With business and direct government spending on R&D falling, and only university research rising, our editorial series – Towards 3% R&D – Turbocharging Australia’s Innovation Effort – turns to collaboration between industry and public sector researchers. By Dr Tony Peacock. If Australia is to turbocharge our R&D to reach 3% of GDP, businesses will have…
Today @AuManufacturing launches its new editorial series – Towards 3% R&D – Turbocharging Australia’s Innovation Effort – with the facts about the crash in R&D over the past decade. Here in this edited excerpt (full paper link below) Dr John Howard details the innovation slump. In 1981, Australia spent 0.90% of its GDP on R&D…
Rio Tinto spends up big with local suppliers Rio Tinto increased its spend with suppliers and local businesses in Australia to more than $16.1 billion in 2023, as part of the company’s commitment to support communities where it operates. This was an increase of five per cent on the previous year and was spent with…
The New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has announced that industry, innovation, trade and investment functions will return to the centre of government through the transfer of Investment NSW to the Premier’s Department. This front door of government will make it easier for industry, investors, and entrepreneurs to participate in major government priorities and ensure…
Launching our new editorial series – Towards 3% – turbocharging our national innovation effort – innovation policy analyst Dr John Howard looks behind the statistics to reveal that Australia’s national R&D effort has slumped since 2009. In this edited excerpt, the first part of a two-part series, Dr Howard shows Australia is falling further behind.…
Less than two weeks before our Australia’s 50 Most Innovative Manufacturers awards event at Cockle Bay Wharf, we profile another of the standout candidates. Brent Balinski speaks to Sleeptite founder Cameron van den Dungen about an eight-year quest to develop what’s been described as “a bed that watches you sleep”. Sleeptite did not set out…
By Simon Wright, Charles Sturt University Connecting cheap, clean energy from renewables comes with a hidden cost and challenge: building 5,000 kilometres of new transmission lines this decade, and another 5,000km after that. This sounds like a lot, but 5,000km is only around 10% of the existing grid network, and unlocks more than 32 gigawatts…
An RMIT University-led team has designed and manufactured a surface, made of silicon and covered in tiny “nanospikes”, which is showing promise in controlling transmission of potentially dangerous viruses. According to a statement from the university, the results of a study that made the cover of nanoscience journal ACS Nano show 96 per cent of…
The NSW Government’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Facility will become operational later this year. Brent Balinski speaks to David Fox from the AMRF – a sponsor of this title’s current Australia’s 50 Most Innovative Manufacturers campaign – about what it aims to achieve. Later this year, the First Building in Bradfield City Centre, containing stage one…
The next nominee for @AuManufacturing’s Australia’s 50 Most Innovative Manufacturers list for 2024 is First Graphene. Brent Balinski speaks to CEO Michael Bell, who talks about finding a meaningful niche for graphene. For quite some time, many of its enthusiasts have described graphene as a remarkable material in need of a “killer app”. Mike Bell,…
