A European Union funded consortium has released the final project report that the entire constriction sector is waiting for – official confirmation that the technology developed by Australian company Calix offers the cheapest way yet discovered to de-carbonise the cement industry. Cement, along with steel, are seen as the most vital yet intractably polluting materials and…
An electric motorcycle builder and a company that uses a seaweed oil extract as a feed additive to reduce livestock methane emissions are two of the latest recipients of co-investments through the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre’s (AMGC) commercialisation fund. The fourth and fifth tranche of the commercialisation fund, which is a part of the federal…
Silicon Quantum Computing chief executive Michelle Simmons and Australia’s Ambassador to the United States Arthur Sinodinos are among the heavyweight speakers to join a special panel discussion on the industrial development opportunities of the new submarines program. The Australian government decision to drop plans to acquire diesel-electric Barracuda submarines from the French in favour of…
Aerospace engineering company Hypersonix Launch Systems has teamed up with the University of Southern Queensland to create a re-usable hypersonic UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) to be named Delta Velos. The launch vehicle is to be a technology demonstrator for key aspects of a re-usable small satellite launch system to support Hypersonix first launch due in…
It is an enormous pleasure to announce the outstanding finalists across 11 categories for the inaugural InnovationAus.com 2021 Awards for Excellence. Putting this awards program together has been one of the most rewarding things we have done as a publication. For all of the uncertainty of the times, for all of the difficulties of the…
The Prime Minister’s decision to split responsibility for Christian Porter’s former Industry, Science and Technology portfolio between two existing cabinet ministers has been given a broadly positive reception from the industry. The caveat, as always with this portfolio in recent years, is the generally expressed desire for greater stability within Industry. And there is relief…
The Coalition has won federal elections on the basis that coal jobs must be protected and gas jobs developed in any switch to renewable energy. And what was going to replace our fossil fuel energy exports, a fear Labor also exploited in office developing not one, but three LNG gas export plants at Gladstone? (The…
Sponsored: For Sydney-based digital payment and cybersecurity solutions specialist, IPSI, the COVID pandemic produced a surge in demand for its data security, online payment and call centre payment services, putting a significant stretch on its skilled in-house resources. IPSI has specialised in online payments and secure call centre payments for 15 years, having worked with…
The scale of the federal Manufacturing Collaboration Stream funding was a “once in a lifetime” opportunity for Australia to build “space heritage” into a local ecosystem of space industry component makers and suppliers. Leading a consortium of 36 space businesses, universities and supply chain companies in support of a $150 million bid for funding through…
Australia’s unilateral cancellation of its contract to purchase French submarines and sign up for the AUKUS security pact constitutes a slap in the face for French diplomacy – variously described as a “stab in the back” and a “betrayal” by French diplomats. Though Paris may be shocked by this turn of events, it was somewhat foreseeable,…
After four days of intense competition among autonomous robotics experts from around the world, the team of collaborators from CSIRO Data61, Georgia Tech and Aussie startup Emesent was awarded second place in the ultra-prestigious DARPA Subterranean Challenge. The silver medal placing in what is known as the ‘Olympics for Robotics’ followed “a nail-biting tiebreaker” after…
Up until recently when people talked about ‘digital twins’ and spatial services, it has been in reference to architectural drawings, building layouts and the construction industry. But this is only a small and diminishing part of the story. The reality is that digital twins and the spatial services that come with them have become integral…
Brisbane battery casing design company Vaulta was founded in response to the looming environmental disaster of batteries from electric vehicles. Currently they mostly go to landfill, a massive waste of resources and an environmental menace. Our houses, our cars, our gadgets, our planes – all of them are going renewable, and that energy needs a…
Column: ACCC chief Rod Sims has kicked off a debate on merger law reform in Australia. How valid is the claim he mentioned by the International Monetary Fund that further increases in the market power of already-powerful firms could deter innovation? As reported here, Mr Sims has used a speech to the Competition and Consumer…
