A strategy for achieving innovation through Sheep Cooperative Research Centre research and development

The Sheep Cooperative Research Centre’s role to facilitate the transformation of the Australian sheep industry is complicated by the extensive nature of the industry across some 31 000 small to medium farming enterprises, linking to both sheep meat and wool supply chains. Close integration of the market with research and adoption through a product development focus is enabling a staged product development process while providing the management flexibility needed for development of each product type within target markets. This paper presents the basis of the New Product Development Framework and the adoption strategies used across the Sheep Cooperative Research Centre programs to accelerate utilisation of products developed out of research. These strategies include: communication; training coordination; network engagement and use of key influencers; supply chain engagement and the use of specific adoption research tools.