Part I. Introduction: Paper 1. The Cooperative Research Centre for Beef Generic Technologies and the "Accelerated Adoption through Sustainable Beef Profit Partnerships" Project

Technology adoption in the Australian beef industry has been low and slow compared to that in the intensive livestock and cropping industries. Adoption needs to be higher and faster to fully capture the benefits from new beef genetic and other technologies. The principles of rapid improvement and innovation, and accelerated adoption, provide an innovative solution to this problem. In the Beef CRC, Sustainable Beef Profit Partnership (BPP) teams meet regularly to assess their current performance, set targets for future productivity increases, and use a profitability framework to assess the potential impact of new technology in their beef businesses. Their thinking, decisions and actions are based on the principles and process of Continuous Improvement and Innovation (CI&I). Capacity building and partnership outcomes are also assessed for improvements and innovations. The BPP teams are supported with appropriate tools, technologies, resources and expertise. The information generated will be used to underpin the achievement of Beef CRC commercialisation outputs and profitability outcomes.