Political reporter and Ms Represented creator Annabel Crabb will join business and public sector luminaries Lucy Turnbull, Wendy McCarthy and Amy Brown on Thursday September 23 for a special presentation on structural and cultural barriers to workplace diversity. The Counterpoint: Women in Government series explores the kind of structural frameworks and cultural settings need to…
Being the Minister for Industry is not a job for life. That’s not how our system of government works. But in the Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison era, being Industry minister is not even a job for a year. At least that’s according to the shadow industry spokesman Ed Husic, who has been making hay while the sun shines…
At a time when the economy is reeling from pandemic-related stress, when geo-strategic tensions have put a premium on building sovereign capability, and when the pace of technological change has accelerated, Australia finds itself without an Industry minister. In reality, the Industry portfolio has been rudderless for most of the year, ever since Scott Morrison’s…
The launch of the Technology Council of Australia last month marks a watershed moment for the industry in this country. It adds significant weight to the tech sector’s voice in national conversations about the economy and about regulation. As the peak body for the technology industry in this country, the Tech Council arrived an incredible…
New and emerging technologies are “not disrupters but enablers”, according to FinTech consultant to the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius and global adviser on responsible adoption of financial technology Loretta Joseph, who has spent more than 25 years working in financial markets. “Bitcoin was supposedly going to disrupt the banks; the Internet was going to take banks away,” said Ms Joseph. “But it just changes the business models. “If a lot of people stopped looking at…
Some of Australia’s most eminent women’s advocates will this month explore the structural and cultural barriers to equality in the public and private sector, with a focus on where progress is being made and how diversity leads to better outcomes. Business and public sector luminaries Wendy McCarthy, Lucy Turnbull, and Amy Brown will join Annabel…
Have you got an eye for innovation? Public voting has now opened for prestigious People’s Choice award in the InnovationAus.com 2021 Awards for Excellence. A shortlist of 25 of Australia’s most ambitious companies has been selected from all the entries to each of the other categories by our distinguished panel of judges. This is your…
It’s a year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic and the long-term and substantial realignments in global supply chains are starting to become more obvious. COVID exposed more risk in global systems than many companies and governments are comfortable with, and a massive restructuring of supply lines has begun. Companies have sought to shorten…
Australia’s Chief Scientist Dr Cathy Foley and CSIRO chair David Thodey have taken on the joint roles of Patron for the inaugural InnovationAus.com 2021 Awards for Excellence. With entries now closed for the 2021 and judging already underway, attention now turns to the unveiling of the first winners across 12 categories at a black-tie gala…
It’s not quite a journey into the unknown, but Australia’s growing interest in the space sector has nonetheless taken the nation into new commercial frontiers. And deep-tech focused venture capital outfit Main Sequence has shown more interest than most. It says something about the pace with which commercial space interests have been moving in this…
A project to improve and commercialise technology for extracting critical minerals from bauxite residue and another that advances a ‘bionic eye’ for the sight impaired are among the latest recipients of Cooperative Research Centre grants. Some 22 industry-led collaborative R&D projects will share $47.1 million in funding unveiled by Industry Minister Christian Porter on Friday….
Total spending by Australian business on research and development remains at 2012 levels, despite small increases in each of the past three financial years. A new Australian Bureau of Statistics report found business expenditure on R&D BERD) was $18.17 billion in 2019-20, slightly below the $18.32 billion that businesses spent on R&D in 2011-12 at today’s…
The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering has urged the government not to wait for emerging technologies to mature to achieve significant carbon emission reductions, but to push ahead with existing tech.
ATSE has called on the federal government to commit to immediate and decisive action to reduce the nation’s greenhouse gases, ahead of the Glasgow COP26 Climate Change Summit in November.
