Australia is a leader in an array of research fields, with Australia’s government and university research institutions ranked first in the Asia-Pacific by the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010.
New South Wales is strongly committed to innovation and encouraging the development of new technologies. The State is home to 10 Cooperative Research Centres, which focus on industry partnerships to achieve commercial outcomes. Environmental biotechnology, beef, sheep wool and cotton production, medical research (asthma and ocular afflictions), and fraud detection in capital market systems are some of the specialised fields studied by CRCs based in New South Wales.1
New South Wales is also the headquarters of the National ICT Centre of Excellence (NICTA), the Australian Centre for Advanced Computing and Communications, and five R&D facilities under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). These facilities place New South Wales as Australia's leading State in ICT research capabilities. The State is also the headquarters of two Cooperative Research Centres developing ICT innovations in the services and finance industry sectors.2
The State Government provides funding to nine of Australia's 27 Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence. Among those funded by New South Wales are the national centres for advanced silicon photovoltaics and photonics, biotechnology and development, and quantum computer technology. These centres work closely with government, industry and community organisations and attract research and development funding to New South Wales.