Category: Ed Husic

May 28, 2024

‘No reason’ we can’t be a top exporter: Husic unveils robotics plan

Australia’s first national robotics strategy has set lofty goals to crank up adoption and turn a fledgling local industry into a thriving exporter that competes with automation powerhouses like Germany and Japan. Released on Tuesday after nearly two years in development, the lightly detailed robotics plan also comes with a warning that the retirement of…

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May 28, 2024

AI adoption centres finally unveiled

Four artificial intelligence centres focused on helping small to medium-sized enterprises safely adopt the technology have been announced by Industry and Science minister Ed Husic. Sharing in $16.3 million, the new AI centres are funded through the AI Adopt, which was first funded with a $17 million commitment for up to five centres in the…

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May 23, 2024

National battery strategy closes in on local market opportunity

The Albanese government has set a path for Australia to move up the battery value chain in a new strategy that focuses manufacturing opportunities on the domestic uptake of renewables and transport electrification. With global demand set to quadruple by 2030, battery active materials could also become the country’s largest export opportunity if cost reductions…

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May 22, 2024

$200m Qld battery precinct yet to power up two years on

Funding for a Queensland battery precinct promised by the Albanese government ahead of the 2022 federal election is yet to materialise more than two years after it was pledged. In May 2022, less than 10 days out from the election, Labor committed a $100 million equity investment for the precinct, initially destined for Gladstone, in partnership…

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May 22, 2024

Govt lays down $36m quantum challenge

Quantum firms are being offered grants of more than $5 million each to solve national challenges like optimising energy networks, improving medical imaging and reducing the impact of mining and mineral processing. The challenges — and one more for enhancing communications with autonomous systems — are the first of the $36 million Critical Technologies Challenge…

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May 20, 2024

PsiQuantum bet prompts innovation support concerns in NSW

New South Wales-based quantum companies will be overlooked for funding or drawn to other jurisdictions without additional support for the state’s innovation districts, according to the Committee for Sydney. Jeremy Gill, the head of policy for the urban development think tank, is concerned the recent investment by the federal and Queensland governments to bring PsiQuantum…

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May 19, 2024

A future built on politics: Prospect theory vs mission economy

For all the pre-budget Future Made in Australia hype; all the predictions that federal Labor would deliver a bold state-led ‘mission economy’ reindustrialisation agenda of the type evangelised by progressive UK-based academic Mariana Mazzucato, the big budget reveal was much more about politically driven spending and investment to win an election. Indeed, from the $22.7…

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May 6, 2024

Record low R&D spending growth in higher education

University spending on R&D as a share of GDP has recorded its biggest two-year decline in more than 30 years, despite total investment by the higher education sector climbing 10 per cent since the pandemic. New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released on Friday reveals higher education expenditure on R&D (HERD) reached almost…

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May 4, 2024

Quantum is a safe bet when you fear AI

The $940 million investment in Silicon Valley-based startup PsiQuantum jointly made by the federal and Queensland governments this week represents the first WTF moment of the recently announced Future Made in Australia era. Apologies for resorting to the colloquial expletive, but it aptly summarises the reaction to a decision that is still shrouded in secrecy…

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May 2, 2024

National quantum advisory body not consulted on $1bn deal

The hand-picked committee of eminent science and business leaders enlisted to provide advice to the Albanese government on the national quantum strategy were not consulted on the decision to invest almost $1 billion in California-based company PsiQuantum. InnovationAus.com can reveal the National Quantum Advisory Committee (NQAC) was not asked for advice on the $940 million…

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May 2, 2024

Industry Growth Program grants open, industry partners funded

Small to medium-sized enterprises and startups can now access a share of $287 million in Industry Growth Program funding, with the grants opening to applications following the appointment of the industry organisations that will provide advisory services. The four Industry Partner Organisations (IPO), announced as the grants opened on Thursday, will share in $6.9 million…

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April 30, 2024

‘Obsessive secrecy’ a red flag for $1bn quantum deal

Shadow science minister Paul Fletcher says the “obsessive levels of secrecy” applied to Australia’s billion-dollar investment in California-based startup PsiQuantum raises suspicions that the process was reverse-engineered to a pre-determined outcome. Mr Fletcher, who is also Manager of Opposition Business in the House, says he will use all “appropriate parliamentary channels” to determine how the…

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April 30, 2024

‘Very methodical process’: Husic defends $1bn quantum investment

Industry minister Ed Husic won’t reveal what terms the government secured for its part in a near $1 billion investment in a US quantum computing firm and has defended the secretive process used to select it. The Albanese government insists the bold bet on quantum computing will create tens of thousands of jobs through the…

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April 29, 2024

Australia invests $1bn in US firm PsiQuantum

The federal and Queensland governments will together invest almost $1 billion in California-based PsiQuantum to build the world’s first fault-tolerant error-corrected corrected quantum computer in Australia. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Queensland Premier Steven Miles will on Tuesday announce the financial package for the US quantum computing firm, which was founded by two Australians. The…

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April 29, 2024

AI copyright steering committee appointed

A group of 20 representatives from industry and academia have been appointed to screen the issues to be contemplated by the federal government’s AI and Copyright References Group. Details of the 20-strong steering committee and the governance framework for the Attorney-General’s Department administered group broke cover on Monday. The Copyright and Artificial Intelligence Reference Group…

