1. CRCA.ASN.AU • DECEMBER 2014 • ISSUE 4 K
CRCA
SPEC I A L REPORT
The new class Australian ingenuity making a mark
on the world stage. Page 18
ENVIRONMENT
Fields of glory The $250 billion boom
in agriculture. Page 14
SOCIETY
Vast challenges A targeted approach for wellbeing
in remote communities. Page 26
INNOVAT I O N
Fuel injection Advanced manufacturing driving
industry forward. Page 23
B I G P I C T U R E
Eye on the prize Revolutionising vision correction
as we age. Page 28
Where Science Meets Business
THE
AUSTRALIA I S S U E
L E A D E R S I N S C I E N C E
SMART
BUSINESS
How the unsung heroes of Australian R&D
are driving profits, innovation and
collaboration at home and overseas
Kn ow How
2. GEOLOGICALLY
STORING CARBON
LEARNING FROM THE
OTWAY PROJECT EXPERIENCE
EDITOR: PETER J COOK
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4. FOREWORD
A meeting of equals
SCIENCE IS AT the heart
of Australia’s economy
and society. It is essential
to improving our lives – it
benefits our communities and
boosts our standard of living.
Science is in the Industry
portfolio with good reason.
By drawing science and
business closer together we
can help bring the brilliant,
world-leading research that
is taking place in our public
research institutions out of
the lab and into the world.
The government understands
this. That’s why the Industry
Innovation and Competitiveness
Agenda recognises science as
essential to lifting Australia’s
rate of business and research
collaboration in order to deliver
commercial outcomes, economic
growth and productivity gains.
We need to keep our focus on
creating powerful connections
between industry and researchers.
Our $484 million investment in
“We need to keep our focus on
creating powerful connections
between industry and researchers.”
the Entrepreneurs’ Infrastructure
Programme includes access to
advisors who can link businesses
to appropriate research institutions,
and matches funding to bring
research capability into the
business for specific projects.
The Federal Government’s
$476 million investment in the
Industry Skills Fund, commencing
January 2015, will create the
highly-skilled workforce that
Australia needs to adapt to new
business growth opportunities.
By making better use
of scientific knowledge in
Australian industry, we can
generate sustainable economic
growth and ultimately a higher
standard of living for the
nation as a whole.
Partnering with industry
is a key growth area
for science, says
the Minister for
Industry, the Hon
Ian Macfarlane.
From left
Dr Andrew Beehag
General Manager
CRC for Advanced
Composite Structures
(CRC-ACS) – page 23
Professor Stephen Foster
Head of School of Civil and
Environmental Engineering,
UNSW Australia
Low Carbon Living CRC
– page 12
Professor Murray Norris
Deputy Director,
Children’s Cancer
Institute Australia
Cancer Therapeutics
CRC – page 8
Professor Farzad Safaei
Director, ICT Research
Institute, University
of Wollongong
Smart Services CRC
– page 9
Professor Valerie Linton
Chief Executive Officer
Energy Pipelines CRC
– page 11
Associate Professor
Padmaja Sankaridurg
Program Leader,
Myopia Control, Brien
Holden Vision Institute
Vision CRC – page 28
Dr Vito Mollica
Head of Marketing
and Communications
Capital Markets CRC
– page 18
Jessica Sullivan
Client Business
Innovation Leader,
Graeme Booker
Operations Leader,
iSee VC Pty Ltd
Smart Services CRC
– page 9
CSIRO
C R C A . A S N .OR G K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e 3
LAUREN TROMPP
Curtin University
Curtin University’s partnerships with more than
90 institutions worldwide mean the university
has established a strong presence in South-East
Asia. In addition to our flagship campus in Perth,
Western Australia, we have campuses in Singapore,
Sarawak and Sydney, which consolidate our
international presence.
www.curtin.edu.au
At CSIRO, we shape the future.
We do this by using science to
solve real issues. Our research
makes a difference to industry,
people and the planet. We ask,
we seek, we solve. We are CSIRO.
www.csiro.au
Leaders in science from academia
and industry involved in Cooperative
Research Centre (CRC) programs
gathered at UNSW Australia –
a partner in more than a dozen
CRCs – for this special edition of
KnowHow focusing on science
in the service of the nation.
Australia’s Innovators
5. FEATURES
TECHNOLOGY
11 Pipeline design for a safer future
The Energy Pipelines CRC is working to
prevent a pipeline disaster ever occurring
in Australia.
ENVIRONMENT
14 Fields of glory
New technologies at the frontier of Australia’s
agricultural boom are set to secure our place
as a strong global competitor.
SPEC I A L REPORT
18 The new class
Australian innovation is making an impact on
the world stage as businesses and researchers
forge ahead into foreign markets.
SPOTLIGHT: ANSTO
22 Going global
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology
Organisation’s nuclear medicine program
supplies products for the treatment of one in two
Australians and many more people worldwide.
4 K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e
INNOVATION
23 Boom time: the new,
smart manufacturing
Job stats are low but hopes are high for
Australia’s beleaguered manufacturing
sector to transition into a high-tech,
world-class, niche market operator.
SOCIETY
26 The wider view
The 3% of Australians living in remote regions
face significant health and social challenges.
Two CRCs are finding solutions.
IN THE NEWS
5 Smart sole support for diabetic feet
6 Antarctic robots trawl for climate data
7 Using polymer cell technology for
cheap renewable energy
8 Targeting kids’ cancer, gene by gene
9 iSee: Education’s future
10 Rabbits’ viral expansion
GROWTH FACTOR
12 Fresh opportunities
The Low Carbon Living CRC’s ambitious
goal is to drive Australia’s carbon emissions
down by 10 megatonnes by 2020.
BIG PICTURE
28 Eye for detail
It’s long been accepted that vision declines
with age, but an Australian invention could
soon change this.
THE NEXT BIG THING
30 The spirit within
Fairer regulation and better access to
finance and equity will give entrepreneurs
plenty of encouragement.
GIVE SCIENCE
NOT SOCKS
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at cosmosmagazine.com/gift
INCLUDES FREE DELIVERY
ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD
CONTENTS
14
6. I N T H E NEWS
Smart sole support for diabetic feet
Experts from the Wound
Management Innovation
CRC, based at the
Queensland University of
Technology (QUT) in
Brisbane, said a shoe insole
that communicates with the
wearer’s phone could prevent
foot injuries among diabetics.
Diabetes is one of the fastest
growing diseases globally, with
the number of people living with
diabetes worldwide set to grow
from 382 million in 2013 to
592 million by 2035, according
to Diabetes Australia. Poor blood
glucose control among diabetics
can cause nerve damage to
feet and inhibit blood supply.
This results in an absence of
sensation in the feet, which
can lead to serious foot injury.
The CRC is about to start
a patient trial of an insole made
using pressure-sensing fabric that
sends a message to a smartphone
warning of potential damage to
a diabetic’s feet.
The pressure-sensitive fabric
was originally developed at
RMIT University for elite
athletes. It has since been
fine-tuned in consultation
with experts in podiatry from
Southern Cross University.
Electronics in the insole will
pick up changes in the distribution
of pressure applied in each step,
which are indicative of a wearer
subconsciously favouring a foot
or part of a foot. The electronics
will then communicate wirelessly
to the wearer’s smartphone at the
point where the patient is at risk
of foot damage.
Diabetics are prone to minor
breaks in the skin of the foot,
which can lead to ulcers. Patients
with a history of these ulcers
have a high risk of the problem
Research by the Wound Management
Innovation CRC may lead to a reduction
of crippling foot injuries for people
living with diabetes.
recurring, so the trial will initially
determine if the technology can
reduce the recurrence of skin
breaks. An ulcer on the bottom
of the foot can develop into an
injury that penetrates to the
bone and can cause chronic
infections, open sores and
eventually result in amputation.
CRC Chief Executive
Officer Dr Ian Griffiths said
the technology had the potential
to reduce the incidence of ulcer
recurrence among people living
QUT WMI CRC WMI CRC
with diabetes, saving them from
severe pain, possible amputation
and incapacity.
“Diabetics have to be very
careful of foot injuries. An injury
can cause months of pain and
anguish. It can keep diabetics off
their feet and stop them going
to work, doing the shopping –
generally leading a normal life.”
The CRC initiative involves
QUT, Southern Cross University,
RMIT and its industrial partner
Smith Nephew as an advisor. www.woundcrc.com
ISTOCK
The CRC, funded until July
2018, is working with similar
organisations in Canada and Wales
to leverage strengths in scientific
and clinical research and education
through an International
Wound Management Research
Collaboration. The project
will focus on a postgraduate
student exchange program
and establish the International
Registry of Wounds.
C R C A . A S N . AU K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e 5
7. I N T H E NEWS
Antarctic robots trawl for climate data
Surveys by an unmanned
submarine support
suggestions that Antarctic
sea ice is thicker than previously
thought, according to research
accepted by Nature Geoscience.
The data was collected by
an Autonomous Underwater
Vehicle (AUV) deployed during
a two-month exploration in late
2012 as part of an international
collaboration between polar
scientists, including the Antarctic
Climate and Ecosystems CRC
(ACE CRC). It’s hoped the work
will help explain the ‘paradox’ of
Antarctic sea ice extent, which
has grown slightly during the
past 30 years. This is in stark
contrast to Arctic sea ice, which
has shown a major decline.
The research, led by ARC
Future Fellow Dr Guy Williams,
provides the most complete
picture yet of Antarctic sea ice
thickness and structure.
6 K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e
Previously, measurements
were made via drill holes in
the ice and supplemented by
visual observations made from
icebreakers as they crashed and
ploughed through the sea ice
zone, said Williams.
In contrast, the AUV gathers
information by travelling beneath
the ice, producing 3D maps of
the underside of the ice based
on data captured by a multi-beam
sonar instrument. Complex
imagery of an area the size of
several football fields can be
compiled in just six hours.
