Blue water: The open sea; deep water.

Conference papers: Includes published conference papers and edited proceedings.

Ecosystem services: The important benefits for human beings that arise from healthily functioning ecosystems, notably production of oxygen, soil genesis, and water detoxification.

Granted patents: Once a patent application has been examined and satisfies various patentability criteria, it becomes a granted patent. It remains a granted patent until the end of the patent period (normally 20 years), provided renewal fees are paid.

Inventions: This is the number of inventions where one or more patent/applications are current. Accordingly, an invention might include a granted patent that is near the end of its life (for example, 20 years), or it might include a provisional patent application that has only recently been filed. Further, one invention might relate to a patent application in one country only, or it might relate to over 20 patents/applications in different countries covering the one invention.

Journal articles: Includes journal articles and other items published as part of a journal (for example, an editorial or book review).

Live patent cases: A live patent case is where either a patent application or a granted patent exists. It does not include cases that have lapsed, expired or been withdrawn. Applications may include provisional applications, Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications and applications pending in Australia or foreign jurisdictions.

New inventions: This is the number of new inventions where an application (normally an Australian provisional application) is filed for the first time to protect that invention. A major implication of filing the provisional application is that it provides the applicant with an internationally recognised priority date. A small percentage of CSIRO’s new inventions are filed as United States provisional applications.

PCT applications: International PCT applications are a ‘temporary’ phase in any international patenting process and these have a life span of 18 months. This type of application is very common in major international corporations and is used by CSIRO when it considers its invention may have wide commercial application. In view of the 18-month time span, it is reasonable to approximate that two-thirds of the reported number were filed in the previous 12-month period.

Pulsar: A rotating neutron star that emits a focused beam of electromagnetic radiation.

Recordable Injury Frequency Rate: This is calculated as the sum of Lost Time Injuries per million hours worked plus Medical Treatment Injuries per million hours worked.

Science excellence: An assessment of the competitiveness of CSIRO’s research capabilities. It recognises CSIRO’s science (for example, total citations) and excellence (for example, citation rates). It tends to be output-oriented and includes lagging metrics relating to research publication performance (bibliometrics), esteem measures, such as awards, and expert-peer reviews.

Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions: Greenhouse gas emissions are organised into scopes to avoid double-counting emissions and indicate those that organisations can control (Scope 1) versus those that they can influence (Scope 3). Scope 1 are emissions from sources that are owned or controlled by the organisation. Scope 2 are emissions from the consumption of purchased electricity, steam, or other sources of energy generated upstream from the organisation. Scope 3 are emissions that are a consequence of the operations of an organisation, but are not directly owned or controlled by the organisation.

Sponsored students: Students are deemed to be sponsored if they receive a full or partial scholarship paid from CSIRO funds to pursue a research project leading to a PhD, master’s or Honours degree. This excludes CSIRO employees, whose study expenses are considered to be training and development.

STEM X Academy: A professional learning experience that develops hands-on, inquiry-based lessons and activities.

STEM+ Business Fellowship program: Run through the Science and Industry Endowment Fund, the program embeds early career researchers into an industrial workplace over a two-to-three year period.

Supervised students: Students are deemed to be supervised if they have a CSIRO staff member appointed officially by the university a co-supervisor for their research project. Normally, CSIRO staff are joint supervisors in conjunction with a university academic.

Technical reports: Includes individually authored chapters as well as whole reports that are subject to peer review and usually publicly released.

Technological output: An assessment of the organisation’s excellence in delivering relevant research results to its users. This involves working on the right problems, doing projects well and excellence in transferring our research results. One metric for this, given this context, is CSIRO’s patenting activity, as this provides an understanding of its technological output and potential impact.

Telehealth: The use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support long‑distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health and health administration.

Wide-field phased-array feeds: Radio telescopes use specialised cameras, called receivers, to detect and amplify radio waves from space. Receivers with a larger field-of-view are called wide-field. ‘Phased array feed’ receivers are made up of 188 individual receivers, positioned in a chequerboard-like arrangement. Alongside the receivers are low-noise amplifiers, which greatly enhance the weak radio wave signals received.