointed to the role in January 2022. Prior to this role, he was the Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Technology Sydney (UTS); a ro ...
(UNSW 2021-ff UTS 2014-21),
Alex Zelinsky Alexander ‘Alex’ Zelinsky, protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...
, low-
carbohydrate In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or ma ...
diet of their own creation called ''
Total Wellbeing Diet Total may refer to: Mathematics * Total, the summation of a set of numbers * Total order, a partial order without incomparable pairs * Total relation, which may also mean ** connected relation (a binary relation in which any two elements are comp ...
''. The CSIRO published the diet in a book which sold over half a million copies in Australia and over 100,000 overseas. The diet was criticised in an editorial by ''
Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
'' for giving scientific credence to a "fashionable" diet sponsored by meat and dairy industries.


802.11 patent

In the early 1990s, CSIRO radio astronomy scientists John O'Sullivan, Graham Daniels, Terence Percival, Diethelm Ostry and John Deane undertook research directed to finding a way to make wireless networks work as fast as wired networks within confined spaces such as office buildings. The technique they developed, involving a particular combination of
forward error correction In computing, telecommunication, information theory, and coding theory, an error correction code, sometimes error correcting code, (ECC) is used for controlling errors in data over unreliable or noisy communication channels. The central idea is ...
, frequency-domain interleaving, and
multi-carrier modulation Multi-carrier code-division multiple access (MC-CDMA) is a multiple access scheme used in OFDM-based telecommunication systems, allowing the system to support multiple users at the same time over same frequency band. MC-CDMA spreads each user symb ...
, became the subject of , which was granted on 23 January 1996. In 1997 Macquarie University professor David Skellern and his colleague Neil Weste established the company Radiata, Inc., which took a nonexclusive licence to the CSIRO patent for the purpose of developing commercially viable integrated circuit devices implementing the patented technology. During this period, the
IEEE 802.11 IEEE 802.11 is part of the IEEE 802 set of local area network (LAN) technical standards, and specifies the set of media access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) protocols for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) computer commun ...
Working Group was developing the 802.11a wireless LAN standard. CSIRO did not participate directly in the standards process, however David Skellern was an active participant as secretary of the Working Group, and representative of Radiata. In 1998 it became apparent that the CSIRO patent would be pertinent to the standard. In response to a request from Victor Hayes of Lucent Technologies, who was chair of the 802.11 Working Group, CSIRO confirmed its commitment to make non-exclusive licenses available to implementers of the standard on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. In 1999,
Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develo ...
, Inc. and
Broadcom Broadcom Inc. is an American designer, developer, manufacturer and global supplier of a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products. Broadcom's product offerings serve the data center, networking, software, broadband, wirel ...
Corporation each invested A$4 million in Radiata, representing an 11% stake for each investor and valuing the company at around A$36 million. In September 2000, Radiata demonstrated a chip set complying with the recently finalised IEEE 802.11a Wi-Fi standard, and capable of handling transmission rates of up to 54 Mbit/s, at a major international exhibition. In November 2000, Cisco acquired Radiata in exchange for US$295 million in Cisco common stock with the intention of incorporating the Radiata Baseband Processor and Radio chips into its Aironet family of wireless LAN products. Cisco subsequently took a large write-down on the Radiata acquisition, following the 2001
telecoms crash The Telecoms crash was a stock market crash that occurred in 2001, after the bursting of the dot-com bubble. It was called "the biggest and fastest rise and fall in business history". Causes Partially a result of greed and excessive optimism, espe ...
, and in 2004 it shut down its internal development of wireless chipsets based on the Radiata technology in order to focus on software development and emerging new technologies. Controversy over the CSIRO patent arose in 2006 after the organisation won an injunction against
Buffalo Technology Melco Holdings Inc. is a family business founded by Makoto Maki in 1975 and is located in Japan. The company's most recognizable brand is Buffalo Inc. Buffalo Inc. is currently one of the 16 subsidiaries of Melco Holdings Inc., initially foun ...
