Towards 3% R&D – a Future Made in Australia needs innovation boost

By Peter Roberts @AuManufacturing’s editorial series – Towards 3% R&D – turbocharging our national innovation effort which is now seeking your input – has been made more relevant with the announcement by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of a Future Made in Australia Act. Australia’s manufacturing future lies in technology and skills based products, as well…

China has finally removed crushing tariffs on Australian wine. But re-establishing ourselves in the market won’t be easy

By Weihuan Zhou, UNSW Sydney and James Laurenceson, University of Technology Sydney China’s Ministry of Commerce has finally ended its tariffs on Australian wine, which had been imposed for more than three years at rates as high as 218.4%. The measures have had a catastrophic impact on Australia’s wine exports. In 2019, Australia sold A$1.24…

Australia’s national R&D effort is faltering – call for contributions from readers for our new editorial series

By Peter Roberts @AuManufacturing News and Media is one of many voices concerned at a precipitous fall in national R&D effort since 2008 – innovation is the lifeblood of the economy and Australia’s effort is faltering. The fall, which accelerated under the coalition government, has not been reversed by the new Labor government despite Canberra…

Industry shutdowns are messy and painful: 4 lessons Australia’s coal sector can learn from car-makers about bowing out

By Vigya Sharma, The University of Queensland and Julia Loginova, The University of Queensland Shifting Australia’s electricity sector to low-carbon technologies and closing coal plants is vital to tackling climate change. But such transitions are easier said than done. People and economies are often deeply connected to the coal industry. Coal plants have often been…

Australian-made flexible solar cells part of satellite aboard SpaceX mission

CSIRO-developed printed flexible solar cells are travelling on Space Machines Company’s Optimus-1 private satellite, which flew  as cargo aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched on Tuesday (Australian time.) A statement from the national science agency following the launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California explained that it is exploring such solar cells as a…