Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation
The Australian Wine Research Institute
Cooperative Research Centre for Viticulture (CRCV)
Australian Council of Viticulture
The Wine Industry National Education and Training Advisory Council (WINETAC)
Collaboration on Industry-wide Research and Training Strategies
Grape production is Australia's largest fruit growing industry, comprising more than 3500 individual enterprises, supplying grapes for the winemaking, drying and fresh consumption. Wine production, on the other hand, although previously involving a large number of small producers, is now dominated by medium to large size companies. Six large companies produce the vast majority of wine for both domestic and international consumption. Until the 1970s, the Australian Wine Industry was primarily focused on the domestic market. Through the 1980s however, the industry began to emerge as a major export industry. The industry is continuing to expand and is expected to more than double its size over the next 15 years.
An interesting feature of the industry is that although cooperative activities with government research institutes have a long history, links with universities are comparatively recent. A second feature is that although the industry is widely dispersed geographically, university research, training and consultancy are quite highly concentrated. A third feature is that university links have been built up around joint government, industry and university intermediary agencies.
Unlike collaborative ventures between companies such as BHP and universities, research programs have not been built so much on informal networks but have been mediated through a range of different committees. These committees operate at a formal level and include representatives from each associated body. Strategies and collaborative ventures are defined and then implemented only after agreement from each of the parties and only if consistent with long-term strategy guidelines.
These features provide a considerable contrast to the other case studies. Further, the case emphasises the extent to which industry and university cooperation takes place through a wide range of linking mechanisms. However, in spite of the contrast, the case also illustrates a convergence that is occurring between training and research.
The grape growing industry is largely characterised by small producers who are unable or unwilling to undertake research and development on an individual basis because the results are not always commercially viable and costs are often not recouped. The industry has only recently become involved in an organised way in funding and directing grape research. Consequently, research within the industry depends very much on cooperative arrangements with research institutes, universities, and other State agencies. Intermediary agencies, sponsored by both government and industry bodies, provide structures for developing, managing and maintaining these cooperative arrangements.
Funding for industry/university cooperative research is derived for three major sources:
In addition to government support, the major wine companies also conduct their own in-house research, which concentrates on long-term strategic research, while the smaller companies tend to focus on short-term problem solving research. It is primarily in this directly industry sponsored research and development that consulting links with universities are developed.
Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation
The emergence of rural research and development corporations in the mid 1980s followed a major change in the institutional arrangements for delivering rural research and development funding. The change flowed from concerns that research and development activity was too dominated by government and research providers, and was thus insufficiently focused on useful outputs for industry.
The Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation was established in 1991 as a statutory authority to achieve a higher degree of independence, flexibility and accountability to the grape and wine industry. It achieves these goals through the identification of research and development priorities, promoting the effective use of resources and increasing industry returns. The Corporation thus provides a critical structure for establishing cooperation between industry and universities.
Established principles of the research and development sector are:
(Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation 1995:116).
It achieves this in a number of ways. Firstly, it collects levies and pools funds from a large number of dispersed producers. Second, it sets research priorities through a collective process that involves both industry representatives and senior research scientists. Third, it distributes industry research funds to universities and other research and development performers. Fourth, it serves as a clearing house for both industrial and scientific information, and, finally, it provides financial and infrastructure support for other collaborative mechanisms such as research and training centres and the Wine Research Institute.
Nearly 70 per cent of all levies collected are distributed to the Australian Wine Research Institute and approximately 4 per cent of levy funds are distributed directly to universities. In addition a considerable proportion of the Wine Research Institute's funds are also subsequently directed to university-based research.
The Australian Wine Research Institute
The Australian Wine Research Institute was incorporated as a company in 1955. Its aims in broad terms are:
to carry out applied research in the field of oenology; to service the extension needs of the winemakers; to be involved in the teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels; and to assume responsibility for the coordination of information on oenology and viticulture research to the benefit of the Australian wine industry.
