CSIRO's future

摘要

Ian Maxwell's analysis of CSIRO (July, p. 18), prompted by his meeting with new CEO Larry Marshall, will no doubt interest many readers of Chemistry in Australia. Ian admits to some confusion regarding CSIRO's role and its struggle to 'find relevance'. He sees a leadership seemingly desperate to make CSIRO more profitable or at least generate enough positive publicity to secure government funding. He wonders about its complicated structure and whether all parts suit the Australia of 2015. He suspects that future commercial income growth will be problematic as the market approaches saturation. Most significantly, he questions the emphasis on science when the real growth is in engineering and IT. According to Ian, Larry Marshall is still thinking about future strategy.