Abstract
Australia's Research and Development Corporations (RDCs) are statutory organizations for promotion of R&D on agricultural products. Established for each product, an RDC imposes compulsory levy of research expenditure on the beneficiaries of the research. It serves redistribution of R&D funds for public organizations, acts as a subcontractor in R&D of national research institutes, and coordinates R&D activities on a particular product. The paper describes these functions in comparison with the Japanese systems, and analyzes economic and social backgrounds in Australia that support RDC system.