In a position statement made public overnight, the academy – which brings together Australia’s leading thinkers in applied science, technology and engineering – put forward three clear recommendations to government on the need for urgent action on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Commit to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest, and set a more ambitious interim emissions target for 2030
Prioritise the immediate deployment of existing mature, low-carbon technologies which can make deep cuts to high-emitting sectors before 2030
Develop a national net zero emissions policy and implementation framework
Most significantly, the ATSE scientists and engineers said to achieve reductions, policymakers did not need to wait for emerging technologies because they could already be economically achieved through the immediate deployment of existing mature, low-carbon technologies like solar, wind and energy storage (batteries and pumped hydro), combined with electrification of transport and sustainably designed buildings.
The group said there was also an opportunity to “decarbonise the use of natural gas” (to be used for firming to support renewable energy during the transition) through technologies such as carbon capture, utilisation and storage technology, or by blending hydrogen with natural gas, in the short to medium term this decade.
Australia had the potential to be among the world’s leading nations in renewable energy generation, low-emission and negative emission technologies, they said.
ATSE president Hugh Bradlow said that a firm commitment to net zero emissions with clear targets and a plan to achieve them would pave the way for large-scale infrastructure roll-out, and would provide the certainty for industry and investment.
“A 50 per cent emissions reduction by 2030 would set a clear course for net zero emissions by 2050. It’s also realistically achievable, based on the technology already available,” Professor Bradlow said.
“To meet the more ambitious targets we’re calling for, the Australian Government must develop a plan and solid policy framework to guide and coordinate the deployment of low-emissions technology as soon as possible.”
ATSE’s Energy Forum chair Dr John Soderbaum said Australia could not rely on market forces or the current ‘business as usual’ approach. It was not a realistic option.
Australia’s global trading partners viewed the nation’s current 2030 emissions target as “manifestly inadequate” and out of step with their own commitments, Dr Söderbaum said.
“Trading partners will inevitably apply increasing commercial pressure if we fail to set more ambitious targets,” he said.
“The technology needed for Australia to transition to a net zero emissions economy already exists. What’s more, we are well placed to capture significant economic opportunities as we make that transition.”
Australia is preparing to make substantial investments in the assets, facilities and services that support research and innovation.
An expert working group, led by Dr Ziggy Switkowski, is currently guiding the development of a roadmap to identify Australia’s research infrastructure needs and priorities for the next five to ten years. The Australian Government will invest $4 billion in national research infrastructure by 2028-29 as part of its long-term commitment to the research sector.
But why do we need such major investments in a country with a relatively small population? The answer is that whilst these things are expensive to build and maintain – they are essential to our future innovation and economy as a nation.
Collectively known as national research infrastructure, such advanced capability means we can explore and use particle and nuclear physics; discover the universe; read genomes and visualise living tissue; store and access massive amounts of data and communicate with the world; survey landscapes, ecosystems and the marine world; visualise crop productivity and screen for biosecurity; support human health and translate medical research; understand and predict our weather and climate; and manage and plan our future communities to keep them safe and our industries productive.
Australia’s research infrastructure is always operating in the background, its work often remains unseen and unnoticed. Importantly, this infrastructure is flexible – as evidenced by the vital role played by our national research infrastructure in supporting Australia’s recovery from events like bushfires, the COVID-19 pandemic and recent cyber-attacks – making it possible for Australia to quickly adapt and respond to major unplanned incidents.
Author, Professor Andy Lowe of the University of Adelaide
Australia’s research infrastructure is typically hosted by publicly funded research agencies across the country. This infrastructure provides tremendous benefit to Australians by enabling and supporting strategic national-scale and collaborative equipment, resources and experts, all of which enable Australia’s researchers to address key national and global challenges quickly and effectively.
Australia’s research infrastructure is essential if our researchers are to generate knowledge and products that have real impact. The facilities that resulted from the 2016 Roadmap currently employ 1400 highly skilled technical staff and support 65,000 industry, higher education and government researchers, as well as a further 12,000 international researchers. The data generated are used by millions more across all sectors. Our research infrastructure supports and develops the broad range of fundamental (basic) and applied research that we need to advance through innovation, as well as supporting its commercialisation.