in an infringement suit filed in Federal Court in the Eastern District of Texas. The injunction was subsequently suspended on appeal, with the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit finding that the judge in Texas should have allowed a trial to proceed on Buffalo's challenge to the validity of the CSIRO patent. In 2007, CSIRO declined to provide an assurance to the IEEE that it would not sue companies which refused to take a license for use in 802.11n-compliant devices, while at the same time continuing to defend legal challenges to the validity of the patent brought by
Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
,
Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...
,
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
,
Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...
and Netgear. In April 2009, Hewlett-Packard broke ranks with the rest of the industry becoming the first to reach a settlement of its dispute with CSIRO. This agreement was followed quickly by settlements with Microsoft,
Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational information and communications technology equipment and services corporation, established in 1935 and headquartered in Tokyo. Fujitsu is the world's sixth-largest IT services provider by annual revenue, and the la ...
and Asus and then Dell, Intel,
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
,
Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure system ...
, Netgear, Buffalo,
D-Link D-Link Corporation is a Taiwanese multinational networking equipment manufacturing corporation headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. It was founded in March 1986 in Taipei as ''Datex Systems Inc.'' History D-Link Corporation changed its name fr ...
,
Belkin Belkin is an American consumer electronics and networking company headquartered in El Segundo, California. It produces mobile and computer connectivity devices and peripherals for consumer and commercial use. These include wireless chargers, pow ...
, SMC,
Accton Accton Technology Corporation () is a Taiwanese company in the electronics industry that primarily engages in the development and manufacture of networking and communication solutions, as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or original desig ...
, and
3Com 3Com Corporation was an American digital electronics manufacturer best known for its computer network products. The company was co-founded in 1979 by Robert Metcalfe, Howard Charney and others. Bill Krause joined as President in 1981. Metcalfe ex ...
. The controversy grew after CSIRO sued US carriers
AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...
,
Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in ...
and
T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic (T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland (T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobile ...
in 2010, with the organisation being accused of being "Australia's biggest patent troll", a wrathful "patent bully", and of imposing a "WiFi tax" on American innovation. Further fuel was added to the controversy after a settlement with the carriers, worth around $229 million, was announced in March 2012. Encouraged in part by an announcement by the Australian Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills Science and Research, Senator Chris Evans, an article in
Ars Technica ''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sci ...
portrayed CSIRO as a shadowy organisation responsible for US consumers being compelled to make "a multimillion dollar donation" on the basis of a questionable patent claiming "decades old" technology. The resulting debate became so heated that the author was compelled to follow up with a defence of the original article. An alternative view was also published on
The Register ''The Register'' is a British technology news website co-founded in 1994 by Mike Magee, John Lettice and Ross Alderson. The online newspaper's masthead sublogo is "''Biting the hand that feeds IT''." Their primary focus is information tec ...
, challenging a number of the assertions made in the Ars Technica piece. Total income to CSIRO from the patent is currently estimated at nearly $430 million. On 14 June 2012, the CSIRO inventors received the
European Patent Office The European Patent Office (EPO) is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation (EPOrg), the other being the Administrative Council. The EPO acts as executive body for the organisation
(EPO)
European Inventor Award The European Inventor Award(formerly European Inventor of the Year Award, renamed in 2010), are presented annually by the European Patent Office, sometimes supported by the respective Presidency of the Council of the European Union and by the Eur ...
(EIA), in the category of "Non-European Countries".


