The value of research from the CRC

The value of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC’s research to Australia sums up to $850.1 million over 15 years, according to a new report.

As it entered the final year of its current program and planned a future research agenda, the CRC sought to more systematically evaluate the impact of its research. The Risk Laboratory, the International Institute for Applied Systems Research and Strahan Research were commissioned to undertake an assessment of the value of the research delivered by the CRC over the last seven years, which would be used alongside the independent evaluation conducted by SGS Economics & Planning earlier this year.

The report answers the question, what is the return to Australia of its investment in the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC? The evaluation finds that for every dollar spent on the CRC, there is a seven dollar return and concludes that this represents outstanding value for Australia.

The report outlines the four pathways used to capture the full value of research impact, which was supported by the impacts of three CRC projects—infrastructure resilience, fire surveillance, risk and warning communication during natural hazards—and a case study of the 2018-19 south west Tasmania bushfires.

The assessment estimates the total value of four distinct pathways to value, expanding the potential value of research, highlighting the range of strategic areas that publicly funded research enhances, and indicating the main ways the CRC has value. The four pathways to, and sources of, value are:

1. project level impacts, including improved agency policy or practice, cost savings and effectiveness, and impacts resulting from the combined value to the fire and emergency management sector of all projects and other work
2. training and capacity building, including impacts on the development of the skills, expertise and capacity of people in the emergency management sector, and the proactive creation of active networks and communities of practice
3. knowledge generation, including the production of both formal codified knowledge (published papers, reports, PhDs, etc.) and informal knowledge through seminars, conferences and networks of practice
4. broader social and economic impacts, including the value of avoided loss and damage that can be attributed to CRC research.

Summing the value of each of the pathways, the total value of CRC research is estimated at $850.1 million – which is based on the benefits that have begun to accrue since 2018 and continue over 15 years to the year 2032.

Download and read the full valuation of the research delivered by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC to Australia.