Category: Advanced Manufacturing

February 23, 2025

‘We see an opening’: David Reilly readies quantum play

Six months after Microsoft ended its quantum research efforts in Australia, the renowned Australian physicists who led the work are preparing to launch a local company with global reach. David Reilly and Thomas Ohki are putting the final touches on the as-yet-unnamed company, which is positioning itself as the go-to for quantum computing-related R&D spanning…

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February 21, 2025

Govt urged to act on food manufacturing

The Albanese government is being urged to fund innovation precincts and shared manufacturing facilities in a new national effort on food and beverage production that an inquiry found has suffered under a policy quagmire and challenging conditions. After examining Australia’s food and beverage manufacturing for the last year, a lower house committee on Friday called…

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February 20, 2025

Govt carves out $1bn for green iron play

The Albanese government will invest $1 billion into green iron in a bid to jump start the sector, reduce emissions and revitalise the struggling Whyalla steelworks, the Prime Minister announced on Thursday. Half of the green iron package has been earmarked for the transformation of the South Australian steel plant, which the state government tipped…

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February 20, 2025

Govt backs ‘breakthrough’ battery powder facility with $30m

Queensland manufacturer VSPC will build a demonstration plant to produce cathode powder for lithium-ion batteries after the federal government committed $30 million to the venture on Thursday. The funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) for the plant is a key step in VSPC’s attempt to commercialise its breakthrough process for manufacturing powders. It…

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February 20, 2025

Govt backs ‘breakthrough’ battery powder facility with $30m

Queensland manufacturer VSPC will build a demonstration plant to produce cathode powder for lithium-ion batteries after the federal government committed $30 million to the venture on Thursday. The funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) for the plant is a key step in VSPC’s attempt to commercialise its breakthrough process for manufacturing powders. It…

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February 18, 2025

Green is for go: Gilmour Space gets its ticket to fly

Gilmour Space Technologies has taken another big step toward its first orbital launch with chief executive officer Adam Gilmour expected on Wednesday to announce that the company had been given final approvals for its maiden test flight. The company is understood to have been given a green light from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA)…

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February 11, 2025

Wollongong hydrogen pioneer links with Saudi energy giant

Wollongong manufacturer Hysata will build a commercial-scale demonstration hydrogen production system with its ultra efficient electrolysers in Saudia Arabia in a tie up with an energy giant powering the Kingdom’s ambitious urban and industrial development. Hysata announced this week it has reached an agreement with ACWA Power to deliver commercial scale demonstrations of its high-efficiency…

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February 7, 2025

Bowen’s hydrogen pipedream hits hurdles

Energy minister Chris Bowen says the government remains committed to building out Australia’s fledgling green hydrogen industry despite a series of project setbacks and a delay to the government’s flagship production program. The government had anticipated awarding the first major funding from its $4 billion Hydrogen Headstart program by the end of last year to…

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February 6, 2025

Former spy chief Nick Warner joins PsiQuantum board

Former spy chief Nick Warner has been appointed as a non-executive director of PsiQuantum, the tech startup that will stage its attempts to build the world’s first utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer in Australia. Mr Warner, who spent years as the director-general of the Office for National Intelligence (ONI), takes the role overseeing its operations in…

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February 4, 2025

Feds back study into WA rare earths processing facility

A critical minerals processing facility slated for Perth has progressed to the next stage, with the Western Australian and federal governments committing $3 million to an initial feasibility study. The study, announced on Tuesday, will investigate the $200 million common user facility first flagged last year to boost the state’s downstream processing potential amid efforts…

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February 2, 2025

Countdown: Gilmour takes $20m capital hit on delays

Gilmour Space Technologies chief executive Adam Gilmour estimates that the company has taken “a $20 million hit to our capital” during its long wait for regulatory approval for the maiden launch of its Eris rocket. The inability to launch had also put the brakes on the company’s next capital round at a time when VC…

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January 31, 2025

Victorian electric engine pioneer expands with new facility

Kite Magnetics, a Monash University spinout producing ultra-energy-efficient electric generators and engines, will set up a new advanced manufacturing facility in Melbourne’s southeast. The state-of-the-art facility, announced on Friday, will allow the self-described B2B CleanTech startup to accelerate its development and production of light-weight motor technology. More than 650 jobs will be created in the…

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January 30, 2025

Anti-drone tech player sets sights on local Defence opportunity

From an inconspicuous former wool store in inner city Sydney, one of Australia’s defence technology pioneers is working to tackle the escalating security threat presented by unmanned drones. The new home of the counter-drone device-maker DroneShield is a game changer for the fast-growing company, which listed on the ASX back in 2016 and has a…

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January 30, 2025

Govt procurement gets electric bus maker moving

Electric buses will be manufactured on the NSW South Coast at a new facility announced by Australian-owned bus maker Foton Mobility Distribution on Thursday. It follows a state government contract for 126 new vehicles to service routes across Sydney. But the 6,000 square metre manufacturing facility in South Nowra is also slated to deliver electric…

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January 28, 2025

Veteran Big Four banker to lead NRF Corporation

Career banker David Gall has been handed the reins of the agency responsible for the federal government’s $15 billion manufacturing fund, arriving as its first investments roll out to local ventures in mining, quantum and cloud computing. The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation on Tuesday announced the appointment of Mr Gall, who has had a 25-year…