This infrastructure strategically aligns with and helps deliver on our nation’s strategic research priorities, from food, soil and water, through transport, cybersecurity, energy, resources and advanced manufacturing to bioinformatics, health and advanced physics.
As Australia’s former Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel said, “After my appointment in 2016, my eyes were opened to the incredible resources that support the work of the Australian research system. We just couldn’t do the work that we do in so many fields, such as environmental research, astronomy and health, and make the gains that we do, and have the impact that we do, without these facilities and mechanisms.”
Towards the Sustainable Development Goals
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to support global endeavors towards a more sustainable and prosperous future. Australia is committed to achieving this agenda and our national research infrastructure provides essential tools to support our efforts.
Our ability to harness the potential of research facilities was highlighted during the 2019-20 bushfire season and demonstrates how we are working to address Goal 15 – Life on Land. Almost all of the Research Infrastructure facilities mobilised resources to support modelling and predictions, monitoring the fires and human health or have subsequently been involved in recovery or future preparedness efforts.
In one example, The Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), Atlas for Living Australia (ALA), the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility and Bioplatforms Australia rapidly deployed resources and capability to enable environmental surveillance and biodiversity protection. Collaborations and contributions have continued even after the fires were finally extinguished. There are also continuing industry collaborations, such as with the wine industry to assess the quality of wine vintages affected by smoke taint.
Ongoing activity by the ALA, TERN and EcoCommons (supported by the Australian Research Data Commons) enables researchers, in concert with the public, to track the continuing impact of the fires on biodiversity and species distribution.
In addition, TERN worked with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization to trial a new method to assess bushfire-affected areas. The partnership involves the collection of high-resolution satellite imagery of field sites. Researchers can use this data to ‘virtually’ visit the sites before and after the bushfires and better determine fire severity.
Other examples of how Australia’s national research infrastructure supports our efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals include: the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility which is enabling innovation in plant and agricultural science to accelerate the development of new crop varieties that can grow and produce food and fibre in changing climatic conditions, and helping drive our nation towards meeting the commitments of Goal 2 – Zero Hunger:Australia is considered a global leader in national research infrastructure for studying, monitoring and managing our marine estate. The infrastructure in the Integrated Marine Observing System provides capacity to study, understand and manage the marine estate in new ways and is seen as an example of best practice by UNESCO’s Ocean Best Practice initiative, and is delivering on Goals 13 – Climate Action and 14 – Life Below Water.
The unified action of the facilities to some global challenges has been highlighted by our national coordinated response to the recent COVID19 pandemic, and was featured in a recent article by the Australian Academy of Science.
Almost all of the National Research Infrastructure facilities work across a number of the SDGs. For example, AuScope is working to understand how the earth’s crust can help support our future sustainability. Food, water and environmental security issues will become more urgent as Australians place more demands on geological services. The need to audit Australia’s groundwater resource, extract geothermal resources, drive new mineral discoveries, transition to a low carbon economy and store waste products in the subsurface will require sophisticated characterisation of the earth’s crust and its dynamic stress state.
The future of Australia’s research infrastructure
The suite of current Australian research infrastructure is well supported by the Australian Government and its host partners, which include publicly funded research organisations. Short-term funding insecurity a few years ago sent ripples of uncertainty through the research and innovation sector. This led to a strategic framework, which has a 10-year outlook and incorporates the development and reassessment of the roadmap every five years. Long-term budgeting for NCRIS was identified in 2018 as a critical enabler of a trusted network of infrastructure.
The 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap laid out nine focus areas for Australia to maintain its position as a global leader in research and innovation. These focus areas highlighted the needs and requirements of Australia’s research and innovation communities, which included: digital data and eResearch platforms; platforms for humanities, arts and social science; characterisation, such as the physical, chemical and molecular properties of diverse materials; advanced fabrication and manufacturing; advanced physics and astronomy; Earth and environmental systems; biosecurity; complex biology; and therapeutic development.
