Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australian Government

Acknowledgement of Country

CSIRO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands, seas and waters, of the area that we live and work on across Australia and pays its respect to Elders past and present. We recognise that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples make extraordinary contributions to Australian life including in cultural, economic and scientific domains.

Indigenous science projects

Solving the greatest challenges

$150 million missions to boost Australian agriculture and food sectors

Three major new missions from CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, will grow Australia’s agriculture and food sectors targeting $20 billion by 2030.

Australia’s Synthetic Biology Roadmap

This Roadmap provides a commercially focused and strategic view of how synthetic biology could underpin a thriving Australian bioeconomy worth up to $27 billion by 2040.

Innovate to Grow: Agrifood

Investigate R&D opportunities in agrifood with our free course for small to medium enterprises and start-ups. Applications open 13 September - 11 October 2021.

Our greatest inventions

World's first Hendra vaccine

In 1994, a deadly new virus threatened to stop Australia's premier horse race – the Melbourne Cup. Over the next 16 years, 18 outbreaks of the now infamous Hendra virus were recorded through Queensland and NSW. In May 2011 CSIRO announced the development of a prototype vaccine for horses. By March 2013 our scientists confirmed that horses were immune to a lethal exposure of the Hendra virus six months post vaccination.

How it happened

Plastic banknotes

Australia's introduction of plastic bank notes with optically variable devices (OVDs), developed by CSIRO, was a world's first and represented a paradigm shift towards a currency secure against forgery. This was one of our longest and most successful research initiatives.

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Solving the greatest challenges

$150 million missions to boost Australian agriculture and food sectors

Australia’s Synthetic Biology Roadmap

Innovate to Grow: Agrifood

Our greatest inventions

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