SMART CRC Federal Budget response from Professor Simon Cool, CEO
The SMART CRC welcomes the Federal Government’s measures to strengthen Australia’s research, development and innovation ecosystem through the 2026–27 Federal Budget.
From the continued expansion of the Medical Research Future Fund, to support for the National One Stop Shop and the establishment of the National Resilience and Science Council; these commitments send a clear signal of support for Australia’s R&D sector and reinforce the importance of collaboration-led models like CRCs in delivering tangible impact.
The SMART CRC sits at the centre of the regenerative therapies ecosystem and enables the translation of research into scalable solutions for life-changing therapies. By connecting industry, government and research the CRC model accelerates development, takes the risk out of innovation and moves discoveries into clinics more efficiently.
Particularly relevant to our partners and associates within the regenerative therapies sector are the following commitments:
- Investing $15.8 million for the National One Stop Shop for clinical trials and human research has the potential to reduce the complexity and delay of clinical trial approvals, improving speed, lowering costs and enhancing collaborations.
- Changes to the R&D Tax Incentive advocate for the role of CRCs in the innovation and translation pipeline. To undertake research activities below the new minimum threshold, organisations are required to partner with a registered Research Service Provider or CRC, which further highlights the importance of the CRC program.
- Establishing the National Resilience and Science Council supports strong alignment between public investment in science and innovation and Australia’s priority around resilience, productivity and sovereign capability and aligns with the CRC model as a pathway to accelerate research translation toward industry impact for Australia.
- The continued expansion of the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) is particularly encouraging and the decision to lift the MRFF disbursement cap to $1.0 billion per year from 2030–31 will no doubt support translation, commercialisation and industry led research. The SMART CRC plays a critical role in translating regenerative therapies from discovery to clinical application and as MRFF supported research progresses, SMART CRC bridges the gap by tackling key manufacturing and scale-up challenges.
Through a national network of industry, government and research partners, SMART CRC operates as a translational hub, accelerating the development of clinically validated, manufacturable and investable solutions and moving discoveries more efficiently toward tangible solutions for patients.
The SMART CRC stands ready to deliver faster clinical translation, stronger sovereign capability, and lasting health and economic outcomes for Australia.