The government responded to the roadmap by releasing a Research Infrastructure Investment Plan and provided, through budget forward estimates, commitments through to 2028-29.
Investments in research infrastructure have been supported by Liberal and Labor governments since 2006. This bipartisan approach has been crucial to Australia’s success in establishing and maintaining these globally leading capabilities.
The research system in Australia is well respected internationally. However, to remain relevant and at the global cutting edge, we must have processes in place that review the delivery and relevance of current investments and balance this with emerging technologies and priorities.
In announcing consultations around the 2021 National Infrastructure Roadmap consultations, in May this year, Minister for Education and Youth Alan Tudge said the 2021 Research Infrastructure Roadmap would continue to drive innovation and support Australia’s economic recovery.
“Our world-class science and research will continue to contribute to Australia’s response to the evolving challenges and opportunities we now face, and the roadmap will ensure our efforts are focussed on key areas. The roadmap will also support our research commercialisation agenda by identifying areas of opportunity at all stages of the research pipeline.”
Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Christian Porter said the roadmap would ensure Australia had access to the technologies needed to be at the forefront of global research and industry breakthroughs.
It is uncertain how much the landscape of Australian government funded national research infrastructure will change as a result of the 2021 Roadmap, but as Ian Griffiths, chief executive of the Australian National Fabrication Facility put it, “I believe that through applying ourselves to national problems and continuing to put Australia ahead in terms of research outputs we will prove our value and continue to be funded. Little needs to change other than perhaps an ability to be nimbler and work on the right things quickly.”
The Australian Government’s investment and development of new national research infrastructure demonstrate a continued commitment to providing effective and efficient Australian research capacity and support for evidence-based decision and policy making addressing all areas of society.
The extraordinary year, 2020, and our continuing economic uncertainty clearly demonstrate how our research infrastructure provides critical knowledge and responses in times of great and urgent need.
Acknowledgments
This feature article was developed with assistance from the Australian Academy of Science as part of the ‘Science for Australians’ series where experts are asked to shed light on how science benefits all Australians and how it can be used to inform policy. Editorial input was provided by Jana Phan and Rikke Andersen, and content provided by Miles Apperley, Tracy Baylis, Amanda Caldwell, Michael Dobbie, Tom Eddershaw, Cass Erbs, Alan Finkel, Andrew Gilbert, Ian Griffiths, Michelle Heupel, Rosie Hicks, Jane Hunter, Emma Joughin, Beryl Morris, Stuart Newman, Sarah Nisbet, Andrew Peele, Tim Rawling, Susie Robinson, Saba Salehi, Merran Smith, Sean Smith, Andrew Stuchbery, Maree Trovato, Jenny Whiting, Andre Zerger.
Conflict of interest declaration: Professor Andy Lowe is a member of the Advisory Board of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN)
Professor Andy Lowe is Director of the Food Innovation Theme in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Adelaide. He is a member of the South Australian Government’s AgTech Advisory Group, and a member of the Global Table Advisory Group.
Indigenous knowledge of astronomy is now starting to be recognised for its complexity, according to Indigenous astronomer, astrophysicist, science communicator and Gamilaraay woman, Karlie Noon.
Ms Noon is an advocate for First Nations knowledge and has conducted research on how moon halos were used in traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture as weather predictors. She has recently started her PhD in astronomy.
“There are parts of Indigenous astronomy that modern day astronomy is only starting to acknowledge,” she said.
“Although the techniques of observation and applying scientific methods – such as whether something is repeatable – have similarities, however, we are talking about two very different knowledge systems.”
See What You Can Be: Karen Lee-Waddell, Corrie McLeod and Karlie Noon
One of these differences is in the way information is transmitted. “In an oral culture, knowledge will be in a package and that package is a story transmitted through stories, song, dance and ceremony.
“The story will have a lot of scientific information in there, but it also has a thread holding it together. It gives a context and meaning to the knowledge, instead of just having a fact as a standalone factor.”
