General

The CRC for Advanced Automotive Technology (AutoCRC) transformed the way the Australian automotive industry innovates and collaborates.  It cultivated strategic international linkages, created the sector-wide supply chain development program Automotive Supplier Excellence Australia (ASEA), completed 46 projects resulting in significant new knowledge and commercial impacts and led the creation of the Australian Automotive 2020 Technology Roadmap, which was endorsed by Minister Carr and the Automotive Industry Innovation Council.  The Roadmap identified a series of innovation investment priorities that will enable the Australian industry to internationalise and exploit its core strengths

The new Automotive Australia 2020 CRC is a consortium of 31 local and international industry and research organisations active in the automotive industry and has been awarded $26 million over 5 years to build on key priorities identified in the Roadmap.

The new CRC vision will be achieved by connecting Australian researchers and companies (particularly SMEs) with equally ambitious international companies. Complementing a strong Australian cohort, the CRC has attracted new participants from Malaysia, China and Thailand, to ensure that Australian products and know-how outputs are immediately integrated into high growth global supply chains. Their investments in Automotive Australia 2020 CRC will lead to further investment and more jobs for Australia.

Moreover, the Australian automotive supply chain comprises some 200 SMEs. AutoCRC has specifically sourced SME participants and has established a stronger, more pro-active SME engagement process to ensure that the benefit to Australia is captured and maximised.  This process builds on the ASEA program, itself recognised by a CRC Star Award in 2009 for innovation in SME engagement.