The manual drill estimates
of thickness have never
exceeded 5–6 m, but the AUV
regularly returned thicknesses
over 10 m and up to 16 m.
“This sort of thick ice
would simply never be sampled
by drilling or observations
from ships,” said Williams.
“We measured the thickness
of 10 double football fields,
and found that our traditional
method [manual drill lines]
would have underestimated
the volume by over 20%.”
The researchers can’t yet say that
overall Antarctic sea ice thickness
is underestimated by this amount.
They’ll need to use the AUV
over much longer scales –
across distances of 1000 km,
for example – and directly
compare the results with those
from traditional methods.
The AUV is one of two new
innovative information sources
being used by ACE CRC
scientists to explore Antarctic
sea ice processes and change.
They’ve also begun tapping into
environmental data gathered in
the Southern Ocean by elephant
seals. These marine mammals
can dive deeper than 1500 m
and travel thousands of
kilometres in a season.
During the past decade,
ecologists and biologists have been
equipping them with specialised
oceanographic equipment provided
by Australia’s Integrated Marine
Observing System, to observe
where and when they forage.
“These seals had been going
to places we could only dream of
going with a ship,” said Williams.
The first major breakthrough
from the seal-gathered data came
last year with the confirmation of
a new source of Antarctic bottom
water, the cold dense water mass
created by intense sea ice growth
that ultimately influences
climate worldwide.
It’s the fourth source to be
identified of this influential
water mass, and scientists had
been looking for it for more
than 30 years. – Karen McGhee
www.acecrc.org.au
KLAUS MEINERS, AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC DIVISION
Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, as
well as data-gathering seals (below),
are revealing surprising global climate
effects in the Antarctic.
MARK HINDELL
8. CRC-P
Using polymer cell technology
for cheap renewable energy
C R C A . A S N . AU
for Australian manufacturing.
Officer estimated that, using
methods developed by the
CRC-P, polymer cells can be
produced that cost no more
than 50 cents per watt – that’s
less than half the price to
which the silicon solar cell
industry aspires.
Dye-sensitised solar cells first
created much excitement when
they were invented 23 years ago,
but have failed to deliver
commercially on their early
promise. So far, only one
company – Wales-based G24
Power – is manufacturing the
cells, and only on a small scale.
A key obstacle has been the
cost of materials. “We’ve been
trying to develop a cost-effective
solution to producing the solar
cells using inexpensive materials,
some of which we’ve made
ourselves and can scale up
quite easily,” explained Dagley.
The CRC has achieved its
materials and fabrication advances
through a collaboration of expertise
across five partner institutions: the
University of Wollongong – where
Officer developed new techniques
that synthesise cheap organic dyes
– the Australian Nuclear Science
and Technology Organisation and
the Universities of Newcastle,
Queensland and NSW.
The CRC-P is investigating
opportunities with sufficiently
large markets to make
manufacturing the cells
cost-effective, which Officer
said has been another obstacle
to commercialisation. One
contender is in horticulture,
where transparent cells
incorporated into greenhouses
could power cooling and water
pumps. The cells may even be
able to promote plant growth
by transmitting only beneficial
wavelengths of light.
– Jude Dineley
We can expect to be
manufacturing and
exporting cheap,
lightweight solar cells (electrical
devices that convert light energy
into electricity) to the rest of the
world by 2019, taking renewable
energy to remote and off-grid
communities such as emergency
refugee camps.
This prediction came from
Professor David Officer, head of
the polymer solar cell program at
the CRC for Polymers (CRC-P),
which is developing design and
manufacturing processes for
commercially viable polymer solar
cells based on a light-sensitive dye.
Officer described the cells as
a “people’s technology” for the
future. His optimism is based
on patents recently secured by
the CRC-P for components that
will provide a competitive edge
over other consortia developing
similar cells. CEO Dr Ian Dagley
said CRC-P researchers have
also pioneered new cost-effective
manufacturing techniques that,
for commercial reasons, currently
remain secret.
Polymer cells exploit the
same photovoltaic principle
as silicon- and glass-based
rooftop solar panels. Unlike
those bulky panels, however,
polymer cells are flexible and
lightweight and, as a result, can
be incorporated onto a wide
range of surfaces – from walls to
sunshades. Transparent versions
can even be used in windows.
They can also operate indoors,
enabling electricity recycling.
Crucially, however, polymer
cells are considerably cheaper
to manufacture. Silicon cells,
for example, require expensive
equipment and carefully
controlled conditions, while the
polymer product can be produced
in minutes with minimal labour
using reel-to-reel printers,
presenting new opportunities
www.crcp.com.au
K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e 7
Advances in the design and manufacture of
polymer solar cells based on light harvesting
dyes promise a solar power revolution.
JOSEPH GIORGIO
9. I N T H E NEWS
Targeting kids’ cancer, gene by gene
Cancer researchers in
Australia are using
a revolutionary
‘personalised medicine’ approach
to identify effective individualised
treatment options for children.
The personalised medicine
platform, which is being developed
and applied with the support of
the Cancer Therapeutics CRC,
will tailor each child’s cancer
treatment to the particular genetics
of their individual tumour.
Then, using a combination of
in vitro cell growth and testing
on mice, treatment will be
determined by the response
in the laboratory of their own
cancer cells to drugs.
The project, led by Professor
Michelle Haber, Executive Director
of Australia’s Children’s Cancer
Institute, in collaboration with
the National Institutes of Health
in the USA, has been kickstarted
with approximately $7.5 million
in funding from the CRC budget.
8 K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e
“Although the survival
rate of children’s cancer is now
about 80%, this still means that
on average about three kids in
Australia are dying [from the
disease] every week,” said
Haber, who won the 2014
NSW Premier’s Award for
Outstanding Cancer Research.
She said it was clear that
individualised treatment is
needed. “Two children can
have the same diagnosis,
but the standard treatment
regimen will work for one
child and fail with the other,”
she explained.
The first step in the new
approach is to take cells from
a child’s tumour and run them
through a set of molecular
profiling tests, which reveal the
genetic make-up of the cancer.
Haber’s team will soon settle
on a panel of about 80 treatable
genetic abnormalities for their
targeted molecular profiling tests.
“We’ve trawled through the
entire literature, pulling out what
is known about genes that may
be suitable for molecular targeted
drug treatment,” she said. “This
hasn’t been done for paediatric
cancer before.”
The next step is to grow the
child’s tumour cells. This is done
either in laboratory flasks or in
mice with deficient immune
systems, known as ‘avatar mice’.
By rapidly scanning the cells,
the researchers can test many
drugs, either alone or in
combinations, to see whether they
knock back the cancer. And they
don’t just try cancer drugs. Haber
said that drugs as disparate as
beta-blockers used in heart
disease, as well as malaria drugs,
can have anti-cancer effects.
Once a drug is shown to work
in vitro, the next step is to use it
in the avatar mice.
“We have been very excited
by the excellent responses of the
first patients to have their
therapy modified by their
treating clinicians, on the basis
of information being generated
from this new personalised
medicine platform,” said Haber.
Clinical trials of the
platform, to be spearheaded
by Sydney Children’s Hospital,
are scheduled for 2017.
However, Haber hopes it
will be sooner than that.
“The CRC funding is
invaluable,” she said. “It is paying
for vital staff and their research
supplies. Of course, this is just
the beginning for the platform
and we will only be able to
handle a few patients at first.
“Our plan is that, eventually,
the treatment platform will
be offered to every child
in the country who has
a high-risk malignancy.”
– Clare Pain
www.cancercrc.com
ISTOCK
Personalised treatment of a child’s
cancer is based on the genetic
profiling of the cancer cells.
JESS HUSBAND PHOTOGRAPHY
10. iSee: Education’s future
Australian developers have
C R C A . A S N . AU
I N T H E NEWS
LAUREN TROMPP
K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e 9
begun to commercialise
affordable new software
that could revolutionise online
education – as well as our
interactions on the internet.
Known as iSee, the technology
merges videoconferencing with
interactive, virtual environments.
It’s been built by University of
Wollongong (UOW) researchers
in partnership with the Smart
Services CRC and now through
the spin-off company, iSee VC.
iSee operates by immersing
dozens of users in a game-like
setting where they appear
as ‘mevatars’.
Like avatars in online
gaming, ‘mevatars’ represent
the user in a virtual space.
However, while avatars are
typically an alter ego or
fantasy character, mevatars
are created by streaming
the user’s webcam into
an immersive setting in
real time, enabling authentic
face-to-face interactions.
The technology can stream
more than 50 webcams in
a virtual space where users
can move around, form groups,
converse and share content. It
employs point sensitive hearing,
where multiple users occupying
the space and engaging in multiple
conversations will only hear what
is within earshot – just as they
would in the real world.
iSee is designed to mimic
natural conversations and the
real life act of mingling, explained
Chief Technical Officer Professor
Farzad Safaei, from UOW’s
ICT Research Institute.
“You can have multiple,
simultaneous conversations
going on in the setting between
different groups,” Safaei said.
“Importantly, the user – not the
system – chooses who to focus on.
From an education and training
perspective, this makes it easier
for students to interact with
their peers, which is one of the
key elements missing from
online education tools.”
The NSW Department of
Education and Communities is
already trialling the iSee program
to connect secondary students
and teachers from a large
metropolitan high school with
staff and students from a small
regional high school.
Colin Wood, who leads the
department’s Virtual Learning
Environment team, said the
technology is helping students
overcome regional isolation.
“It eliminates the need to
travel long distances to experience
natural social interaction and
access specialist education,
training and professional
development,” he said. Wood
agreed that a major benefit is
that users can interact as they
would in a physical space,
such as a classroom.
Teachers have the ability,
for example, to post slides and
content on virtual whiteboards,
break students into groups
and then circulate, listen to
the chat and provide feedback.
Meanwhile, students can
meet, interact, share ideas and
collaborate with each other.
Safaei said iSee requires
at least 70% less bandwidth
to operate than other
videoconferencing systems.
