Our current editorial series, Australia’s place in the semiconductor world, has received a greater number of submissions than expected. We have gratefully accepted comment from startups, academics, venture capitalists, former politicians and others. Besides the volume, the (naturally very important) quality of editorial has also exceeded expectations. As a result we are happy to extend…
Drone manufacturer Carbonix has partnered with electricity distributor SA Power Networks and communications group Nokia to utilise long-range Un-Crewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for aerial inspection on remote electricity lines and network assets. In the initial phase of the partnership a Carbonix Volanti UAV (pictured) will be used to prove the Beyond Visual Line of Sight…
After a long history, during which it has only fairly recently improved past the point where it rapidly induces nausea in a user, virtual reality has begun demonstrating its worth in recent years. You will probably have been to expos and heard about how CAD files can easily be turned into an object in a…
By Anya Phelan, The University of Queensland This week the federal government joined an international agreement to recycle or reuse 100% of plastic waste by 2040, putting an end to plastic pollution. But major obstacles stand in the way. The most recent is the collapse of Australia’s largest soft plastic recycling program, REDcycle. The program…
By Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Treasurer Jim Chalmers says he’ll have a system in place to deal with rising energy prices by Christmas. He can’t yet tell us what it will be, because that will depend on the outcome of negotiations with gas and electricity companies, and possibly on…
We sometimes speak to startups and even established companies who are pleasantly surprised by what can get made in-country, if you know where to look. While this website celebrates just about every company manufacturing in Australia, we acknowledge that production for a long list of things — as our current semiconductor series is detailing, or…
By Andrew Blakers, Australian National University; Anna Nadolny, Australian National University, and Ryan Stocks, Australian National University In eight years, Australia wants to be four-fifths powered by renewables. Solar and wind investment is pouring in. But to firm the renewables and overcome the intermittency, we need overnight energy storage. That’s why there’s so much interest…
By Kurtis Eichler With its 2023 launch announced by the South Australian government, here’s a look inside the Kanyini CubeSat. It’s the multi-million-dollar satellite that will collect invaluable data from space once it takes off into the cosmos. But the pieces of the puzzle that make up the $6.5 million CubeSat mission, dubbed Kanyini, have…
By Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Australia’s top economists have overwhelmingly endorsed intervention to restrain gas and electricity prices, with only three of the 47 leading economists surveyed believing the best thing the government can do is to leave things to the market. The 47 economists surveyed are members of…
Kite Magnetics recently completed an $1.85 million seed round and hopes to be the Rolls-Royce of e-aviation. Brent Balinski spoke to co-founder Dr Richard Parsons. Occasionally you have a conversation that reminds you that things are an awful lot better than they used to be. For me I had such a conversation a few weeks…