CSIRO has signed a new, $AUD35 million research agreement with the world’s largest aerospace company, Boeing. Over the next five years the organisations will work together on a broad range of areas of mutual interest including space sciences, advanced materials and manufacturing.

This is the latest step in a 28-year partnership between CSIRO and Boeing that has provided a huge boost for Australia in the global aviation industry.

Earlier this month (April), Boeing named CSIRO as a 2016 Supplier of the Year.

CSIRO and Boeing celebrated their respective centenaries in 2016. Over the years the organisations have invested more than $AUD170 million on 190 joint research projects into everything from innovative new manufacturing processes, to fire retardants, biofuels and software.

CSIRO’s Paintbond technology (illustrated), for instance, has been applied to more than a thousand Boeing airplanes, including some in the skies above Australia, saving millions of dollars in maintenance costs.