Genetically modified wheat trials

On 14 July 2011,
Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...
activists vandalised a crop of GM wheat, circumventing the scientific trials being undertaken. Greenpeace was forced to pay reparations to CSIRO of $280,000 for the criminal damage, and were accused by the sentencing judge, Justice
Hilary Penfold Hilary Ruth Penfold PSM (born 1953) is a former Australian parliamentary counsel and judge. She was the first woman to be First Parliamentary Counsel and the first woman to be a resident judge in the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital ...
, of cynically using junior members of the organisation with good standing to avoid custodial sentences, while the offenders were given 9-month suspended sentences. Following the attack Greenpeace criticised CSIRO for a close relationship with industry that had led to an increase in
genetically modified crops Genetically modified crops (GM crops) are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering methods. Plant genomes can be engineered by physical methods or by use of ''Agrobacterium'' for the delivery of ...
, even though a core aim of CSIRO is Cooperative Research "working hand in hand with industry obuild partnerships and engage with industry to generate impact".


Climate change censorship: Clive Spash

On 25 November 2009, a debate was held in the Australian Senate concerning the alleged involvement of the CSIRO and the Labor government in censorship. The debate was called for by opposition parties after evidence came to light that a paper critical of carbon emissions trading was being suppressed. At the time, the Labor government was trying to get such a scheme through the Senate. After the debate, the Science Minister, Kim Carr, was forced to release the paper, but when doing so in the Senate he also delivered a letter from the CEO of the CSIRO,
Megan Clark Megan Elizabeth Clark is an Australian geologist and business executive, former director of the CSIRO, and former head of the Australian Space Agency. Early life and education Clark was educated at Presbyterian Ladies' College. Clark was a ...
, which attacked the report's author and threatened him with unspecified punishment. The author of the paper, Clive Spash, was cited in the press as having been bullied and harassed, and later gave a radio interview about this. In the midst of the affair, CSIRO management had considered releasing the paper with edits that Nature reported would be "tiny". Spash claimed the changes actually demanded amounted to censorship and resigned. He later posted on his website a document detailing the text that CSIRO management demanded be deleted; by itself, this document forms a coherent set of statements criticising emissions trading without any additional wording needed. In subsequent Senate Estimates hearings during 2010, Senator Carr and Clark went on record claiming the paper was originally stopped from publication solely due to its low quality not meeting CSIRO standards. At the time of its attempted suppression, the paper had been accepted for publication in an academic journal,
New Political Economy New Political Economy (NPE) is a relatively recent sub-school within the field of political economy. NPE scholars treat economic ideologies as the relevant phenomena to be explained by political economy. Thus, Charles S. Maier suggests that a pol ...
, which in 2010 had been ranked by the Australian Research Council as an 'A class' publication. In an ABC radio interview, Spash called for a Senate enquiry into the affair and the role played by senior management and the Science Minister. After these events, the ''
Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...
'' reported that "Questions are being raised about the closeness of BHP Billiton and the CSIRO under its chief executive, Megan Clark". After his resignation, an unedited version of the paper was released by Spash as a discussion paper, and later published as an academic journal article.


CSIRO–Novartis–DataTrace scandal

On 11 April 2013, the ''
Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...
'' ran a story on how CSIRO had "duped" the Swiss-based pharmaceutical giant
Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loc ...
into purchasing an anti-counterfeit technology for its vials of injectable
Voltaren Diclofenac, sold under the brand name Voltaren, among others, is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to treat pain and inflammatory diseases such as gout. It is taken by mouth or rectally in a suppository, used by injection, or ...
. The invention was marketed by a small Australian company called DataTrace DNA as a method of identifying fake vials, on the basis that a unique tracer code developed by CSIRO was embedded in the product. However, the code sold to Novartis for more than A$2M was apparently not unique, and was based on a "cheap tracer ... bought in bulk from a Chinese distributor". Novartis was contractually bound not to reverse-engineer the tracer to verify its uniqueness. The ''Sydney Morning Herald'' report alleges that this was done with the knowledge of key CSIRO personnel. CSIRO has since conducted a full review of the allegations and found no evidence to support them.


Alleged bullying, harassment and victimisation

Around 2008–2012, CSIRO fell under the spotlight for allegedly exhibiting a culture of workplace bullying and harassment. Former CSIRO employees started to surface with experiences of workplace bullying and other unreasonable behaviour by current and former CSIRO staff members. CSIRO took the allegations seriously and responded to the articles on a number of occasions. The shadow minister for innovation, industry, science and research,
Sophie Mirabella Sophie Mirabella (née Panopoulos; born 27 October 1968) is an Australian lawyer and former politician who currently serves as a Commissioner on the Fair Work Commission since 24 May 2021. She was previously a Liberal Party member of the Austra ...
, wrote to the government requesting it establish an inquiry. Mirabella said she is aware of as many as 100 cases of alleged workplace harassment. On 20 July 2012
Comcare Comcare is a statutory authority of the Australian Federal Government established under the ''Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act'' 1988Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...
that in relation to the worker's compensation claim for psychological injuries of ex-CSIRO employee, Martin Williams, which was vigorously defended by
Comcare Comcare is a statutory authority of the Australian Federal Government established under the ''Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act'' 1988Administrative Appeals Tribunal The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) is an Australian tribunal that conducts independent merits review of administrative decisions made under Commonwealth laws of the Australian Government. The AAT review decisions made by Australian Gover ...
. Mirabella stated, "even in establishing the framework for this inquiry it is obvious there's an inappropriate 'hands on' approach by CSIRO." In response to the allegations Clark commissioned Dennis Pearce, who is assisted by an investigation team from HWL Ebsworth Lawyers, to conduct an independent investigation into allegations of workplace bullying and other unreasonable behaviour. Mirabella continued to question the independence of the investigation. The first stage of the investigation published its findings at the end of July 2013, and the final stage was scheduled to be complete by February 2014. Post the Pearce Report, CSIRO overhauled its relevant policies and put in place training and whistleblower procedures to address the situation.


CSIRO and climate change

In August 2015 the CSIRO discontinued its annual July and August survey, conducted over the previous five years, polling to create a long-term view of how Australians viewed global warming and their support for action. In the previous 2013 poll, 86 per cent agreed with the statement that climate change was occurring and only 7.6 per cent disagreed. On 11 February 2016, Dr Larry Marshall – a former venture capitalist with Southern Cross Venture Holdings, who had been appointed CEO of the CSIRO on 1 January 2015, caused an international outcry after describing Australia's national climate change discussion as "more like religion than science," a week after announcing hundreds of job cuts to the organisation that will reduce the effectiveness of its climate research team. In "an open letter to the Australian Government and CSIRO", 2,800 of the leading climate scientists from 60 countries say the announcement of cuts to the CSIRO's Oceans and Atmosphere research program has alarmed the global climate research community. They say the decision shows a lack of insight and a misunderstanding of the importance of the depth and significance of Australian contributions to global and regional climate research. The CSIRO has been the target of successive funding cuts under the
Morrison government The Morrison government was the federal executive government of Australia, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison of the Liberal Party of Australia, between 2018 and 2022. The Morrison government commenced on 24 August 2018, when it was sworn ...
, starting with cuts targeting climate science research initiated by
Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott was born in Londo ...
.


