Announced in the 2004-2005 budget, NCRIS is providing $542 million from 2004-05 to 2010-2011 to develop and fund national research infrastructure projects.

Through NCRIS the Australian Government is implementing a strategic and collaborative approach to investment in world-class research facilities, networks and infrastructure that are accessible to researchers and meet their long-term needs.

NCRIS has departed from common practice in its approach to developing project proposals for research infrastructure.

Rather than seeking proposals, the NCRIS Committee (see below) commissioned independent external facilitators to develop stategic, national investment plans for priority capabilities identified in the NCRIS Roadmap. In developing the investment plans, facilitators worked with researchers, research managers, research funders and users, to define the infrastructure requirements and the collaborative arrangements for managing the operation and accessibility to facilities and equipment. While it is not a competitive grants program, the projects must represent excellence in their fields.

The key principles underpinning NCRIS are that:

• Australia’s investment in research infrastructure should be planned and developed with the aim of maximising the contributions of the R&D system to economic development, national security, social wellbeing and environmental sustainability;
• Infrastructure resources should be focussed in areas where Australia is, or has the potential to be, world-class (in both discovery and application driven research) and provide international leadership;
• Major infrastructure should be developed on a collaborative, national, non-exclusive basis. Infrastructure funded through NCRIS should serve the research and innovation system broadly, not just the host/funded institutions. Funding and eligibility rules should encourage collaboration and co-investment. It should not be the function of NCRIS to support institutional level (or even small-scale collaborative) infrastructure;
• Access is a critical issue in the drive to optimise Australia’s research infrastructure. In terms of NCRIS funding there should be as few barriers as possible to accessing major infrastructure for those undertaking meritorious research;
• Due regard be given to the whole-of-life costs of major infrastructure, with funding available for operational costs where appropriate; and
• The Strategy should seek to enable the fuller participation of Australian researchers in the international research system.