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April 27, 2024

Sydney Uni to lead $18.3m Quantum Australia effort

The University of Sydney has been awarded an $18.3 million federal grant over four years to establish a research and commercialisation networking group for Australia’s nascent quantum sector. The plans for an Australian Centre for Quantum Growth were announced a year ago next week as part of the government’s National Quantum Strategy, with funding for…

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April 19, 2024

PsiQuantum secrecy is a blight on Albanese’ industry ambition

The idea that a federal Industry minister would champion a large public investment into a foreign technology company and then hold that investment up as a signature project in government’s Future Made in Australia ambitions is shocking. But that seems to be where the Australian industry has found itself – being gaslit by its own…

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April 16, 2024

Husic claims public interest immunity over PsiQuantum docs

Industry minister Ed Husic has claimed public interest immunity to withhold documents that reveal federal government dealings with US-based quantum computing firm PsiQuantum in the lead up to last year’s secret EoI process. In a move denounced by the Coalition, Mr Husic said that disclosing the material could reveal the deliberations of Cabinet and damage…

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April 11, 2024

Space Industry Association names new chief

The Space Industry Association of Australia has a new chief executive in Maria MacNamara, a serial board director and former adviser to Arthur Sinodinos during his time as a Liberal government minister. Ms MacNamara will fill the vacancy left by James Brown, who left in October 2023 to compete for selection as a Liberal Senator…

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April 8, 2024

Fortescue’s 2GW electrolyser factory officially opens

Australia’s largest electrolyser manufacturing facility was opened by federal Industry and Science minister Ed Husic and Queensland Premier Steven Miles in Gladstone on Monday. Fortescue’s 13,000 m² facility will produce over 2GW of proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers annually through an automated assembly line, according to the firm. The Green Energy Manufacturing Centre will support…

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April 3, 2024

Extra $20m allocated to CSIRO’s SME programs

An additional $20 million has been allocated to CSIRO’s SME Connect team to allow it to support the development of as many as 750 small to medium-sized businesses. The funding, which comes out of the national science agency’s existing budget, will enable the delivery of SME support programs until June 2028. Of the funding, $12…

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March 26, 2024

Parliament launches second inquiry into AI

Parliament has launched a second inquiry into artificial intelligence, this time to probe general issues presented by the disruptive technology, following a government-supported push by the Greens. The inquiry, which arrives at the same time as another Coalition-led inquiry is rejected, will look into the opportunities and impacts that stem from the uptake of AI….

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March 20, 2024

Science diplomacy grants open after lengthy wait

The federal government on Wednesday opened applications for science diplomacy grants that were announced nearly three years ago. The grants get going after surviving a cut in last year’s Budget and narrowing the potential research partners to Asia-Pacific nations but maintain a focus on priority areas like quantum and RNA vaccines. Up to $6 million…

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March 19, 2024

Renewed calls for R&D boost: Science Meets Reality

Australia’s industry development and economic well-being is being held back by a lack of strategy and the need for bold, long-term funding, according to advocacy group Science and Technology Australia’s new president, Professor Sharath Sriram. Australia must raise its R&D investment levels to 3 per cent of GDP as soon as possible or risks a continued…

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March 13, 2024

Science diplomacy fund takes another hit

Australia’s science and technology diplomacy fund looks set to be narrowed by the Albanese government after already being cut in last year’s Budget, with its key grants stream sitting in limbo since 2022. Science minister Ed Husic hinted at the changes last week while addressing regional leaders but then held back the news. He’s now…

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March 12, 2024

Leaders warm to Mazzucato’s missions

State and federal ministers have endorsed popular economist Mariana Mazzucato ‘mission-oriented’ approach to economic growth and flagged upcoming policy for decarbonising Australia’s economy will take inspiration from it. After individual meetings with the University College London professor in Sydney this week, both state Treasurer Daniel Mookehy and federal Industry and Science minister Ed Husic expressed…

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March 9, 2024

Space treaty stoush opens up over sovereign controls

What was supposed to have been a no-brainer treaty between the US and Australia promising to boost the local space industry – the Technology Safeguards Agreement – has instead developed into a public stoush over sovereign capability and control. And the claimed economic benefit to Australia that would be delivered by the treaty has been…

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March 7, 2024

R&D investment drought needs govt cash splash

Scientists and technologists will again push the Albanese government to make a multi-billion-dollar investment in research and development in this year’s budget after little progress towards an election commitment to return to globally competitive funding levels. Australia’s expenditure on R&D has plummeted over the last decade to 1.68 per cent of GDP, well below comparable…

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March 5, 2024

Mazzucato in Australia: Last chance to secure seats

With just days before renowned economist and author Mariana Mazzucato arrives in Australia for high much anticipated speaking tour, a final release of tickets are now available for premier business events in Sydney and Melbourne. Mariana Mazzucato is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at the University College London, and came to…

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February 29, 2024

Govt to include unions on new Defence Industry Council

The federal government will establish a new ‘tripartite’ Defence Industry Council made up of representatives from government, industry and the unions to oversee the development of a sovereign defence industrial base. It is understood the new council would be chaired by Defence Industry minister Pat Conroy and include Industry and Science minister Ed Husic as…

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