Innovate. Collaborate. Grow: reflections from Perth
In May, the turnKeyRM team travelled to Perth as a proud sponsor of the Cooperative Research Australia Annual Conference — three days of practical conversations about how Australia’s research sector continues to scale its impact.
In May, the turnKeyRM team travelled to Perth as a proud sponsor of the Cooperative Research Australia Annual Conference, Innovate Collaborate (20–22 May). This year’s theme National Growth, Global Reach, set the tone for three days of practical conversations about how Australia’s research sector continues to scale its impact.
For us, the conference wasn’t just about showcasing technology. It was about listening, testing ideas, and working directly with the people who run research organisations every day.
Reconnecting with the Community
A highlight across the three days was the opportunity to spend time with our clients and peers across the CRC ecosystem. These conversations, whether on the exhibition floor, between sessions, or over coffee, are always the most valuable part of the event.
They consistently reinforce the same point: research management is becoming more complex, but expectations for clarity, transparency, and speed are only increasing.
Breakfast User Group: Making AI Practical
We kicked off one morning with a Breakfast User Group session focused on AI capability in research management, looking at both Salesforce’s Agentforce and Headless.
Rather than abstract discussions about AI, the demonstrations centred on practical applications, especially gaining insights from the data for executive teams. The questions we were grappling with are:
- Where can AI actually reduce administrative burden today?
- How do you apply it safely within structured operational and research data?
- What does “useful” look like for business managers and operations teams?
The discussion was grounded, candid, and highly interactive. It was clear that interest in AI is strong, but the sector is looking for
Workshop: Designing Research Lifecycles
We also ran a hands-on workshop with business managers focused on building and refining lifecycle models.
The session explored both:
- Project lifecycle management, and
- IP lifecycle management
Participants worked through how these lifecycles are structured in their organisations today, where they break down, and how better system design can support them.
A consistent theme emerged:
many organisations think they have clearly defined processes on paper, but struggle to see or manage them effectively in practice.
The workshop reinforced the value of:
- Making lifecycles visible
- Aligning systems with real operational workflows
- Treating IP management as a first-class, trackable process
Demonstrating What’s Next: Headless + AI Integration
At our stand, we demonstrated new Salesforce headless architecture capabilities, including the ability to connect directly to commercial AI platforms (via MCP) such as Claude.
This opens up a different model for research systems:
- Data remains structured and governed within Salesforce
- AI tools can interact with that data in a controlled way
- Users can access insights and automation without leaving their workflows
The conversations this sparked were some of the most forward-looking of the conference. Many organisations are now thinking about how to safely expose their data to AI, not whether they should.
Looking Ahead
The Innovate Collaborate conference continues to be one of the most valuable forums for the CRC community. This year reinforced that the sector is:
- Actively exploring AI, but with caution and intent
- Focused on improving operational visibility
- Ready to modernise systems that underpin research delivery
For the turnKeyRM team, the trip to Perth was a reminder that our role isn’t just to build systems—it’s to help organisations make better decisions, faster, with confidence in their data.
We left with stronger relationships, better insight into the challenges our clients are facing, and a clear sense of where the sector is heading next.