ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the Australian Government's policies especially that of utilizing a Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) model, as well as the strategies of individual Australian states. It considers the appropriateness of the CRC model for the development of the Australian biotechnology industry and investigates how this model integrates with the development strategies used by various Australian states. The chapter compares published state and national Australian strategies with each other and relate these to current infrastructure and practices by CRCs and industrial clusters to support them. In order to foster the environment alluded to above, in which biotechnology could flourish, the Federal Government initiated a CRC Program more than ten years ago to boost the competitiveness of Australian industry. Tacit knowledge is socialized in Australia through informal meetings and relevant seminar presentations followed by opportunities to network within and between the organizations such as at the Westmead biomedical cluster in New South Wales.
