CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, must always evolve and adapt.

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Over the past 100 years, we have evolved our scientific focus to meet the most important challenges of the time and in doing so have maintained the trust of the community.

We have also adapted to financial pressures, growing during good times and becoming more focused when money is tight, delivering impact to the nation throughout.

While we have delivered extraordinary benefits, over time, our resources have become stretched, and we have reached a critical point.

As today's stewards of CSIRO, we are determined to again evolve and adapt. This is not a choice, it's an imperative because scientific research and development are at the core of Australia's future.

In recent decades, CSIRO has been managing budgets year-to-year while trying to maintain the breadth of our programs and the size of our dedicated workforce, currently 5600 people.

We are now at a point where that is not possible within our existing budget.

Over the past 15 years, our appropriation has increased by 1.3 per cent per year, with the average inflation rate at 2.7 per cent, and the costs of running a modern science agency are rising much faster.

For example, the cost of computing has soared as greater amounts of data are generated, and the cost of protecting our data and people from cyber security threats has risen dramatically compared to just a few years ago.

CSIRO is not unique in........

© Canberra Times