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January 22, 2025

Aspiring Adelaide chipmaker secures US patent

Adelaide-based semiconductor developer Archer Materials has secured a United States patent for its graphene biochip technology, allowing the local company to start working with American device partners on a push into the key market. The ASX-listed company announced the patent on Wednesday, describing it as a key milestone in commercialising its Biochip intellectual property for…

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January 21, 2025

Govt details an extra $262m for submarine supply chain uplift

The federal government has detailed plans for an additional $262.4 million to be spent supporting domestic defence industry participation in the nuclear submarine supply chain being developed as part of the AUKUS arrangements. Defence Industry minister Pat Conroy said the additional funding would be used for submarine-specific rounds of the Defence Industry Development Grants Program,…

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January 20, 2025

Newcastle uni innovation facility secures $21m grant

The University of Newcastle has landed a $20.7 million federal grant to build a new innovation facility that will help bring new technologies to market. Announced on Monday, the university will use the grant to construct two industrial scale spaces to accelerate the development of technologies in the energy, resources, and manufacturing sectors. The facility…

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January 20, 2025

$2bn in FMIA production credits for cleaner aluminium

Aluminium producers that switch to renewables will share in $2 billion worth of production credits under a new policy unveiled by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ahead of the upcoming election. The subsidy aimed at helping the energy-intensive sector to decarbonise will require smelters to make the switch by 2036 to be eligible for the credit,…

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January 16, 2025

Monash spinout raises $27.5m for cleaner lithium production

Monash University spinout Electralith has raised $27.5 million to advance a pilot plant for the production of an key lithium battery input, attracting investment from local and overseas deep tech funds and institutional investors. Electralith’s membrane technology can produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide by directly extracting lithium from several non-ore sources without water or chemicals, and…

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January 15, 2025

In-Q-Tel adds Quantum Brilliance to its portfolio

The California-based VC firm spawned from the US defence intelligence community In-Q-Tel has grabbed a share of Australian quantum computing startup Quantum Brilliance as a part of its US$20 million Series A funding round. The capital raise, first flagged last month and announced in full on Wednesday night, will be used to fund the creation…

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January 15, 2025

WA manufacturers get $5m procurement fast lane

Western Australian government contracts up to $5 million can now be signed directly with local manufacturing companies without a competitive tender, following a procurement rule exemption that quietly came into effect this week. Prior to the new procurement direction, only contracts worth up to $50,000 could be directly sourced. The new $5 million threshold for…

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January 14, 2025

Brisbane BioTech in the hunt for US vaccine prize

Brisbane BioTech Vaxxas has snared fresh US government funding to accelerate its needle free vaccination platform for COVID-19 applications, as the company courts private investors. Vaxxas on Tuesday announced it has been awarded a $3.2 million (US$2 million) funding prize from a US research authority to accelerate its work in collaboration with the University of Queensland….

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January 9, 2025

Resource sector secures Future Made slowdown

The Albanese government has stripped out some of the urgency in its critical minerals push, risking a slower start in the global green energy race to assuage mining and business concerns that new players and projects could miss out. Treasury had initially proposed a requirement that eligibility for generous Future Made in Australia tax production…

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January 9, 2025

Manufacturing experts added to national commercialisation push

Experts in advanced manufacturing have been added as industry advisers to the Albanese government’s flagship commercialisation and scale up program, as its grants trickle out to local startups. Industry minister Ed Husic on Thursday announced the addition of the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre and industry group AusBioTech as a partner organisation for the government’s $392…

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January 7, 2025

Fortescue backing moves green hydrogen venture to pilot production

Fortescue on Tuesday took an equal top ownership stake in green hydrogen technology venture Sparc Hydrogen as it committed to pilot testing a novel production technique in Adelaide later this year. The Sparc Hydrogen initiative aims to commercialise technology for producing green hydrogen directly from sunlight using research from the University of Adelaide and Flinders…

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January 6, 2025

Adelaide manufacturer taps into US nuclear subs supply chain

Adelaide-based additive manufacturer AML3D has delivered 3D-printed parts for a US nuclear-powered Virginia-Class submarine, capitalising on the fledgling AUKUS supply chain. The prototype copper-nickel tailpiece components are valued at $156,000 and will be installed later this year. The components must first undergo testing and in-service trials on a nuclear submarine under the US Navy’s Maritime…

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December 18, 2024

NRF unveils $25m equity investment in IoT startup Myriota

The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation has made a $25 million equity investment in South Australian IoT and satellite startup Myriota as part of a broader $50 million funding round. The fresh funds will be used to further develop the company’s network technologies and infrastructure, and to scale local manufacturing of its advanced hardware for export….

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December 17, 2024

Australian-made ‘Roo-ver’ lands spot on Moon mission

Australia’s first lunar rover will be designed and built by the ELO2 consortium after it beat out a bid by rival group AROSE for the $42 million in federal funding and spot on the NASA mission. The decision was announced Tuesday after 18 months of design, and secures a place for ELO2’s ‘Roo-ver’ on the…

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December 12, 2024

PsiQuantum says Brisbane site on track as Chicago races ahead

PsiQuantum says it is on track to break ground on the mammoth manufacturing and production facility for its attempts to build the world’s first utility- scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer in Australia. As work on a sister project in Chicago also races ahead, the Californian-based startup on Thursday said it had secured the Brisbane Airport site,…

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