Allocation of RD Equipment Expenditure Based on Organisation Discipline Profiles

Sufficient and state-of-the-art research equipment is one component required to maintain the research competitiveness of a R&D organisation. This paper describes an approach to inform more optimal allocation of equipment expenditure levels in a large and diverse R&D organisation, such as CSIRO, CSIRO is Australia's national science agency, is comprised of individual research units and conducts R&D across many disciplines, CSIRO's research equipment expenditure allocations have been to some extent based on both previous years' expenditures and current operating performance. In an effort to refine this process, a method was developed to consider the difference in expenditure profiles across research areas and calculate a benchmark (or expected level) for research units within CSIRO, The approach also allowed CSIRO to compare its actual equipment expenditure levels to benchmark (or expected) levels derived from expenditure data from US academic institutions. This comparison found that CSIRO's overall level of expenditure was below the benchmark levels and assisted in guiding the allocation of available funds more fairly across research units with different equipment needs.