(Australian Wine Research Institute 1995)
The Institute's office and laboratories are located at a campus of the University of Adelaide. It has been operating cooperatively for 60 years and has enjoyed a long relationship with both the University of Adelaide, originally through the Roseworthy Agricultural College, and the wine industry. The Institute currently stands as an internationally respected and nationally renowned coordinating and research body for the Australian wine industry.
The head of the Australian Wine Research Institute holds a half-time position as Chair of Oenology at the University of Adelaide. Through this arrangement the Research Institute is linked to the design and promotion of both undergraduate and postgraduate courses within the University. Currently, the Institute has 21 PhD students in cooperation with the University, and is looking to expand its postgraduate courses in line with the increasing needs of the sector.
Each year, graduates take positions in overseas wine companies where experience is gained in all areas of winemaking as well as in the areas of marketing and technical development. Many of these graduates return to the Australian wine industry after a number of years, bringing their skills and international contacts with them. Some of these graduates also feed into the university and government research institute sector.
The Australian Wine Research Institute provides contacts for international scholars who visit and work with the Institute and recognise it as one of the best wine research institutes in the world. This fact has helped promote links within the domestic industry, which relies heavily on research done at the Institute, encouraging its development and cooperating with its strategic goals. The Institute also holds an international conference that serves to bring together scholars and industry representatives. The Institute has a policy of disseminating and providing access to as much information as possible. It has been the capacity of this agency to disseminate information that has enabled it to become a key structure for linking the industry to universities and other research institutions.
Cooperative Research Centre for Viticulture (CRCV)
The CRCV was established in 1992, initially existing as an unincorporated joint venture between two universities, three State Agricultural Departments, the CSIRO, the Australian Wine Research Institute, and an agricultural technology company. Research at CRCV can be categorised into four major groups:
A unique feature of the arrangement is that one of the universities (Charles Sturt University at Wagga Wagga, New South Wales) has its own vineyard and winemaking facilities. This winery is run as a commercial enterprise but has always been primarily concerned with providing training opportunities for wine-grape production and for wine-making. With this facility, the university provides the core training capabilities for the CRC, while the other partner (Adelaide University), located 800km away in South Australia, provides the core of the research capabilities.
The CRC therefore brings together the industrial training capabilities of Charles Sturt University (directed toward both grape producers and wine producers) as well as basic science facilities at the CSIRO, the Wine Research Institute and Adelaide University, the other major university partner.
The CRC's activities have also laid the foundation for international consulting work carried out jointly by Charles Sturt University and its industrial partner in Vietnam and China. Further, through these contacts the university is now also cooperating jointly with international wine producing firms in Portugal. In 1994 the university established its first degree course in wine-making in Portugal.
Australian Council of Viticulture
A key body in training within the wine industry is the Australian Council of Viticulture (ACV). It has strong links with Charles Sturt University and the Cooperative Research Centre for Viticulture, which has well established undergraduate courses focusing on wine science, viticulture and associate diplomas, all of which involve the ACV as an active participant.
While industry is relatively pro-active in the training area it is not extensively involved in the design and implementation of curricula and this is seen as an impediment to cooperation. From an ACV perspective, industry is unaware of the potential influence it can exert on its academic partners and is allowing the universities to drive both the undergraduate and postgraduate programs, a situation which may not always be in the best interests of industry or its research needs.
Another perceived problem is that business people do not think in educational terms and are relatively unfamiliar with university requirements or traditions. In short, there is a cultural gap between industry and the universities which the ACV believes must be narrowed if an effective partnership is to continue. In line with such a strategy, the ACV has recently commissioned three reports, focusing on education and extension issues, strategies for future competitiveness, and research issues. In addition, ACV regularly conducts workshops which bring industry and university representatives together in a common forum to discuss training and research concerns.
An industry-based summer scholarship program, where postgraduates from various institutions take part in a student 'exchange' for up to three months, has been set in place at two universities. The ACV also seeks to bring growers and producers from industry into the universities and CSIRO in an effort to introduce more relevant curricula into degree courses, as well as to provide industry with a greater input into course design.