This is because to any given
user, it only transmits the audio
and video from people who are
visible or within earshot inside
the virtual setting.
“You could have 20–25
users in the environment, but
one user on average is only
downloading three to four
videos,” he said.
Although commercialisation
has been initially focused on
education and training, iSee’s
Client Business Innovation
Leader Jessica Sullivan said
the technology is set to have
wide-ranging applications
for organisations interested
in humanising the web.
– Myles Gough
www.isee-meetings.com
AIMAN ANWAR
Farzad Safaei, Jessica Sullivan
and Graeme Booker are all playing
a role in making iSee software a
reality for schools and beyond.
11. I N T H E NEWS
REBECCA ZANKER
AUSTRALIA
OF ARCHIVES NATIONAL The first successful rabbit
biocontrol in Australia was the
result of Myxomatosis
experiments in the 1950s.
www.invasiveanimals.com Rabbits’ viral expansion “Myxoma and RHDV are the
The British colonies of the
South Pacific called an
inter-colonial commission
in 1883 to consider matters of
common interest. German and
French intentions in the Pacific,
quarantine and trade issues
loomed large. So too did the
rabbit, which less than 25 years
after its introduction to Australia
from Europe was considered
“so serious a national evil” it
could not be left “to the efforts
of individuals for its remedy”.
Within five years, Henry
Parkes had sponsored an
international competition
offering the astounding sum of
£25,000 to fix the problem. This
sparked an ongoing quest for
biological controls for Australia’s
number one vertebrate pest.
Where Louis Pasteur and others
had tried and failed, the CSIRO
succeeded, twice, with new viral
1 0 K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e
controls: myxoma virus in the
1950s and rabbit haemorrhagic
disease virus (RHDV, also known
as rabbit calicivirus) in the 1990s.
Myxoma received a boost in the
1960s when a new carrier for the
virus, the European rabbit flea,
was introduced.
The Invasive Animals CRC
(IA CRC) is hoping to mirror
that success with a new program
aimed at improving the impact
of RHDV. “When we brought
RHDV to Australia, only one
strain, a Czech strain, was
available to us,” said Dr Brian
Cooke, from the IA CRC and
the University of Canberra, who
has spent his career battling
rabbits using biological controls.
“We now understand that
another strain – RCV-A1, which
doesn’t cause the disease – was
already here. This immunises
some rabbits, which is why RHDV
was less effective in wetter, higher
production areas where it is
more prevalent. In arid Australia,
generally without RCV-A1,
around 85% of rabbits died.”
Under the RHD-Boost
Program, the IA CRC searched
the world for more effective
RHDV strains, eventually
importing and screening
38 naturally varying strains.
After additional tests, six were
further investigated, and two
virus strains – both from
South Korea – demonstrated
advantages over the existing
Czech strain. One also showed
an ability to overcome the partial
protection from the problematic
RCV-A1 calicivirus.
CEO of the CRC, Andreas
Glanznig, said the discovery
is encouraging but there are
more steps to take before a new
RHDV strain can be released.
only two examples of wide-scale
viral biocontrol for vertebrate
animals – ever.”
The rewards are “potentially
huge”, he said. “These two
viruses have so far delivered
more than $70 billion in value
to Australia and prevented
untold environmental damage.”
Myxoma still kills about half
the rabbits born in Australia
today, at zero cost.
With rabbit numbers on the
rise, Australia needs to stay on
the front foot. “It is imperative
that we have a pipeline of new
RHDV strains to keep rabbit
biocontrol effective. The
alternative will undo decades
of management of Australia’s
most costly vertebrate pest,”
said Glanznig. – Tony Peacock
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA
12. T ECHNOLOGY
Pipeline design
for a safer future
The Energy Pipelines CRC is working to prevent a pipeline
disaster ever occurring in Australia, Clare Pain reports.
JUST AFTER 6PM on
9 September 2010, a massive
explosion rocked the Californian
suburb of San Bruno. Within seconds,
a house was engulfed in flames. More
homes were soon burning ferociously.
The cause was unknown for almost
an hour. Some residents thought a plane
had crashed at nearby San Francisco
Airport. Others believed there had
been an earthquake, as San Bruno
lies close to the San Andreas Fault.
In fact, a 76 cm gas transmission
pipeline had ruptured, killing eight
people and destroying 38 homes.
Professor Valerie Linton, CEO of the
Energy Pipelines CRC (EPCRC), has
a mission to make sure such a pipeline
disaster never happens in Australia.
“We’ve got a safety record at least an
order of magnitude better than any other
country in terms of our operation of
energy pipelines. And we want to make
sure it stays that way,” she says. “There’s
always a risk that somebody gets overly
enthusiastic with a digger and makes a hole
or fracture in a pipeline. In the worst case,
the fracture ‘unzips’ along the pipe. Our
researchers have been working to ‘design
out’ the possibility of fractures occurring,
and that work has been exceptional.”
The EPCRC is a collaboration
between four universities, the Australian
Government and members of the
Australian Pipeline Industry Association.
One particularly significant product of its
research is the recently released computer
software called EPDECOM, which
Linton describes as a leader in its field.
Pipeline designers can use the software to
determine the steel properties needed to
enable the pipeline to withstand damage.
“North American fracture control
experts have independently assessed
EPDECOM, and it performs better than
any other software available,” says Linton.
The CRC is also helping to improve
Australian Standard AS2885 that
applies to the pipeline industry. This
relates to the design, construction,
testing, operations and maintenance
of gas and petroleum pipelines that
operate at pressures above 1050 kPa.
“One of the most direct ways we can
influence pipeline safety is to make sure
our research findings get incorporated into
upgrades of AS2885,” explains Linton.
An independent testing and research
laboratory specialising in pipeline coatings
opened in March 2104 at Deakin
University – a CRC partner. Testing the
integrity of pipeline coatings is vital if
pipes are to be protected from corrosion.
While much of the EPCRC’s work
is in engineering, social science also plays
a central role. Dr Jan Hayes, Program
Leader for Public Safety and Security of
Supply, says inquiries into most accidents
do not reveal new types of equipment
failure. Usually the technological
issues are already understood, but
the knowledge isn’t applied because
of social issues within organisations.
One of Hayes’ key goals is to harness
the learning from pipeline incidents
around the world. Hayes has co-authored
a book: Nightmare Pipeline Failures: Fantasy
Planning, Black Swans And Integrity
Management. Its intended audience is
senior executives in energy and chemical
companies, but it will be publicly available
and Linton describes it as “very readable”.
The CRC funded Hayes’ research on the
San Bruno disaster, which is included
in the book. It’s another step towards
keeping Australian energy pipelines safe.
www.epcrc.com.au
“We’ve got a safety
record better
than any other
country for our
operation of
energy pipelines.”
NACAP
ISTOCK
An Australian gas
pipeline being
lowered into
its trench.
C R C A . A S N . AU K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e 1 1
13. GROWTH FACTOR
Fresh opportunities The Low Carbon Living CRC’s ambitious goal is to drive Australia’s carbon
emissions down by 10 megatonnes by 2020, Gemma Chilton reports.
THE WAY WE design, build
and manage our urban spaces is
undergoing a transformation that’s
almost unprecedented in scope. We’re
reimagining our cities and urban precincts
in the face of changing climate, energy and
security issues and a growing appreciation
for sustainability principles. Individuals
and organisations from a broad range of
disciplines will need to play a role.
Dr Deo Prasad, the CEO of the CRC
for Low Carbon Living (CRCLCL) and
a Professor of Sustainable Development at
the UNSW Faculty of Built Environment,
personifies this multidisciplinary approach.
Originally trained as an architect, Prasad
obtained a master’s degree in science and
program management and completed
a PhD in thermal heat transfer in buildings.
The CRCLCL is a $48 million centre,
announced in November 2011, of which the
Commonwealth contribution is $28 million over
seven years. The centre brings together property
developers, planners, engineers and policy
organisations with Australian researchers
with an overarching aim of reducing carbon
emissions by 10 megatonnes in the next five
years – the equivalent of taking 2.3 million cars
off the road each year. The CRCLCL research
will bring about $680 million worth of benefits
to the Australian economy over 15 years.
“Our focus is on enabling Australian
industries and particularly small to medium
enterprises to benefit from the new products,
technologies, tools and systems. We’re
trying to ensure the built environment
sector can capture the benefits from going
low carbon,” says Prasad.
1 2 K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e
Malay Dave, a PhD candidate at the
CRCLCL and UNSW Australia Built
Environment, is researching sustainable
prefabricated or modular housing, with
an end goal of developing a framework
for “whole-systems design”. This approach
considers the house as an energy system
with interdependent parts, each of which
affects the performance of the entire system.
“The need for housing that is both
sustainable and affordable is a major issue
globally,” he says. “Prefabrication, or off-site
construction, offers huge opportunities in
delivering environmental sustainability and
economic affordability in buildings.”
Dave has a $95,000 scholarship funded by
the CRC, which offers $30,000 per year stipends
with a total of 88 scholarships available for
the current funding period of seven years.
The CRCLCL is also working in parallel
with the CRC for Polymers (CRC-P) to
coat building cladding materials such as
steel or glass with the next generation of
solar cells – enabling light energy capture
and distribution throughout a building.
Researchers at the CRC-P are in the process
of developing these advanced materials for
the next generation of solar cells for which
the CRCLCL is investigating large-scale
commercial applications (see page 7).
CEO Dr Ian Dagley says the CRC-P
has a philosophy of putting postgraduate
students on the most groundbreaking
projects. “We want them to be doing
work of high academic interest using
state-of-the-art materials and techniques
so they can publish in high-profile
international journals,” he says. With
two-and-a-half years of funding remaining,
the CRC-P has filled all its 11 postgrad
scholarships to the value of $1,060,000.
Other projects at the CRCLCL include
researching innovative building materials
such as concrete with reduced embodied
carbon. They are also developing tools and
collating data to measure the impact of
urban developments in terms of water,
waste, energy and materials.
