A COVID ‘ring of steel’ around Sydney would play havoc with Australia’s supply chains

By Flavio Romero Macau, Edith Cowan University If a “ring of steel” was actually placed around Sydney, as suggested by Victorian premier Daniel Andrews, the rest of Australia would suffer in ways that aren’t immediately apparent. Completely sealing a city or a region is not unprecedented. It happened last year in China, India, Italy and…

Chemical engineers look to biomanufacturing using waste products

Monash University researchers and others are investigating the potential for biomanufacturing using inputs such as greenhouse gases instead of sugar-based substances to create high-value chemical products.  Monash chemical engineering PhD researcher Wei Jiang — currently on sabbatical at Imperial College London — is lead author on a new paper in Nature Chemical Biology on the…

Grey Innovation calls for investors in new venture fund

Commercialisation business Grey Innovation has announced an Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership (ESVCLP) fund. Grey Innovation Ventures was “decreasing the traditional risk” involved in the ESVCLP model and “by investing in sophisticated start-up companies. With first market access to Grey Innovation Group’s suite of companies in, or approaching early revenue stage, the risk is…

Spee3D achieves another US export

SPEE3D has achieved another export, with Colorado’s Elementum 3D acquiring a WarpSpee3D printer made by the Australian company. Elementum 3D is an additive manufacturing R&D firm, described as specialising in “the creation of advanced metals, composites, and ceramics” with customers including in defence, mining, oil and gas, aerospace and automotive sectors. SPEE3D makes robotically-controlled printers…