The Australian Innovation Community

A CSIRO study of the quality of air inside the typical Australian home has not revealed any nasty surprises.

New methods for detecting disease outbreaks earlier have been developed in a collaborative effort between CSIRO and NSW Health.

Germany’s Fraunhofer centres are to set up a joint project centre in Asia, based at the Centre for Advanced Media Technology, which was set up in 1998 by the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. The Fraunhofer Project Centre for Integrated Digital Media at NTU (Fraunhofer IDM@NTU), located on the grounds of Nanyang University, will focus on interactive digital media research. This will include, among other things, the development of software for Internet-ready mobile phones.

The Irish government revealed plans for an overhaul of its intellectual property laws on Tuesday at the first meeting of the group set up to drive forward the recommendations of a recent report on innovation strategy.

In an effort to cut red tape and focus on research results, the European Commission has recently adopted two major initiatives that will see changes to the financial regulations and a simplification of the procedures surrounding the EU’s research Framework Programmes. As well as making it easier for researchers to gain access to EU funds, the new rules would also help fuse more public and private funding, giving investment a stronger punch. Ultimately, the changes would get new EU programmes off the ground and running.

Close to 80% of Europeans are interested in science and technological developments, according to a new Eurobarometer survey. For comparison, just 65% claim to be interested in sports news.

“Perhaps a World Cup of science would get even more people round the TV than the football one does!” quipped the European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, presenting the results of the survey.

Collaboration between the European Union and Australia in science and technology was further enhanced at the eleventh Joint Science and Technology Cooperation Committee (JSTCC) meeting hosted by the Australian Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research held in Sydney on 7-9 June 2010. Australia and the European Union have a long history of productive research collaboration, underpinned by a treaty-level science and technology agreement signed in 1994.

EU-funded researchers have helped develop an early warning system that will protect vulnerable communities from tsunamis and avoid future terrible losses of life such as that suffered in Indonesia and Sri Lanka in December 2004, when an estimated 230 000 people were killed.

Australia and the Netherlands will work closely together on vital technology for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) – the world’s most powerful radio-telescope and one of the most ambitious science projects ever undertaken by the international community.

Australia’s CSIRO has signed a Statement of Intent with ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, to cooperate on developing and testing technology that will ultimately make the SKA possible.

Innovation Minister, Senator Kim Carr, welcomed the new partnership.

“We cannot build a knowledge society if we don’t invest in it,” says Robert-Jan Smits, the new Director-General of the EU’s Research Directorate-General. He promises simplified procedures for researchers granted EU funding and greater internationalisation of European research.

The European Commission this week brought the largest-ever delegation to Australia for the 11th Joint Science & Technology Cooperation Committee (JSTCC). 14 Commission Officials and several scientific experts visited Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra to take part in Senior Officials Meetings on Science & Innovation.

Australia and Europe will increase cooperation on international research projects covering everything from energy to nanotechnology to ICT, thanks to recent high-level meetings with key European Commission officials.

Following the eleventh Joint Science and Technology Cooperation Committee meeting held in Sydney last month, the Australian Government has agreed to provide $750,000 over the next 12 months to pursue agreed research outcomes.

The funding is from the Government’s International Science Linkages program.

The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research has published a series of calls for proposals under the ‘Cooperation’, ‘Capacities’, ‘People’ and ‘Ideas’ Programmes of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).

The calls come under a wide variety of themes and topics, including:

Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn announces today nearly €6.4 billion of European Commission investment in research and innovation. The package, the biggest ever, covers a vast range of scientific disciplines, public policy areas and commercial sectors. This funding will advance scientific boundaries, increase European competitiveness and help solve societal challenges such as climate change, energy and food security, health and an ageing population. Around 16,000 participants from research organisations, universities and industry, including about 3,000 SMEs, will receive funding.

The largest research investment plan in the history of the Republic of Ireland — €359 million — is aimed at transforming the country into ‘Europe’s innovation hub’, according to Brian Cowen, the Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister).

His support for the investment is an indication of how seriously the Dublin government is hoping the so-called ‘smart economy’ will drag the country out of the economic mess it collapsed into following a spectacular property and banking crash.

A collaborative agreement between CSIRO and two German organisations is providing Australian food companies with access to a new processing technology which uses low-energy electron beams rather than heat or chemicals to decontaminate food.

The agreement – with the internationally respected Fraunhofer Institute for Electron Beam and Plasma Technology and service company, EVONTA-Service GmbH – aims to further scientific research into ‘low-energy electron beam processing’.

In today’s issue of Science, CSIRO astronomer George Hobbs and colleagues in the UK, Germany and Canada report that they have taken a big step towards solving a 30-year-old puzzle: why the “cosmic clocks” called pulsars aren’t perfect.

“We now have a more fundamental understanding of how pulsars work,” Dr Hobbs said.

“We’ve shown that many pulsar characteristics are linked, because they have one underlying cause.”