The CRCLCL also collaborates with
the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities for
this, “developing design ‘charrettes’ [intense
design workshops] to ensure development
goals for water and carbon aspirations are
well-established,” explains Prasad.
The third main CRCLCL research
program involves community engagement.
“Technology or design in itself won’t fix the
problem,” says Prasad. “We need to look at
what resonates with communities – why they
take up certain initiatives and not others.”
“Our focus is on enabling
industries to benefit
from new technologies
– and that the built
environment sector can
capture the benefits
from going low carbon.”
ISTOCK
www.lowcarbonlivingcrc.com.au
www.crcp.com.au
www.watersensitivecities.org.au
14. BRIONY ROGERS
Research Fellow, Monash University Water for
Liveability Centre and CRC for Water Sensitive Cities
Field notes
WITH BACHELOR DEGREES in civil engineering
and science and a PhD in environmental sociology,
Dr Briony Rogers is uniquely placed for her present
research role. She’s tackling the technical and social challenges
required to make our urban water systems more sustainable
and resilient to the impacts of climate change, a growing
population and increasing urbanisation.
JANE KELLEY PhD student,
LaTrobe University AgriBio
FOR RESEARCHER Jane Kelley, helping an
individual farmer is just as rewarding as knowing
that she is helping the entire dairy industry
overcome one of its biggest threats to milk
productivity – a parasite called liver fluke.
“When I finish my lab work, I can email the vet to
inform them that they need to treat now,” she says.
“The end product for the farmer will be healthier
stock, which is important from a welfare perspective
and also for increased productivity for the farmer.”
Kelley, who grew up in Gippsland, Victoria, was
the recipient of the Dairy Australia Award at the
2014 Science and Innovation Awards for Young
As a civil engineer, Rogers spent five years working for private
infrastructure services consultancy GHD where she was responsible
for civil engineering design and project management on a range of
water infrastructure projects both in Australia and Vietnam. She was
passionate about sustainability, but recalls that by the time designs
landed on her desk, most of the big decisions influencing
sustainability and resilience had already been made.
Rogers decided to take on doctoral research at Monash University
and investigate processes of social change in relation to sustainable
infrastructure and technology. “I drew on my technical understanding,
but with the recognition that to implement new approaches, social
systems would have to change as well,” she says.
Now, as a Research Fellow for the Monash University Water
for Liveability Centre and the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities,
Rogers works with key stakeholders to design strategies and new
methods to build the “social capital” required to transform the way
we plan, design and manage our urban water systems. Rogers’
interdisciplinary background means she can act as a bridge between
various stakeholders, from engineers and ecologists to landscape
architects, as well as organisations such as local councils, state
government departments and private enterprise.
The big picture goal, Rogers says, is to transition to “water sensitive
cities”, in which decentralised, low energy technologies are integrated
with centralised networks to build resilience in the face of an
unpredictable future. This requires thinking outside the square,
she adds, and recognising that water infrastructure “is not just
a pipe underground”, but a valuable part of the urban landscape,
providing benefits that can enhance the liveability of a city. She
gives an example of green cities that are irrigated using harvested
stormwater to reduce extreme heat during heatwaves.
“We’ve been building our water systems in large-scale, centralised
modes for a couple of hundred years, so it is very difficult to change
our approach,” Rogers says. “That’s partly why this type of research
is so important – to understand what is locking us into traditional
systems, so we can overcome those barriers to support innovation
not just in rhetoric, but in practice.”
Rogers was this year selected by the International Social Science
Council to be one of 20 early-career World Social Science Fellows
in the area of sustainable urbanisation. – Gemma Chilton
People in Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
The award came with a grant that has enabled
her to use a cutting-edge diagnostic technique
to investigate the prevalence and burden of liver
fluke on Victorian dairy farms. This is the first
time the new technique – developed in 2004 by
a group of Spanish scientists – has been used in
large-scale field trials in naturally infected cattle.
The liver fluke parasite currently costs the
Australian livestock industry $60–90 million every
year. Kelley hopes her undergraduate research,
which she is now continuing as a PhD student, will
help generate improved methods for managing
the parasite to a point at which the impact on milk
production and animal welfare is minimal.
– Gemma Chilton
HOT-SHOT S
C R C A . A S N . AU K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e 1 3
15. ENVIRONMENT
Fields
of glory
New technologies at the frontier of Australia’s
agricultural boom are set to secure our place as
a strong global competitor, Rosslyn Beeby reports.
WITH THE POTENTIAL
to add $250 billion to
Australia’s economy over
the next two decades, according to
a 2014 report by global consultancy
Deloitte, agriculture has been deemed
one of our five “super growth sectors”.
The Deloitte report, the final in
its Building the Lucky Country series
on future prosperity, says agriculture
could be “as big as mining” for Australia,
thanks to a combination of factors that
include an increase in global population,
rising food demand, food security issues
and the changing dietary demands of
Asia’s growing middle class in countries
like China, India and Indonesia.
“Essentially, we have what the world
wants and will increasingly need over
the next 20 years,” says Rob McConnel,
Deloitte’s Agribusiness National Leader.
“The global opportunity becomes
obvious when you see the numbers, and
the numbers are compelling. The world’s
population is around 7 billion and this is
forecast to increase to 9 billion by 2050,
which is a 28% increase.”
The world will need to increase global
food production by around 75% and
Australian agribusiness “has the goods”
to be a major player in meeting this
demand, he says. But our challenges
include investing more in research and
development, improving tertiary education
courses to produce more agribusiness
1 4 K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e
and food science graduates, and “having
a mature conversation” about foreign
investment in agribusiness assets.
Also in 2014, economic consultants
McKinsey Company published a report
on actions needed to build Australia’s
international competitiveness across
all sectors of the economy. The report,
Compete to Prosper – Improving Australia’s
Global Competitiveness, concludes that
only one economic sector – agriculture
– “stands out as strongly competitive”,
but warns that its future contribution
to the national economy should not be
taken for granted.
While Australia is well-positioned,
geographically and economically, to
gain access to new markets in Asia,
this growth is not assured, the McKinsey
report says. Australia faces a “pervasive
competitiveness problem” and many
sectors of its economy lag behind
international benchmarks.
The report argues that disruptive
technologies such as robotics and
digital communications are redefining
economies and global trade, with supply
chains fragmenting and becoming more
specialised. The report uses Apple’s iPod
as an example of a high-demand product
that contains 451 distinct components
sourced from around the world.
This means the global flows of those
components, or “intermediate goods”,
are more than three times greater than
ALAMY
for the final product, and competition
is moving from the level of industry
sectors like manufacturing or retail
to areas like design and logistics.
“Tools for file sharing and collaboration
allow engineering plans to be drafted
by teams in multiple countries; more
sophisticated logistics allow construction
firms to prefabricate everything from
bathrooms in multi-storey dwellings to
steel structures for liquefied natural gas
processing plants,” the McKinsey
report points out.
16. This Grasshopper drone
calculates the best flight
path to monitor crop health.
ARCAA
“Australia has a longstanding worldwide
reputation for excellence in science related
to food and agriculture. This is an area where
Australia can show leadership.”
WHAT DOES THIS mean for
Australian agriculture? Future farm
research teams will include data
analysts, software programmers,
agronomists, statisticians, engineers,
geneticists, cell biologists, hydrologists
and atmospheric physicists. Farmers
will use geo-location data to analyse
climate, water tables and soils, and
calculate inputs such as fertilisers
and chemicals for weed and disease
control. Farm robotics, from drone
surveillance of livestock and crops
to sophisticated digital systems
that track soil moisture and farm
water management, will be a major
growth area.
The Australian Government
has announced $100 million in new
grants for rural industries research.
At the Australasian Research
Managers Society conference
in Canberra in September 2014,
the Department of Agriculture
Senior Executive Richard Webb
said “non-traditional areas” such
as farm robotics will be funded by
grants offered through Australia’s
15 Rural Research and Development
Corporations. Australia is already
a world leader in this area, Webb
emphasised, adding that there was
“plenty of scope” to work across
industries and to adapt mining and
defence robotic systems to farming.
Precision agriculture research,
which involves the use of satellite
mapping and remote sensors, is
another area where Australia can
lead. The Australian Centre for Field
Robotics at the University of Sydney
has developed a world-first robot
sensor for vegetable farming –
a solar-powered robot called Ladybird
that will help farmers collect crop
data, detect pests and control weeds.
The Plant Biosecurity CRC is
working with researchers at the
Queensland University of Technology
(QUT) on the use of drones to detect
diseases in wheat and other crops, as
well as the spread of the myrtle rust
fungus in Australia’s national parks.
Sustainable grazing systems also
have the potential to improve farm
productivity and profitability, while
C R C A . A S N . AU K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e 1 5
17. making Australia’s farms more resilient
to climate variability. The Future Farm
Industries CRC recently ended its
seven-year research program with
a string of successes, including two
Eureka national science awards for its
use of native perennials and shrubs to
create drought resistant pasture systems.
These new pastures can improve nutrition
for livestock and help control intestinal
parasites in sheep, reducing drenching
and chemical costs. Following trials
by the CRC with farmers in WA and
NSW, these systems are in use across
more than 1 million hectares of
farmland, and estimates suggest
they could increase farm profitability
by around $1.6 billion by 2030.
The Future Farm Industries CRC
also explored the possibility of planting
1 6 K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e
ISTOCK
www.pbcrc.com.au
www.sheepcrc.org.au
www.dairyfuturescrc.com.au
ENVIRONMENT
ISTOCK
“We have what
the world wants and
will increasingly
need over the next
20 years.”
The number of
sheep producers
who attended
workshops on
improving flock
production of
pregnant ewes
in a program
developed by
the Sheep CRC.
1800
woody crops, such as oil
mallees, to diversify farm
income from new industries
such as aviation biofuels. In 2013,
it won a CRC Association national
award for innovation excellence for
a low-emissions mallee harvester
(capable of continuous harvesting)
developed with Richard Sulman,
Principal Engineer in Australian
consultancy Biosystems Engineering.