Reading the classics in her university studies provides an insight into the way knowledge systems develop, according to Dr Karen Lee-Waddell, the director of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Regional Centre (AusSRC).
“It was interesting to see how ancient scholars/philosophers used to think about things and piecing together concepts,” said Dr Lee-Waddell.
“I wanted to understand why planets were named the way they were and that meant learning about ancient Greek and Roman mythology,” she said.
This led to reading how the ancients would do mathematics and discovering that theorems still relevant today. “We really are standing on the shoulders of giants because these early scholars had nothing, and they created all these concepts and we’re still using and testing them to this day.”
Karlie Noon and Dr Karen Lee-Waddell spoke with InnovationAus Publisher, Corrie McLeod, as part of See What You Can Be, a series championing Australia’s extraordinary female changemakers who are blazing new pathways across the STEM sector. This episode discussed how a passion for what has been previously discovered led to careers focused on the stars.
Dr Lee-Waddell, who is leading the Australian effort to build computing and data intensive research capabilities that will support astronomers using the next generation of telescopes, has a focus on some of the most fundamental questions of human existence.
“We’re building the biggest telescope that we can – to answer these big questions,” she said. “Some of these questions include things like how the first stars and black holes formed and how galaxies evolve.
“Was Einstein right about gravity? What is this dark energy phenomenon that we keep hearing about? And why is the universe expanding? And, then one of the biggest questions that the centre hopes to answer is ‘Are we alone in the universe?’.”
For Ms Noon, an interest in philosophy led to a fascination with cosmology and a book that changed everything. “I read A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking and getting an understanding of how we don’t really know all that much was my gateway into astronomy and science,” she said.
The cultural aspect and discovering the commonalities as well as the differences between Western and Indigenous knowledge has given Ms Noon a profound interest and commitment to astronomy and the common threads even with different knowledge systems.
“Although Indigenous knowledge systems are presented in a very different way to Western knowledge systems, we have one sky. We’re looking at the same thing, whether you’re from an Indigenous culture or not,” she said.
Find out more about See What You Can Be, where insightful women share what they have learned on their STEM journey – including success stories, opportunities and barriers to entry – while encouraging viewers to challenge outdated stereotypes.
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InnovationAus.com has partnered with Cool Australia to make the video recordings and assets from See What You Can Be available to teachers all over Australia as resources, should they fit elements of their teaching focus.
The Western Australian government’s 2021-22 State budget is investing in manufacturing including green steel, green hydrogen and battery metals, with the establishment of a $100 million Investment Attraction and New Industries Fund (IANIF).
The fund aims to support economic diversification and find new opportunities in industries that are only just emerging.
The fund will support industry assistance, attraction and grants across a range of emerging industries, and builds on existing initiatives such as the Renewable Hydrogen Strategy, the Future Battery Industry Strategy, and the New Industries Fund.
WA Premier Mark McGowan with Innovation Minister Don Punch
The IANIF will include $16.7 million over four years to support innovation across the State, by accelerating new and existing SMEs to help diversify the economy and create new jobs.
The fund will also provide an additional $4 million over four years for the space industry.
The funding is to grow Western Australia’s space industry by attracting investment and providing support for start-ups and SMEs and will include funding for three staff to support space industry program development and outcome delivery.
The 2021-22 State Budget also includes funding to establish the WA Jobs Taskforce that helps identify training and job creating opportunities in Western Australia, including in manufacturing, new industries and in regional communities.
Premier Mark McGowan said: “Despite the major economic shock caused by COVID-19, the WA economy has roared back to life, but there is more to do.
“This investment will help diversify the State’s economy by supporting new and emerging industries to deliver the WA jobs of the future.”
state development minister Roger Cook said the state was at the forefront of developing exciting and innovative projects.
“Launching WA’s first spacecraft at Cape Canaveral was an exciting venture and is the kind of project we can continue to develop with state government support.
“New and emerging science and innovation businesses should be buoyed by the McGowan Government’s commitment to the industry in this year’s state budget.”