The European Research Council (ERC) has celebrated its biggest landmark since its 2007 launch: 1,000 researchers have successfully clinched key financial support to conduct innovative ‘blue sky’ research. The ERC marked the symbolic awarding of the 1,000th grant, to Professor Erika von Mutius of the Ludwig-Maximilians- Universität München in Germany, at a special event in Munich, Germany on 24 June. Officials and leading researchers attending the ceremony included EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn and ERC President Professor Helga Nowotny.

The Australian Government’s proposed R&D Tax Credit is rated the world’s best system for providing incentives to foster R&D activity, according to a report just released by KPMG.

The Competitive Alternatives 2010 Special Report: Focus on Tax states: “the most dramatic change is for Australia, moving up from fifth place in 2008, to first in 2010. This change is a result of Australia adopting a new R&D tax credit system as of July 1st, 2010”.

The Australian Government will invest $47.3 million in Western Australia to ensure solar energy and the nation’s largest direct heat geothermal facility power Australia’s bid to host the world’s strongest radio telescope.

Two key pieces of infrastructure being built to support the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) bid will now have full-scale, clean energy generation systems because of the investment.

The European Commission has launched Scientix, a new web-portal targeted towards teachers, researchers, policy makers, local actors, parents and anyone interested in science education. Scientix will give access to teaching materials, research results and policy documents from European science education projects financed by the European Union and by various national initiatives. The new platform will facilitate regular dissemination and sharing of news, know-how, and best practices in science education across the European Union.

The EU should add €40 million to its contribution to the international Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) programme, according to a declaration issued following the COST Ministerial Conference on 15 June in Palma de Majorca (Spain). The meeting, which was organised by the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, was attended by representatives of COST Member States.

This month the Go8 released information about the important work of its member universities in the field of energy research.

The Go8 recognises that the issue of energy usage and transformation is one of vital importance for Australia and for the rest of the world.

The document highlights projects and contact details for experts in:

From the air it looks like any other waste water treatment plant.

But this is actually the first hydro-electric power station in Australia to be powered by sewage.

The system is being pioneered in Sydney, Australia’s largest city.

The Australian Government will invest $37 million to develop a world first Australian Future Fibres Research and Innovation Centre (AFFRIC) at Deakin University.

The project will support:

In order to provide the Australian research community with best practice advice on engagement with the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research and technological development (FP7), FEAST has conducted a comprehensive survey of Australians involved with FP7 project proposals, both successful and unsuccessful. These interviews enable FEAST to present robust evidence of successful strategies and tactics, and practical advice on how to engage with FP7.

The EU’s forthcoming Research and Innovation Strategy for Europe will focus on the major societal challenges, have a broad definition of ‘innovation’ and seek to remove bottlenecks to the flow of knowledge, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn has announced.

The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector is by far the largest investor in private research and development (R&D) in the EU, with 25% of total investment in 2007. According to a new report published by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, the ICT sector’s leadership is due to its market dynamism, technological innovative capacity and the fact that ICT fosters competitiveness and productivity in the rest of the economy.

Australian researchers will help prevent collisions between satellites and space debris thanks to funding from the Australian Space Research Program (ASRP).

Four new projects will receive a total of $13.8 million, allowing our researchers to work with their scientific peers in the USA and Europe, including on the development of an automated laser tracking system.

Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr announced the successful ASRP Round 2 applicants at the same time as opening Round 3 of the program for new applications.

Australian and French researchers will be working together to fight neurodegenerative diseases, like Parkinson’s disease, thanks to funding through the 2010 French-Australian Science and Technology (FAST) Program.

In total, Australia and France will work together on 14 new cutting-edge projects ranging from screening tools for new generation antibiotics to new water treatment techniques.

This paper has been prepared as part of a set of inter-connected projects that aim to raise awareness amongst European-based researchers of the funding opportunities that support collaboration with colleagues in a range of non-European nations. The paper highlights key policy trade-offs between competition and cooperation in international research cooperation.

The FP7 project USEandDIFFUSE has prepared a handbook “Making European Research Work for your Company”.

This guide is for SMEs interested in strengthening their market position, improving their existing products or acquiring new skills by getting involved in a Research and Development (R&D) project funded by the European Commission (EC)! The handbook is in English can be downloaded free of charge.

In 2009 the Go8 commissioned market research to examine the attitudes, perceptions and experiences of Australia as a destination for study at the Higher Research Degree level. This backgrounder highlights some of the positive aspects of the Australian experience.

The top five aggregated strengths of Australia as a research destination were: Australia’s multicultural society, the friendly and welcoming nature of Australian society, the quality of Australia’s universities, the safe environment and the research culture.

The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Innovation has tabled its report on Australia’s international research collaboration.

An international CSIRO-led team of astronomers has developed a new way to weigh the planets in our Solar System – using radio signals from the small spinning stars called pulsars.

The Victorian Direct Manufacturing Centre has been established in Melbourne by a consortium led by CSIRO to help make the state’s manufacturing industries more environmentally friendly, productive and globally competitive.