Trademark dispute with Cisco

In 2015,
Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develo ...
filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against CSIRO, claiming that the colours and style were too similar. An Australian court ruled in CSIRO's favor and ordered Cisco to pay CSIRO's court costs.


See also

*
Australia Telescope National Facility The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)'s radio astronomy observatories are collectively known as the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF), with the facility supporting Australia's research in radio astron ...
*
Australian Animal Health Laboratory The Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP), formerly known as the Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL), in Geelong, Victoria, Australia is a high security laboratory, run by the CSIRO for exotic animal disease diagnosis and rese ...
*
Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme The Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme (ABBBS), a combination of the former Australian bird banding and bat banding schemes, is managed by the Department of the Environment, Australia. History The earliest banding of wild birds for scientific ...
* Australian Dung Beetle Project * Australian Space Research Institute *
Backing Australia's Ability Backing Australia's Ability (BAA) was a five-year innovation plan launched by the Howard Government in January 2001. Previous policy Previous policies for this group of portfolios under the Howard Government were: * ''Investing for Growth'', De ...
*
Biosecurity in Australia National biosecurity in Australia is governed and administered by two federal government departments, the Department of Health and thDepartment of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry The ''Biosecurity Act 2015'' (C'wealth) and related legislati ...
* Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) * CSIR in
Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
* CSIR in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
* CSIR in
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
*
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere (O&A) is one of the current 8 Business Units (formerly: Flagships) of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's largest government-supported science research agency. Histor ...
*
CSIRO Publishing CSIRO Publishing is an Australian-based science and technology publisher. It publishes books, journals and magazines across a range of scientific disciplines, including agriculture, chemistry, plant and animal sciences, natural history and envir ...
* Defence Science and Technology Group *
Fraunhofer Society The Fraunhofer Society (german: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V., lit=Fraunhofer Society for the Advancement of Applied Research) is a German research organization with 76institutes spread throughout Germany ...
in
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
*
George Bornemissza George Francis Bornemissza (born György Ferenc Bornemissza; 11 February 1924 – 10 April 2014) was a Hungarian-born entomologist and ecologist. He studied science at the University of Budapest before obtaining his Ph.D. in zoology at the Un ...
*
Parkes Observatory Parkes Observatory is a radio astronomy observatory, located north of the town of Parkes, New South Wales, Australia. It hosts Murriyang, the 64 m CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope also known as "The Dish", along with two smaller radio telescopes. T ...
*
Peter Rathjen Peter David Rathjen (born 12 February 1964 in Cambridge, England) is an Australian scientist and medical researcher. He was the 22nd Vice-Chancellor of the University of Adelaide, from January 2018 through July 2020. He was previously the Vice- ...
*
SINTEF SINTEF ( no, Stiftelsen for industriell og teknisk forskning), headquartered in Trondheim, Norway, is an independent research organization founded in 1950 that conducts contract research and development projects. SINTEF has 2000 employees from 7 ...
in
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
*
Susan Wijffels Susan Elizabeth Anne Wijffels (born 3 August 1965) is an Australian oceanographer employed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI); she formerly worked from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in A ...
* TNO in the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
*
Waste management in Australia Waste management in Australia started to be implemented as a modern system by the second half of the 19th century, with its progresses driven by technological and sanitary advances. It is currently regulated at both federal and state level. The ...
* Yingjie Jay Guo


Notes


References


External links

*
CSIRO US website

CSIROpedia
Official CSIRO history site
Commonwealth of Australia. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). (1949–)
National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
, ''Trove, People and Organisation'' record for CSIRO
Commonwealth of Australia. Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). (1926–1949)
National Library of Australia, ''Trove, People and Organisation'' record for CSIR
Australian e-Health Research Centre
(AeHRC)
Centre for Liveability Real Estate
* Issues ** ** {{DEFAULTSORT:Commonwealth Scientific And Industrial Research Organisation Scientific organisations based in Australia Space programme of Australia Atmospheric dispersion modeling Research institutes in Australia Forest research institutes Life sciences industry Industry in Australia Organisations based in Canberra Research institutes established in 1916 1916 establishments in Australia