AUSTRALIA’S GLOBALLY
competitive agronomists will also make
greater use of genetics to improve crops
and livestock. The Sheep CRC is using
full genomic sequencing to improve the
effectiveness of DNA tests used by wool
and sheep meat producers when selecting
breeding stock. The Dairy Futures CRC
is involved in a global collaboration of
more than 20 international participants
led by Australian scientists to collect
more than 1000 DNA sequences of
bulls to identify gene mutations that
cause embryonic death in dairy cattle
(see page 20).
Four years ago, Australia’s Chief
Scientist Professor Ian Chubb led
a review of Australia’s
international agricultural research
programs and found that when national
investments in agricultural science,
technology and training were taken
into account, the number of people
benefiting from Australian agricultural
expertise was around 400 million a year.
“We are good at this,” he wrote in
an introduction to the report. “Australia
has a longstanding worldwide reputation
for excellence in science related to food
and agriculture. This is an area where
Australia can show leadership.”
GO FIGURE
Australian agriculture at a glance
The export value
of Australian
agricultural products
in 2012 – placed in
the world’s top 15
in this sector.
US$38.4
BILLION
$131 MILLION
The government and industry investment in the Plant
Biosecurity CRC to identify early warning, identification
and control of plant pests and diseases, safeguard trade and
market access for grain and horticulture exports and improve
national awareness of biosecurity issues facing Australia.
$14 BILLION The value of Australia’s annual crop
exports from industries that will benefit
from Plant Biosecurity CRC research.
The amount earned
for each dollar
spent on the Plant
Biosecurity CRC,
based on typical
pest impacts in key
plant industries.
$2.56
ISTOCK
19. SPEC I A L R E P O RT
The new class
Australian innovation is making an impact
on the world stage as businesses and
researchers forge ahead into foreign
markets, says Penny Pryor.
THERE ARE INCREASING
signs that Australian RD
investment in smart sectors
such as finance and agriculture is reaping
benefits overseas. Federal Trade and
Investment Minister Andrew Robb
points to a 10.4% rise in annual gross
RD expenditure to $31 billion
(by 2012). This is twice the 4.9%
per annum average among countries
of the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD).
“Australia is a world-class
innovation destination,” Robb says.
“This is built on solid foundations of
modern infrastructure, strong levels
of investment, generous research and
development incentives, and strong
intellectual property protection.”
In the Global Innovation Index
2014, Australia achieved its highest
rank for innovation inputs, coming
in 10th out of 143 countries and
placing 22nd for outputs.
“We have seen a near doubling
of patents filed abroad by Australian
entities over a 10-year period,” says
Ben Mitra-Kahn, Chief Economist at
IP Australia, the Federal Government’s
intellectual property office. He believes
this is an encouraging indication that
organisations are taking their
innovations to foreign markets.
“Our national scientific research
organisation, CSIRO, ranks in the top
1% of the world’s scientific institutions
1 8 K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e
“We have seen
a near doubling of
patents filed abroad
by Australian
entities over
a 10-year period.”
products and processes – on top
of the $8.6 billion in direct impacts
already accrued since the CRC
Program began in 1991.
“No one is more interested in or
committed to maximising research
impact than CRCs,” says Tony Peacock,
CEO of the CRC Association.
[in 15 of 22 research fields],” adds Robb.
He cites Australia’s development of the
bionic ear and CSIRO’s pioneering
wi-fi work as high-profile examples
of Australian innovation.
To that list, IP Australia adds ResMed’s
patented sleep apnoea devices as well
as Sportwool – a composite superfine
Merino wool for endurance clothing,
developed by CSIRO and WoolMark
and adopted by foreign firms.
There’s also: the 3D-absorbent
fabric developed by CSIRO and
Textor Technologies, which is being
used in the next generation nappy by
global brand Huggies; Vision CRC’s
ongoing work in contact lens technology
worn by millions worldwide; and the
Total Channel Control System to
rejuvenate outdated irrigation systems.
Total Channel Control is now used
around the world, and was jointly
developed by the former CRC
for Sensor Signal and Information
Processing, and Rubicon Water.
Relatively speaking, Australia’s
weakness is innovation outputs.
But efforts by many of the CRCs
are building global relationships that
will continue to boost the nation’s
growth. In 2012, a report by Allen
Consulting Group (now ACIL Allen
Consulting) predicted that $5.9 billion
in direct economic impacts would
accrue during the five years to 2017
from CRC-produced technologies,
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ROSSLYN BEEBY
ISTOCK
20. Australia’s ranking in the
Global Innovation Index
21st
23rd
19th
17th
2011 2012 2013 2014
The Innovation
Efficiency Ratio
97th
107th
116th
81st
2011 2012 2013 2014
Taking finance further
AN EXAMPLE OF successful
Australian innovation on a global stage
is the European Capital Markets CRC
(ECMCRC). Established in early 2013
by the Australian-based Capital Markets
CRC (CMCRC) in collaboration with
European universities, more than seven
universities were involved at the time
of writing, with plans for at least
another seven by early 2015.
The CMCRC was born out of the
Securities Industry Research Centre
of Asia-Pacific (SIRCA), set up in
the 1990s by current CMCRC
CEO Professor Michael Aitken
as a model under which universities
could collaborate and share knowledge
and infrastructure and then jointly
apply for research funding.
Like its Asia-Pacific predecessor,
the CMCRC enables the finance and
business departments of Australian
universities to build and share
valuable infrastructure.
A large amount of time in financial
market research is spent collecting and
collating data and the CMCRC has
developed programs that expedite this
ISTOCK
C R C A . A S N . AU K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e 1 9
SOURCE: WWW.GLOBALINNOVATIONINDEX.ORG
process. These innovations also enable the
data to be shared, with the result being
a drastic reduction in research time.
One of the CMCRC’s earliest and
most successful innovations was the
SMARTS market surveillance system,
which was sold to the US stock
exchange NASDAQ in 2010. The
proceeds of that sale allowed further
developments, such as the Market
Quality Dashboard.
“The Market Quality Dashboard takes
all that data and produces basic metrics
that everyone needs to use to analyse
things like transactions costs and market
volatility,” Aitken explains. It means
researchers and academics no longer
need to develop these metrics from
scratch, thereby improving productivity.
In Europe, the ECMCRC will attract
new members by providing academics
and universities with access to these tools.
“What we’re doing is encouraging the
universities to get together – by giving
them something they couldn’t hope to
achieve in a million years – and once
they’re together, we collectively apply for
funding from the EU to be matched by
industry funding, thus sharing the very
successful CRC model with other
countries,” Aitken says.
The university PhD students who use
the data, and are in industry placements,
have the joint role of linking the research
to commercial applications because they
best understand what companies need.
Aitken says the CMCRC has already
built three major pieces of technology
and created at least 200 new jobs in
Australian spin-offs as a result.
“We hope that we will do the
same in Europe but we need to get
the universities together first,” he says.
“By focusing on industry engagement
first and foremost, we will build
interesting technology for businesses.
This will build up ‘brownie points’
with industry partners who will
provide access to their unique data,
which will in turn foster scholarship.”
CMCRC’s predecessor, SIRCA,
has 39 member universities from
across the region, and Aitken says
there are already plans in place for
a capital markets research centre in
North America in the next five years.
At its highest ranking to date, Australia is
placed 17th in the overall Global Innovation
Index – up six positions since 2012.
Australia’s innovation output/input ratio ranking
leapt in one year from 116th to 81st out of 143
countries in 2014 – a step in the right direction.
21. A global effort
THE AREA OF agriculture and
agribusiness is one of Australia’s five
key strengths, points out Robb, and
agricultural CRCs have also been very
proactive when it comes to international
cooperation. Two years ago, the
Dairy Futures CRC launched a global
research project to create the world’s
biggest collection of DNA sequence
data for dairy herd bulls.
The aim of the 1000 Bulls Genome
Project was to build a database of
DNA sequences to be used for
breeding Australia’s dairy herds.
From that data, mutations that
affect animal health, welfare and
productivity could also be identified.
A scientific paper analysing the
genomes of 234 bulls from three dairy
cattle breeds – Jersey, Holstein-Friesian
and Fleckvieh – was published in the
international journal Nature Genetics
in July 2014. It explains that the research
team identified 28.3 million genetic
variants and was able to use the database
to identify a recessive mutation linked to
embryonic death in dairy cattle. The
researchers also identified a dominant
mutation linked to chondrodysplasia,
a type of bone disease.
20 K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e
“There’s a real opportunity here if
we can find the genes affecting traits
that are important to dairy farmers,
like fertility, milk production and
disease resistance,” the project’s leader,
Dr Ben Hayes, recently told the ABC’s
Country Hour. “We’re combining the
DNA information with the herd
records that farmers have kept over
a large number of years… to sort
through those 28 million variants
and come down to a few thousand
that really do predict milk production,
fertility and disease resistance.”
The project involves 20 international
research partners from Australia,
France, Germany, Canada, Denmark
and the USA. Hayes is based at the
Victorian Department of Environment
and Primary Industries and leads
the Dairy Futures CRC’s animal
improvement research program
– a partnership between dairy farmers,
pasture and cattle breeding companies,
government and researchers.
Hayes explains that identifying a gene
mutation that causes embryonic loss in
cows can help farmers build a healthy,
more productive dairy herd. “We know
that this particular mutation is already
present at low frequency in Australian
dairy herds. Locating the mutation
means we can test for it and avoid
matings between animals that both
carry the mutation, to keep it from
becoming a problem in the future.”
The CRC is also using the project’s
genetic sequence data to design
improvements in the routine use of DNA
to predict the genetic merits of dairy cows.
“The ultimate challenge in making
genomic selection more robust is to find
the variants that are considered to be
causative – the small fraction of all
known variants that are responsible
for major changes to the function of
important genes,” Hayes says.
