BNNTs to be trialled in composite armour

Advanced technology investor PPK Group’s portfolio company BNNT Technology Pty Ltd has signed its first defence sector collaboration agreement with survivability systems specialist TenCate Advanced Armor. Entry into this agreement follows two years of continuous improvements by the BNNT team which has led to significant progress in automation and process efficiency, resulting in a material…

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Austal investigates building uncrewed surface vessels

Perth shipbuilder Austal has linked with Saildrone Inc. to jointly identify opportunities to collaborate on the manufacture of 20 metre Saildrone Surveyor uncrewed surface vehicles (USV, pictured) in Australia, for deployments in the Indo-Pacific region. According to Austal, US-based Saildrone is the world leader in long-endurance USVs, having amassed nearly one million miles and 25,000…

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Cash for training quantum graduates

The federal government will provide a total of $4.6 million in grants to boost education and collaboration in the nation’s quantum sector. As part of the new funding, the Australian Quantum Graduates Program will award $3.6 million to CSIRO to fund up to 20 PhDs in quantum technology. Announcing the grants, Minister for Industry and…

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Farewell Liddell: what to expect when Australia’s oldest coal plant closes

By Joel Gilmore, Griffith University and Tim Nelson, Griffith University After more than five decades, the last operating units of the Liddell coal-fired power station will close this month. The station’s owner, AGL, is Australia’s largest carbon polluter. Liddell’s closure will reduce the company’s emissions by 17%. Liddell, in the New South Wales Hunter Valley,…

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Australian-made, world-first prostate cancer test commercialised

An Australian-developed prostate cancer check described as “revolutionary” has been successfully commercialised, following a collaborative project led by diagnostic technology company Minomic. Minomic’s MiCheck Prostate cancer test uses a blood test, checking for three protein markers, plus a clinical factor to assess the patient’s risk of aggressive prostate cancer and whether or not a biopsy…

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ARENA pumps $50 million into hydrogen and steel R&D

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) today announced $50 million for two funding rounds targeting research and development (R&D) for renewable hydrogen and low emissions iron and steel. Funding for successful research projects will be provided over two phases, with an initial laboratory-based research phase followed by a commercialisation phase aimed at scaling up and…

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SA government promises “national first” strategy linking innovation, manufacturing hubs

The South Australian government will introduce a statewide innovation model, which it says will link its knowledge and manufacturing hubs, with the framework to be developed by Lot Fourteen State Project Lead Di Dixon. In a short statement on Wednesday from premier Peter Malinauskas, the upcoming model was described as a “national first” that would…

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