The RoZetta Institute is putting together a superannuation and retirement income Cooperative Research Centre (Super CRC) bid that seeks to align academic and industry in a collaborative applied research project with commercial benefits. The institute is a member-based, not-for-profit organisation comprising industry and university members with an endowment of over $30 million.
The aim of the Super CRC is to unlock the potential of Australia’s $3.4 trillion superannuation industry by improving retirement income adequacy and alignment for super fund members, lowering costs and creating more growth opportunities for industry participants as well as reducing costs for the Federal government to alleviate budgetary constraints.
“The Super CRC, if funded in 2023, will be a cooperative and collaborative commercial research program that will involve both academics and industry, but most importantly, will be driven by industry needs,” said David Gallagher, the designated chief scientist of the CRC.
“The research effort would look to provide commercial solutions using a collaborative model, and under the CRC scheme, will not be policy focused.”
The CRC is seeking between $60 million to $70 million from the government over 10 years which will be matched by contributions from universities and industry. Established in 1990, the CRC program seeks to marry collaboration between industry experts, academics and researchers with public sector stakeholders. The program is administered by the Federal government’s Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources.
Areas of research
The Super CRC has identified four areas of research – super data science, super behavioural science, super system efficiency and super system governance. Technology and system architecture will underpin each stream and in each case, industry and business objectives will drive the research and development as well as commercialisation of these initiatives.
Within the streams of research, five areas have been identified to have commercial opportunities, which are projected to save more than $1.2 billion per annum. They are the development of more tailored retirement products and services such as drawdown management tools; improved transparency, objectivity and analytics of super fund performance; devising tools and analytics for large-scale funds and sophisticated investors in global markets; improved capabilities and tools to enhance the performance of self-managed super funds and constructing a low-cost, high quality independent digital advice platform for retirees.
The bid team is currently working to finalise the number of industry partners which is expected to be between 20-25 including super funds, ASX-listed companies, and small and medium enterprises according to Gallagher.
The response from industry participants has been quite strong said Gallagher as more Australians head towards retirement. “We are getting good support from industry to mount a strong case for government funding to make a significant contribution to the superannuation sector,” he said.
“The superannuation system is at an important point of inflexion, as the decumulation segment of the system becomes increasingly important, and as gaps and missing markets are needing to be filled.”
Conexus Financial Pty Limited has made a non-binding commitment to be a partner in Superannuation and Retirement Income CRC.