“We now have data for the entire
DNA sequences, including mutations
affecting the traits dairy farmers are
most interested in. We are tracking
down the causative genes for fertility,
longevity and meat production, to
equip farmers to make more informed
breeding decisions and boost the
quality of their herds.”
SPEC I A L R E P O RT
GO FIGURE
Australia at a glance
Australia’s estimated
nominal GDP – the
12th largest economy
in the world and
4th largest in the
Asian region.
$1.7
TRILLION
$800
MILLION
Dollar value of direct impacts
accrued by 2012 since the
CRC Program began in 1991.
Estimated value of Dairy CRC
research and innovation to
Australia’s dairy farmers by 2028.
that use the CMCRC’s
award winning SMARTS
product, developed
to provide real-time
surveillance of
capital markets. 50
$8.6 BILLION The number of countries
22. “By focusing on
industry engagement
we will build
technology
for businesses,
gain access to
unique data and
foster scholarship.”
THE PORK CRC is another good
example of global collaboration.
The CRC has strong links with
the French National Institute for
Agricultural Research (INRA)
on genetic research around disease
resistance and environmental resilience
in pigs. Pork CRC Chief Executive
Officer, Dr Roger Campbell, credits
the collaboration to the reputation and
efforts of their geneticist Dr Susanne
Hermesch, an Associate Professor at
the Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit,
based at the University of New England
in NSW. Hermesch says international
collaboration is particularly important
in her field of pig genetics.
“It’s a small, very specialised
field, and you really need to look
for collaboration to get the people
you want,” she says. Hermesch also
has collaborative arrangements
with researchers at organisations
in New Zealand, Scotland and
the Netherlands.
Pork CRC’s attitude towards
commercialisation of research at
a national level also means that any
collaborative international research
is quickly adopted in the field.
“Research is part of the adoption
process,” says Hermesch. “We are
recording information and data on
farms in the commercial setting.”
Australian breeding companies
collaborate in research, which means
they must have faith that the research
outcomes will result in commercial
benefits for their business.
“This international collaboration is
valuable,” adds Hermesch. “I’m pulling
people from all over the world into my
extended research team with links to
the Australian pig industry.”
Campbell expects there to be global
advantages from the current genetic
research because of these ties.
“The pig industry globally is not
all that different,” he says. “I would
expect that all geneticists, and therefore all
breeding companies, are likely to benefit.”
www.cmcrc.com
www.dairyfuturescrc.com.au
www.visioncrc.org
www.porkcrc.com.au
C R C A . A S N . AU K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e 2 1
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23. SPEC I A L R E P O RT
TOKYO. AN ANXIOUS
42-year-old woman faces
breast cancer surgery tomorrow.
She has just had a tiny amount of the
radioactive element technetium-99m
injected into her breast ahead of a scan
that will tell her surgeon which lymph
nodes to biopsy – thereby increasing the
effectiveness of her operation.
She doesn’t know it, but her scan
relied on ANSTO’s OPAL reactor in
Sydney, which was designed for nuclear
medicine and research. Radioactive
molybdenum-99 (which decays to make
technetium-99m), arrived at the airport
just in time to get through customs and
onto a Qantas flight to Tokyo.
On landing, it was rushed to a nuclear
medicine processing company, where it was
incorporated into a ‘generator’ – a heavily
shielded device about the size of an esky
– then couriered to the hospital, where
the minute dose of technetium needed
for her scan was drawn off.
ANSTO has the process of sending
time-critical nuclear medicine supplies
across the globe down to a fine art,
regularly shipping molybdenum-99
to Asia and the USA.
“We can get product from Sydney
to Boston as efficiently as it can be
shipped there from Europe,” says
Shaun Jenkinson, ANSTO Nuclear
Business Group Executive.
With radioactive elements, time is
of the essence. Technetium-99m has
22 K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e
SPOTLIGHT | ANSTO
Going global
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation’s
nuclear medicine program supplies products for the treatment
of one in two Australians and many more people worldwide,
Clare Pain reports.
a half-life of just six hours, which means
half of it will have decayed into something
else in that time. This is why it is shipped
as its precursor, molybdenum-99, which
has a half-life of 2.75 days.
ANSTO’s molybdenum-99 exports
bring in over $10 million each year to
Australia. This figure is set to triple after
2016, when its new $100 million nuclear
medicine processing facility starts up,
bringing with it 250 new jobs.
“This will allow us to provide
about 25% of the global volume of
molybdenum-99 and, with our joint
venture South African partners NTP,
supply about 50% of the world market,”
Jenkinson says.
Most of the main reactors producing
nuclear medicines are fuelled by highly
enriched uranium (HEU) in the U-235
isotope, as well as HEU ‘target plates’
for making molybdenum-99. HEU is
also a critical component for nuclear
weapons. Hence, the use of HEU
is discouraged in accordance with
an international treaty on the
non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
The OPAL reactor, however, is
technologically advanced in that it
uses low-enriched target plates when
making molybdenum-99 and runs on
low-enriched uranium fuel, which
cannot be diverted to weapons.
“We lead the way – being good citizens
of the world by supplying a product that’s
proliferation-proof,” says Jenkinson.
In Australia, ANSTO is the major
supplier of technetium-99m in nuclear
medicine. “About 600,000 Australians
have nuclear medicine scans every year,”
says Professor Paul Roach of the Royal
North Shore Hospital in Sydney.
Since only minute amounts are needed
for each scan – including bone, cardiac,
lung, thyroid and kidney scans – the
entire Australian market uses just 60 ml
of molybdenum-99 per week. But not
all nations are self-sufficient in this way.
“There have been real issues in the
USA when people have struggled to get
technetium because the old reactors have
been down for repair,” says Roach.
As North America’s older reactors
retire from service over the next two years,
ANSTO is well-placed to increase its
output, and take up the challenge of
providing the necessary medical exports
to a growing global market.
ANSTO’s molybdenum-99 exports bring in
more than $10 million each year to Australia.
ANSTO’s OPAL reactor enables
nuclear medical scans, which are
often used in conjunction with
computerised tomography (below).
www.ansto.gov.au
ANSTO
24. Boom time:
the new, smart
manufacturing
Job stats are low but hopes are high for Australia’s
beleaguered manufacturing sector to transition into
a high-tech, world-class, niche market operator.
Myles Gough reports.
C R C A . A S N . AU
INNOVAT I O N
K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e 23
THE EMPLOYMENT
statistics leave no doubt: traditional
Australian manufacturing has
hit rock bottom. The sector has lost
123,000 jobs in the past decade and
now accounts for just 7.9% of Australia’s
total employment – an all-time low.
Blue Scope Steel closed shop at
Port Kembla in 2011; in 2014, aluminium
producer Alcoa shut down its Point Henry
smelter near Geelong, with more closures
to follow; and Holden, Ford and Toyota
have announced plans to cease Australian
manufacturing operations by 2017.
The demise of our century-old
automotive industry will result in the loss
of several thousand jobs. Many more will
be threatened in the 160 or so businesses
involved in the engineering, design and
manufacture of automotive components.
“We face a dramatic challenge,”
says Ian Christensen, CEO of the
AutoCRC, explaining that ‘made to
print’ manufacturing – which involves
no local innovation or design input
– “now faces a bleak future”.
But Christensen is convinced there
will be opportunities for smart operators,
suggesting two options for component
manufacturers to remain viable. For one,
they could apply their expertise to other
sub-sectors in Australia, such as the
manufacture of biomedical devices.
Or, they could find a way to develop
technologies for offshore automobile
manufacturers, most likely in Southeast
Asia, and partner with an overseas
manufacturer to produce the components.
“To be successful at all, we must
focus on value-adding and innovation,”
Christensen says. “We have to aspire
to dominate global niches that are
technically demanding. And we must
have a deep understanding of customers’
needs now and into the future.”
Minister for Industry Ian Macfarlane
agrees that manufacturing in Australia
is transforming rapidly. “If the country
is to remain globally competitive in
this area, it must continue shifting
from a reliance on traditional heavy
industry to a focus on specialised,
high-end manufacturing in areas
of competitive advantage,” he says.
Part of this shift will be driven
by research and science, he adds.
In October 2014, the government
announced the Industry Innovation
and Competitiveness Agenda to
“reset industry policy to put science
at the centre of industry policy”.
Advanced manufacturing is one of five
sectors that the agenda will address.
CRCs ACROSS AUSTRALIA
are working hard to carve out these
niches and developing sophisticated
new products based on advanced
manufacturing processes. These
include lightweight composites
for the construction industry and
biotechnologies that will help deliver
new therapies for a range of illnesses.
Industry players say they are hopeful
that expertise in high-tech areas, coupled
with an aptitude for innovation, will
help manufacturers overcome traditional
obstacles such as the high Australian
dollar, high labour and energy costs
and geographic disadvantage.
A large number of companies in
Australia are adapting and evolving
to meet the needs of a global economy,
according to Brad Dunstan, CEO of the
Victorian Centre for Advanced Materials
Manufacturing (VCAMM). “The real
status of Australian manufacturing is
one of cautious optimism,” he says.
Here are some examples of where
a vibrant new Australian manufacturing
sector might be headed.
Plant fibre
bio-composites
THE DEFENCE, AUTOMOTIVE,
aerospace and oil and gas industries
are all showing a strong appetite
for advanced composite materials here
and around the world. And Australia’s
composites industry is well-positioned
to take advantage of that, according to
Professor Murray Scott, CEO of
the CRC for Advanced Composite
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25. INNOVAT I O N
Structures (CRC-ACS). Scott
says this is because the Australian
industry is composed predominantly
of ‘agile’ small-to-medium enterprise
businesses, able to quickly explore
new market opportunities.
“Australia has a fantastic opportunity
to continue leadership in composites,
particularly their application in new
areas,” he says.
