Corporate Plan 2021-22

Our Corporate Plan 2021–22 sets a bright vision for the future of Australian science and its contribution to national prosperity.

In 2020, the world turned to science in the face of a global pandemic. A year later, while the pandemic is still ravaging many parts of the world, the role of science has broadened to lead recovery and resilience efforts as we consider what kind of future we want to rebuild.

As the national science agency, CSIRO is helping lead Australia to a bold, technology-led recovery with a visionary program of missions that will drive our economy and our lives forward towards a more innovative and resilient Australia.

Coming out of 2020, we focused on the trends and implications relevant to our nation so we could paint a clearer picture for what CSIRO could be in 2030. We engaged with our people and tested our thinking with other stakeholders. We confirmed that our high-level vision statement should be refined to create a better future for Australia.

To help us achieve our vision, this Corporate Plan provides a four-year view for what we will focus on as we continue our strategy. We will invest in the best science and technology solutions to solve Australia’s challenges, we will evolve our sites into national laboratories supporting Australia’s emerging innovation ecosystem, and leverage our commercialisation expertise to create new value, jobs, and impact from Australian science.

We will contribute to Australia’s recovery and resilience in areas as diverse as natural disasters and pandemic preparedness, transformation for the manufacturing and energy sectors, and utilising the power of artificial intelligence to reinvent science and solutions.

Download and read our Corporate Plan 2021–22 PDF (6 MB)

Our purpose, vision and strategy

Our strategy articulates how we will achieve our purpose and our long-term future vision. It comprises our objectives, which are supported by strategic pillars and values that guide how we seek to change.

Our purpose

Solving the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology.

Our vision

Create a better future for Australia.

Our 2030 vision describes our future state. It was created for and with our people to describe a clear aspiration of our future organisation to guide choices and communicate intentions to our leaders, our people, and stakeholders.

To achieve our vision we will pursue three themes:

1. Leading-edge science and delivery: Motivated by national challenges and looked to and trusted to solve them. Our mission-led focus is enabled by leading‑edge science and technology delivered by an agile way of working.
2. World-class dynamic teams: The best and brightest minds united by our purpose. Our people are enabled to work seamlessly across diverse teams and are able to develop sought-after careers in and outside Team CSIRO.
3. Smart national labs: We share smart infrastructure through the world’s best national laboratories with our customers and partners to inspire collaboration and for national benefit.

Trends influencing our strategy

We have been predicting and solving challenges for more than 100 years. We leverage external insights and our own science foresights to inform our research portfolio decisions and strategic direction.

Innovation through collaboration

We can only continue delivering on our purpose if we collaborate and cooperate with our partners. That’s why we work with Australian and international universities, governments, and industries and businesses of all sizes.

Objectives and strategic focus areas

Our objectives help us deliver on our purpose and respond to the internal and external environment. They include our key activities that will help us achieve our strategic direction for the next four years and move us closer to our vision aspirations.

Objective 1: Conduct and encourage the translation of Australia’s world-class scientific research into impact

Outcome

Deliver impactful solutions at-scale through leading science and technology, collaborative relationships and differentiated capability.

Key activities

• Future manufacturing
• Energy transformation for Australia
• Artificial intelligence for the system
• Pandemic preparedness and resilience
• Natural disaster and resilience
• Missions portfolio
• Enhanced portfolio management for greater impact
• Our customer experience

Objective 2: Create and manage Australia’s national laboratories

Outcome

World-class laboratories and collections led and shared with the research community and the public to drive innovation.

Key activity

• Square Kilometre Array

Objective 3: Stimulate innovation for Australian industry, academia and government

Outcome

Increase the rate of research translation in the innovation system programs and through investments that create new ventures and other outcomes to deliver impact for the nation.

Key activities

• Commercialisation services for the system
• Open access publications model

Capability

Our capabilities help us to deliver our key activities and achieve our purpose.

Investment in future capability

Over the next four years, we will invest in our people, infrastructure and data capabilities and build on existing activities that underpin our objectives and purpose.

Key activities

• Future Science Platforms
• Next generation national labs
• Digital transformation
• Commercialisation pathways
• CSIRO ways of working
• World-class talent
• CSIRO culture program
• Safety and wellbeing

Downloads

• Download and read our Corporate Plan 2021–22 PDF (6 MB)
• Read our Corporate Plan 2021–22 in plain text TXT (61 KB)