By Michael Fuhrer, Monash University The past few weeks have seen a huge surge of interest among scientists and the public in a material called LK-99 after it was claimed to be a superconductor at room temperature and ambient pressure. LK-99 garnered attention after South Korean researchers posted two papers about it on arXiv, a…
Food and grocery manufacturing turnover grew 7.4 per cent in value over 2021-22, though capital investment stalled and employment shrunk by a per cent, according to a report from the industry’s peak body. The Australian Food and Grocery’s annual State of the Industry report recorded an increase in revenues to $144.1 billion – driven by…
The Business Council of Australia has called for the development of a national industry policy, echoing calls made by @AuManufacturing news over many years. The peak body issued a plan to secure Australia’s economic future – Seize the Moment – which aims to tackle chronic low and falling productivity and levels of national innovation, and…
By Peter Roberts It seems a long time ago that Australia was in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic and novel mRNA technologies were hot news. Though the technology had been around for decades it was the pandemic which saw the first major vaccines made using the genetic technology approved for public use in 2020,…
A University of Southern Queensland researcher hopes to combat the burning issue of the effects of climate change with advanced waste-heat-to-power technology. Materials scientist Associate Professor Min Hong (pictured) has been awarded $1 million in funding through the 2023 Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowships scheme to develop a new generation of high-performance thermoelectric energy…
Brendale Queensland manufacturer Elexon Electronics has updated customers on its recovery after a fire damaged its factory and warehouse. CEO Frank Faller wrote to customers to say that the recovery process was moving forward at a pace that has exceeded initial expectations. Faller said: “With a big sigh of relief, we can report that a…
XRF Scientific announces record full-year result Analytical laboratory instrument manufacturer XRF Scientific has announced its results for the June 2023 full-year, with sales revenue up 38 per cent to $55.2 million, net profit after tax up 26 per cent to $7.7 million, and the company paying a final fully-franked dividend of 3.3 cents per share.…
The CEFC has provided an update related to its 2022/23 year, with $1.9 billion in new investment commitments made, including a record $1.2 billion in renewable energy and grid-related projects. According to CEO Ian Learmonth, the $1.2 billion helped bring forward large-scale solar, wind and storage projects with a total transaction value of $5.7 billion,…
By Peter Roberts Primary steel producer BlueScope Steel today announced its FY23 results and a decision to go ahead with the relining of its Number 6 blast furnace (6BF) at the Port Kembla Steelworks (pictured). However the company said the decision did not lock the company into a full, 20 year blast furnace operating life,…
By Rebecca Giblin, The University of Melbourne; Anders Furze, The University of Melbourne, and Kimberlee Weatherall, University of Sydney For hundreds of years, we’ve been told patents help deliver big new inventions, such as life-saving drugs. They are meant to be a bargain between the inventor and the public: tell us how your invention works,…