The Wine Industry National Education and Training Advisory Council (WINETAC)
WINETAC is a collaborative body with half of its membership coming from industry and the other half comprised of representatives of various trade union bodies. One of its prime objectives has been to establish a competency-based training scheme with accreditation. The vision has been to create portable qualifications for employees from flexible courses with on-site delivery mechanisms. To date, six streams have been piloted by WINETAC. They have received significant support from both universities and industry, particularly the larger wine companies such as Southcorp. A key factor in WINETAC's favour is the fact that it is a national training body, something which the state-based TAFE system is not, and is therefore in a unique position of being able to deliver and coordinate training schemes on a national scale.
Currently, Charles Sturt University and the CRCV collaborate in the provision of three wine degree courses and an associate diploma. Small wine producers make up most of these student numbers and are enrolled in the 20-year old wine science degree. The remaining numbers comprise those students who wish to take up a vineyard management career within the industry. These students usually enrol in the Viticulture degree, a relatively new course which focuses on vineyard management within large companies. The course feeds students directly into the eight largest Australian companies as well as many companies in the United States and the United Kingdom. The majority of the associate diploma students are external, usually managing their own small-scale vineyard. Higher degrees and research oriented courses are generally organised jointly by Adelaide University and the Wine Research Institute.
Collaboration on Industry-wide Research and Training Strategies
The Australian Wine Research Institute, the CSIRO, the various State Departments of Agriculture and the Viticulture CRC have all pursued cooperative research, feeding into one another's programs and developing joint projects, in an attempt to place the Australian wine industry on a more competitive international footing. A greater degree of research collaboration has also been achieved between wine companies in the last five years. In most cases, the Wine Research Institute has taken the role of 'research manager' right through the wine making process, and the postgraduate and PhD students from the Institute have also helped in this process, contributing directly to new projects.
Short-term day-to-day problems associated with technical aspects of grape and wine production tend to be dealt with on a project-by-project basis. In the areas of viticulture and oenology, however, it is usually seven to eight years before any results are realised. This does present some problems. Industry has traditionally pursued short-term results, with the need to satisfy shareholders and profit lines. Extending this research time has taken a great deal of effort on the parts of both the Institute and the companies, as well as on the part of the Wine Research and Development Corporation, which has acted as mediator.
It has been a ten-year struggle, but the Wine R&D Corporation has done an excellent job of liaison and convincing the companies that long-term research is in their best interests (interview).
Currently, the companies and research bodies are negotiating a thirty-year strategic plan. While to some this may seem unmanageable, others argue that this sort of long-term vision for cooperative goals is essential in this type of industry.
A feature of the industry is that it involves a large number of small business primary producers, a smaller number of medium to large-size wine producers and an even smaller number of universities.
Structured collaborative links are a major feature for all modes of cooperation. Agencies such as the Research and Development Corporation, the Wine Research Institute and the Australian Viticulture Council play a critical role in mediating between industry and the university sector. They collect levies, distribute research funds, establish priorities and are formative in steering long-term plans for training and research and development. The following chart illustrates the way that intermediary cooperative mechanisms link university and industry activities.
Training links and research links between the sectors have existed for some time, however it is only recently that the various mechanisms are becoming integrated. The CRC provides a mechanism that is bringing together the university vineyard and winery, wine producers and related industries supporting the wine industry.
With the integration of the cooperative activities there has been a significant shift toward international collaboration built around the Australian industry university networks. Whether collaboration has been the driving force for extending these international activities or whether they are more the product of the rapid growth of the industry in Australia is not clear. However, what is clear is that the collaborative structures are serving to generate long-term industry and scientific planning and raising the profile of Australian grape and wine research internationally.
Figure 3: Industry-University Cooperative Links Generated Through Intermediary
Agencies
This figure is only available in print copy.