Sydney underwater robotics company UUV Aquabotix (ASX: UUV) has won its largest ever order for its swarming, military, underwater unmanned vehicle. The $520,000 order is destined for the military in a ‘major Asian country’ – unnamed by the company – allied with the US and Australia. The submersibles will be utilised for harbour management and…
Adelaide nanosatellite manufacturer Fleet Space Technologies has raised fresh capital, said to be as much as $11 million, to fund an extension to its satellite IoT services. The company, which in February offered manufacturers low-cost IoT connectivity from its first four satellites, has attracted wealthy Hong Kong businessman Li Ka-shing and the Australian Kennard family…
Iconic Adelaide cordials manufacturer, Bickfords has expanded their capabilities with the opening yesterday of a new aseptic bottling line by the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison. Morrison joined South Australian Premier, Steven Marshall for the opening at the 175 year old family-owned company factory at Salisbury north of Adelaide. Marshall said: “Bickford’s is now one of…
Geelong’s Imagine Intelligent Materials has developed a system using graphene coatings and edge-based signal processing devices to collect data from objects with large surface areas. Proven over areas as large as 4,000 square metres, the system gathers data such as pressure, moisture, stress and temperature and is aimed at industrial and consumer applications in the…
The federal government has announced details of its $160 million Manufacturing Modernisation Fund. The fund, revealed in the federal budget, would help manufacturers become more competitive by co‑funding investments in new technologies, said industry minister, Karen Andrews. Andrews said: “The fund will provide grants to small and medium manufacturing businesses so they can invest in…
Adelaide X-ray equipment manufacturer Micro-X (ASX: MX1) has been awarded a follow on contract by the UK Department for Transport to further develop its carbon nanotube x-ray imaging system. The contract of 100,000 pounds is relatively small, but is a validation of its high technology solution to producing more effective, small, mobile x-ray systems. The…
Industry minister Karen Andrews has all but ruled out reform of the trouble-plagued tax concession system for R&D. The system has been in limbo with the government’s preferred reforms, which cut $2.4 billion from the scheme, stalled in Parliament, and the industry department and courts at odds over interpretations of the scheme. In an interview…
Chemicals, explosives and fertilisers business Incitec Pivot (ASX: IPL) has announced a review of its fertiliser businesses in Australia and the region. The company is the sole manufacturer of phosphate fertilisers in Australia and the only producer of nitrogen fertilisers on the east coast. The company has appointed UBS to provide advice for a strategic…
By Stuart Corner or the first time since 2017 Gartner has updated its forecasts for the number of IoT devices in use in enterprises and the automotive industry (including connected cars) to 5.81 billion in total by the end of 2020, and issued some market-specific forecasts out to 2028. The latest forecast also leverages Gartner’s…
The vocational education and training (VET) system is continuing its long term decline with further falls reported in student numbers by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). While student numbers fell in 2018 by a modest 1.5 per cent to 4.1 million people, this represented a fall in full-year training equivalents (FYTEs) of…