A notable achievement of
CRC-ACS has been developing
technology with Boeing Aerostructures
Australia, which manufactures the
wing trailing edge devices for the
Boeing 787 Dreamliner – work
worth an estimated $4 billion to the
Australian economy over 25 years.
One new area of focus is the
development of bio-composite
materials that use natural plant fibres
instead of glass. This allows for an
environmental impact reduction of
15–50%, says Dr Andrew Beehag,
CRC-ACS General Manager.
Over the short term, CRC-ACS
has focussed on developing
lower performance bio-composites
that can be used as wood and fibreglass
alternatives in the building and
construction industry. Researchers
have already developed a process to
manufacture composites made from
2 mm-long plant fibres. This, says
Beehag, represents a significant
improvement over the immediate
market competitor, which has only
achieved reinforced lengths of around
0.1 mm and a much weaker performance.
“Laboratory trials have shown that
a 30–40% increase in strength may be
achievable with our approach,” Beehag
says. And that would come with only
a 10% higher cost. This gives CRC-ACS
flexibility to develop a premium product
with increased performance, or to
achieve cost savings while maintaining
current performance standards.
Two companies are already trialling
these next generation building products.
24 K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e
this grand challenge of high-rate
composite manufacturing and license
it to Australian industry, then those
Australian companies are in the box seat
to manufacture parts in high volume for
a burgeoning market,” says Dunstan.
High performance plastics offer
another option to reduce vehicle
weight and improve fuel efficiency in
the automotive and aviation industries.
The global market for injection-moulded
plastics is expected to reach about
$319 billion by 2020. The creation
of millions of plastic components for
transport and other industries begins
with a single mould. However,
developing moulds requires highly
specialised experts in the design stage
and many prototypes. This generates
waste and makes the process
time-consuming and expensive.
To solve this problem, the AutoCRC,
along with the Victorian Partnership
of Advanced Computing and the
Malaysia Automotive Institute, have
developed a new software toolkit known
as vMould. This software application
intelligently optimises mould design
and development. It eliminates the need
for specialists, allows for more accurate
component designs with fewer flaws –
meaning fewer prototypes and less waste
– and improves overall production speed.
Based on the timing and success of
these trials, CRC-ACS and its spin-off
ACS Australia should be in a strong
position to accelerate commercialisation
activities, Beehag says.
Carbon to revitalise
auto manufacturing
LIGHTWEIGHT CARBON fibre
composites are becoming crucial to
automotive manufacturing around the
world as companies strive to reduce
vehicle weight. Reduced weight translates
into lower fuel consumption costs.
Australia already has one success
story with Carbon Revolution
– a company that has developed
a one-piece carbon fibre wheel for
sports cars, which is 40–50% lighter
than aluminium alternatives.
But manufacturing carbon fibre
composites affordably, at the volume
needed to keep pace with automobile
production, poses a considerable
challenge. Dunstan says to be acceptable
to mainstream manufacturing, the
composites industry needs to show
that it can produce one part per minute
at a cost of about $14 per kilogram.
Once that challenge is met, he says,
the floodgates will open.
To address the problem of affordable
mass production, the AutoCRC is
supporting a project investigating
a novel epoxy resin system. It’s hoped
that tailored resins will be more adept
at achieving faster curing times,
ultimately increasing the rate of
production as required.
This work is taking place at Carbon
Nexus, a $34 million research and pilot
manufacturing facility in Geelong. It’s
been developed by Deakin University
in partnership with VCAMM, with
support from the Victorian and
Australian Governments.
“If we can create new, globally
relevant intellectual property at
Carbon Nexus that helps meet
Australian success
story Carbon Revolution
has developed a
one-piece carbon fibre
wheel, which is 40–50%
lighter than aluminium
alternatives.
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26. One of several promising research
projects already underway at the
CTM CRC aims to improve islet cell
transplantation. Transplanted islet cells
from donor pancreata have significant
benefits for people with type 1 diabetes
by potentially enabling them to survive
without insulin injections. But the
process of isolating and transplanting
these cells is fraught with technical
difficulties, high costs and low accessibility.
One of the most critical issues is
the extensive cell death that occurs
during donor islet processing and after
transplantation. CRC researchers have
been working to improve cell survival
during lab-to-hospital transfers, and
are engineering ‘scaffolds’ and coatings
to promote islet cell survival before
and after transplants.
Kothari says this will make currently
prohibitively expensive cell therapies far
more accessible to a greater number of
people living with diabetes in Australia
and elsewhere.
www.crc-acs.com.au
www.autocrc.com
www.ctmcrc.com
www.amcrc.com.au
Cell building –
the biotech path
ANOTHER INNOVATIVE path for
Australian manufacturing is biotechnology,
particularly cell therapies. Cell therapies
use living cells to replace, repair or
regenerate damaged or diseased tissue.
The $59 million CRC for Cell
Therapy Manufacturing (CTM CRC)
was set up to develop cost-effective
manufacturing methods for cell
therapies and create the pathways
to put them into clinical practice.
“The cell therapy industry is
the fastest growing sector of the
regenerative medicine market,”
explains Dr Sherry Kothari, the
CTM CRC’s Managing Director.
Despite regulatory and cost hurdles,
there is already intense international
competition in the area due to the
industry’s strong growth potential.
“Australia has the potential to become
a world leader in the development of cell
therapies,” Kothari says. “We have the
chance to establish ourselves as a leader
in the field, grow a new manufacturing
industry, create jobs and, above all,
transform healthcare outcomes.”
World-first cell
manufacturing industry
WITH GEELONG STILL reeling from
the decline of traditional manufacturing,
there’s probably no better place for
Australia to experience the potential
of a new style of industry.
A cell therapy innovation has resulted
in an exciting new partnership that will
see an advanced manufacturing plant set
up in Geelong within the next 18 months
to manufacture short nano-fibres. These
are used in high-tech applications,
including as a medium for cell growth.
Working with the Advanced
Manufacturing CRC (AMCRC) in a large
collaborative project involving Deakin
University, Monash University and
VCAMM, Australian biotechnology
startup Cytomatrix has developed
world-first technology that enables
the commercial-scale manufacture of
haematopoietic stem cells. These are
used in bone marrow transplants and to
treat people with leukaemia and other
cancers, and help restore red and white
blood cells destroyed by high doses of
chemo- and radiation-therapy.
Andrew McLellan, CEO of the AMCRC,
says the technology could significantly
shorten hospital stays for transplant
recipients. It’s a great example, says
McLellan, of an innovative Australian
organisation operating in a high value,
high knowledge-based niche.
“These organisations need to be
celebrated and seen as being the leaders
of what can happen in the future.”
ST VINCENT’S INSTITUTE, MELBOURNE
THE ROYAL ADELAIDE HOSPITAL, ADELAIDE
The CTM CRC aims to improve islet
cell transplantation, which may help
people with type 1 diabetes survive
In a world first, an Australian
startup has found a way to
commercially manufacture
haematopoietic stem cells used
in bone marrow transplants.
without insulin injections.
SPL
C R C A . A S N . AU K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e 2 5
27. S O C I E T Y
The wider view
The 3% of Australians living in remote
regions face significant health and
social challenges. Two CRCs are
finding solutions, writes Fran Molloy.
THE PLIGHT OF Aboriginal,
Torres Strait Islander and other
people living in remote Australia is
a “global shame”, warned Dr Tom Calma
in November 2014. Calma is Chair of
Ninti One, the not-for-profit organisation
that manages the CRC for Remote
Economic Participation (CRC-REP).
More than half a million Australians
live in remote areas. Occupying a wide
range of climate zones across 80% of our
landmass, these regions encompass diverse
and rich cultures and unique landscapes.
This poses big research challenges for
the CRCs working there – primarily the
CRC-REP and the Lowitja Institute.
Headquartered in Alice Springs,
Ninti One has delivered $239 million in
social and economic benefits to remote
Australia since its inception in 2003.
The research is mostly concerned with
social good, rather than commercial
outcomes, which can make the impact
hard to gauge, says Calma. “Research is
imperative in order to properly understand
and improve the lives of people living in
remote Australia,” he says.
Calma is a distinguished Aboriginal
leader and elder of the Kungarakan
people in the Northern Territory.
He cites feral camel management as an
example of economic good delivered by
26 K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e
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Aboriginal Community Researcher
Amunda Gory with Anmatyerre
artist Margaret Scobie.
NINTI ONE
tool, apply it and then report back
on it. This is integral to getting
good information.”
Calma is a critic of what he calls
“fly-in, fly-out bureaucrats” who spend
a day or two in a community, speak
to a few select people and then leave
thinking they have an understanding
of the region’s issues.
“Our research shows that
non-Indigenous or even Indigenous
bureaucrats without an understanding
of a particular community will come
in with preconceived ideas,” he says,
adding that this can lead them to frame
their questions to get a pre-determined
outcome. Aboriginal people then tell
bureaucrats what they think they want
to hear, or the bureaucrats mistake
silence for agreement, Calma explains.
Ninti One: 500 rangers were trained to
control camel populations and map and
maintain waterholes, preventing more
than $3 million a year in damage to
fences, bores and waterholes in pastoral
properties and local communities.
Ninti One has invested $1 million in
their Pastoral Precision Project, which
uses spatial data to match livestock
performance to environmental conditions.
The product is now ready for market
and is expected to benefit many farmers.
To assist researchers working on these
kinds of projects in remote Australia,
Ninti One has produced guidelines in
conjunction with community members
with protocols around confidentiality, for
example. “Sometimes researchers need to
understand that they cannot write down
all the stories,” says Calma. These also
advise where research information and
recordings should be kept.
Ninti One has trained 90 Aboriginal
Community Researchers who live
in remote communities to undertake
research and surveys in the community.
“They have the capacity to
understand the language of the
community, as well as all the nuances
of behaviours within the community,”
says Calma. “In working with a client,
they can come up with a good survey
“Bureaucrats without
an understanding
of a community
will come in with
preconceived ideas.”
28. Since its inception in 2003,
Alice Springs-based Ninti One has
delivered $239 million in economic
and social benefits to rural areas
throughout Australia.
THE CRC PROGRAM is the only
Commonwealth initiative providing
a link between industry, academia,
government and the communities
of remote regions, Calma says.
“We know from past, bitter
experience the policies imposed from
on high and afar seldom work well
in remote Australia. Only when you
truly engage the people who live there
do you get results.
“At the moment there is evidence
that the wellbeing of remote Australians
is at increasing risk, and urgent action is
needed to reverse this trend and to begin
building a more optimistic, prosperous
and equitable future for them.”
When the CRC analysed employment
across remote Australia, they found that
a large percentage of jobs were held by
non-Indigenous people with a Year 10
or less level of education, despite
“more than adequate numbers of
Aboriginal people with Year 10 and
above qualifications,” says Rod Reeve,
Ninti One’s Managing Director.
Another significant project, led
by Professor John Guenther from
Flinders University, aims to identify
how education can improve outcomes
for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Creating
solutions
THE HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL Lowitja Institute,
established in 2010 as the national institute
for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
research, garnered an additional five years of
funding in July 2014. The Institute was built on
14 years of CRCs, beginning with the CRC for
Aboriginal and Tropical Health in 1997.
This CRC introduced a new roundtable process,
which set research priorities involving the community
as well as researchers and policy-makers – changing
the way research into Indigenous health took place.
Pat Anderson, Chair of the Lowitja Institute,
says the process instituted a new way of
commissioning projects, with community
leaders at the centre of decision-making. The
Institute works collaboratively with stakeholders,
building up the research skills of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Island people along the way.
“Our guiding principle has always been that,
in order to improve our health, we need to create
our own solutions rather than have them imposed
upon us,” Anderson said at the opening of the
Institute’s new offices in October 2014.
Preventative health is high on the agenda. The
CRC recently evaluated Deadly Choices – a program
encouraging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people in southern Queensland to make healthy
choices around nutrition, physical activity, smoking
and use of harmful substances. The seven-week
school and community-based chronic disease
prevention and education initiative has grown to
encompass at least 1000 children from more than
100 schools and community health programs.
While substantial progress has been made
in Indigenous people having a greater stake in
health service delivery, research and policymaking,
Anderson points out there’s a long way to go.
“With life expectancy for Australia’s First
Peoples still languishing 11 years behind our
fellow countrymen and women, we clearly
have our work cut out for us.”
www.nintione.com.au
www.crc-rep.com
www.lowitja.org.au
C R C A . A S N . AU K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e 2 7
NINTI ONE
FIONA HAMILTON PHOTOGRAPHY
The Hon Shayne Neumann MP,
Ms Patricia Anderson AO and Ms Kelly
O’Dwyer MP at the Lowitja Institute.
people in remote areas. For the
Anangu people in Central Australia,
Guenther proposed an academy built
around a “red dirt” curriculum covering
rural economics, local histories, digital
literacies and grammar.
The principle behind the academy
comes from other projects Ninti One
has facilitated, where local and
non-local knowledge is shared, and
both knowledge systems are treated
with equal weight and respect.
“We try to look at an issue from
many different directions,” Calma says.
Calma was formerly Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Social
Justice Commissioner at the Human
Rights Commission, which he points
out has some aspects in common
with Ninti One.
“A human rights-based approach
and a community development
approach are very similar. They are
both about making people the centre
of what you do, and we recognise
that all our activities are for the
constituency of remote Australians.”
Head Office
Node (Ninti One office)
Research Locations
Remote Australia
29. FADING VISION
At age 40–45, if you find you have to hold a book further
away to read it, you may have developed presbyopia:
an ageing-related condition in which the eye’s ability to
focus on near objects is reduced as its lens progressively
stiffens. At this point in life, some people visit an
optometrist for the first time. Suddenly they need
glasses – and will for the rest of their lives.
If Dr Paul Erickson has his way, however, future
generations may be heading straight to an ophthalmic
surgeon to have a revolutionary ‘accommodating gel’
injected into their eyes.
CORNEA
IRIS
PUPIL
LENS
B I G P I C T U R E
Eye for
detail
It’s long been accepted that vision declines
with age, but an Australian invention could
soon change this, writes Clare Pain.
28 K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e
FIELD LEADER
Originally from Pennsylvania,
USA, Erickson has led the
accommodating gel project
since 2010 with significant
funding from the Vision CRC.
He is the CEO of Brien Holden
Vision Pty Ltd and Adventus
Technology Inc – companies
through which Vision CRC
participant the Brien Holden
Vision Institute develops and
commercialises its technologies.
TEAMWORK ADVANCES
Erickson’s team works with the prestigious Bascom
Palmer Eye Institute in Florida, USA. The partnership
has already led to improved medical microscopic
imaging technology for use during the procedure,
which could immediately benefit eye surgeons
conducting cataract operations, Erickson says.
THE SOLUTION
The accommodating gel project aims to
replace the stiff natural lens with a new lens
made from a siloxane gel – a compound of
silicone. First, the non-functioning natural
lens would be extracted through a procedure
similar to surgery for cataracts (lenses which
have become opaque). Then, the gel would
be injected into the transparent lens capsule.
Finding a suitable material to replace the
lens has been a 20-year search, says Erickson.
The requirements are stringent: it must be
a moderately viscous liquid that can be
injected, and it must polymerise into a soft,
flexible gel. It also has to be biocompatible
and, of course, transparent. Developed in
Australia, the gel is being trialled in rabbits.
“We’re fine-tuning the properties,” says
Erickson. “Over the next two to three years,
we hope to move into animal models that
more closely resemble humans, and then
on to human subjects.”
DEFINING THE PROBLEM
The crystalline lenses in our eyes can adjust their focal length (or
‘accommodate’) by changing shape – bulging or flattening according
to the tension in fibres that connect the lens to the circular muscle
surrounding the lens capsule. It’s a very flexible lens, but it evolved
for a species that lives to around 40 years old, Erickson explains.
“During a person’s life, the lens material loses its softness and
flexibility, and at around age 40 the loss begins to accelerate,”
he adds. “It reaches a point where it’s very difficult for the stiffer
lens to change its shape in order to see at a normal reading distance.”
30. Improving STEM
MARKET WRAP-UP
Key Speakers
Professor Ian Chubb
Chief SCientiSt of
AuStrAliA
Education and Skills
’
Aligning education and training with employers needs
11th 12th february 2015, CQ functions, melbourne
Leonie Walsh
Lead Scientist for Victoria
StAte Government of
viCtoriA
Professor Leon Sterling
Pro-Vice Chancellor
Swinburne univerSity
Innes Willox
Chief Executive Officer
AuStrAliAn induStry
Group
Strategies for:
improving access to quality
Stem education
Attracting students into
Stem higher education
courses
Equipping students with
the skills and capabilities
employers need
increasing improving
Stem specialised teachers
Including industry case
studies from Google and IBM
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C R C A . A S N . AU K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e 2 9
31. The spirit within
An Innovator’s
Wish List
Boosting skills
Removing barriers
Improving finance
THE N E X T B I G T H I N G
Fairer regulation and better access to finance and equity will give
entrepreneurs plenty of encouragement, says Tony Peacock.
WE OFTEN HEAR calls
for a more entrepreneurial
culture. But what does
that mean in practical terms? Yes,
it is affected by our national psyche,
outlook and attitude to risk. We hear
that Australians don’t ‘embrace failure’,
and that our finance sector is too
conservative in its attitude to science
and innovation. These opinions might
be true, but regardless we also have to
get the building blocks right.
The ‘next big thing’ might come from
a series of small steps in developing the
environment for more innovators and
entrepreneurs to thrive. The government
has just released an Industry Innovation
and Competitiveness Agenda, which
features a few of the steps that
will improve the situation for
entrepreneurs in Australia.
Issuing share options to employees
is an important way of attracting talent.
New companies have an idea, a prayer
and not much cash. But brilliant young
people are often willing to take shares or
options in lieu of salaries for a year or
two to join the startup entrepreneurial
adventure. They might take a very low
salary, or spend a year couch surfing or
forgoing the benefits of deodorant.
The incredible stories of the likes
of Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and
the rest mean that by taking shares
in lieu of salary they may strike it rich.
In Australia, rules introduced in 2009
killed off this pathway by demanding
that tax be paid on those shares
immediately. The government has
now fixed that issue.
30 K n ow H ow m a g a z i n e
Removing barriers is another important
avenue to increase business competitiveness
in Australia. Simple things like vaccine
companies undergoing identical audits
from different regulatory agencies draws
cash – and focus – out of the business.
The government has decided to have
a serious go at lowering those barriers.
For the Treasurer’s coming tax review,
the Minister for Industry has flagged
two more innovations: crowd sourcing
of equity finance, and patent boxes.
Australia is slow on the equity issue,
with the USA, the UK, Canada and
New Zealand all ahead of us. But
the government has received a very
comprehensive report detailing the
necessary changes, and action is expected
soon. The patent box concept, which
started in the UK, allows companies
to isolate earnings from patents and
have them favourably taxed.
Apart from government, financing of
innovation is slowly improving. Westpac
has provided $50 million to Reinventure,
a venture capital company. CSIRO’s new
CEO, Larry Marshall, is an Aussie with
25 years of venture capital experience.
If the equity-financing model allows
self-managed super funds to invest,
then who knows the limits?
Firing up the entrepreneurial
spirit in Australia is the next big thing.
The foundations are quickly being laid
– next we need the builders to come in.
The gap year has become common after
senior secondary school. Wouldn’t it
be something to see a ‘growth year’,
when graduates or postgraduates gave
themselves a year to pursue an idea?
KnowHow founder
Tony Peacock is
the CEO of the CRC
Association and 2014
Monash University
Churchill Fellow at
The Winston Churchill
Memorial Trust.
ISTOCK
There are brilliant
young people willing
to take shares in lieu of
salaries to join a startup.