The largest research investment plan in the history of the Republic of Ireland — €359 million — is aimed at transforming the country into ‘Europe’s innovation hub’, according to Brian Cowen, the Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister).

His support for the investment is an indication of how seriously the Dublin government is hoping the so-called ‘smart economy’ will drag the country out of the economic mess it collapsed into following a spectacular property and banking crash.

Scientists are reporting significant changes in the distribution of coastal fish species in south-east Australia which they say are partly due to climate change.

To celebrate National Science Week 2010 (14-22 August), CSIRO is staging events across the nation designed to both showcase its accomplishments and inspire members of the public to begin their own journeys of scientific discovery.

CSIRO has developed computer software that aims to encourage children to be more active when playing computer games.

A smart sensor network that is monitoring the quality of drinking water in south-east Queensland has earned CSIRO one of the Australian ICT industry's highest accolades.

A collaborative agreement between CSIRO and two German organisations is providing Australian food companies with access to a new processing technology which uses low-energy electron beams rather than heat or chemicals to decontaminate food.

The agreement – with the internationally respected Fraunhofer Institute for Electron Beam and Plasma Technology and service company, EVONTA-Service GmbH – aims to further scientific research into ‘low-energy electron beam processing’.

A collaborative agreement between CSIRO and two German organisations is providing Australian food companies with access to a new processing technology which uses low-energy electron beams rather than heat or chemicals to decontaminate food.

The latest advances in soil science and how they can provide solutions for a changing world will be the focus of the 19th World Congress of Soil Science opening in Brisbane today.

Seven of Australia’s top graduates in mathematics, statistics and engineering have started with CSIRO in a new program that is bridging the gap between a university degree and a research career.

CSIRO scientists have developed a revolutionary technique for the rapid on-site detection and quantification of petroleum hydrocarbons (commonly derived from crude oil) in soil, silt, sediment, or rock.

An international symposium on the role nutrition plays in the prevention and management of pregnancy complications and early childhood diseases such as autism, asthma, obesity and cancer will be held in Adelaide this Friday, 30 July.

The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research has published a series of calls for proposals under the ‘Cooperation’, ‘Capacities’, ‘People’ and ‘Ideas’ Programmes of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).

The calls come under a wide variety of themes and topics, including:

This paper has been prepared as part of a set of inter-connected projects that aim to raise awareness amongst European-based researchers of the funding opportunities that support collaboration with colleagues in a range of non-European nations. The paper highlights key policy trade-offs between competition and cooperation in international research cooperation.

The FP7 project USEandDIFFUSE has prepared a handbook “Making European Research Work for your Company”.

This guide is for SMEs interested in strengthening their market position, improving their existing products or acquiring new skills by getting involved in a Research and Development (R&D) project funded by the European Commission (EC)! The handbook is in English can be downloaded free of charge.

The European Research Council (ERC) has celebrated its biggest landmark since its 2007 launch: 1,000 researchers have successfully clinched key financial support to conduct innovative ‘blue sky’ research. The ERC marked the symbolic awarding of the 1,000th grant, to Professor Erika von Mutius of the Ludwig-Maximilians- Universität München in Germany, at a special event in Munich, Germany on 24 June. Officials and leading researchers attending the ceremony included EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn and ERC President Professor Helga Nowotny.

The EU should add €40 million to its contribution to the international Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) programme, according to a declaration issued following the COST Ministerial Conference on 15 June in Palma de Majorca (Spain). The meeting, which was organised by the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, was attended by representatives of COST Member States.

Archaeological research in East Timor has unearthed the bones of the biggest rat that ever lived, with a body weight around 6 kg.

In today’s issue of Science, CSIRO astronomer George Hobbs and colleagues in the UK, Germany and Canada report that they have taken a big step towards solving a 30-year-old puzzle: why the “cosmic clocks” called pulsars aren’t perfect.

“We now have a more fundamental understanding of how pulsars work,” Dr Hobbs said.

“We’ve shown that many pulsar characteristics are linked, because they have one underlying cause.”

In an effort to cut red tape and focus on research results, the European Commission has recently adopted two major initiatives that will see changes to the financial regulations and a simplification of the procedures surrounding the EU’s research Framework Programmes. As well as making it easier for researchers to gain access to EU funds, the new rules would also help fuse more public and private funding, giving investment a stronger punch. Ultimately, the changes would get new EU programmes off the ground and running.

Close to 80% of Europeans are interested in science and technological developments, according to a new Eurobarometer survey. For comparison, just 65% claim to be interested in sports news.

“Perhaps a World Cup of science would get even more people round the TV than the football one does!” quipped the European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, presenting the results of the survey.

Australia and the Netherlands will work closely together on vital technology for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) – the world’s most powerful radio-telescope and one of the most ambitious science projects ever undertaken by the international community.

Australia’s CSIRO has signed a Statement of Intent with ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, to cooperate on developing and testing technology that will ultimately make the SKA possible.

Innovation Minister, Senator Kim Carr, welcomed the new partnership.

Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn announces today nearly €6.4 billion of European Commission investment in research and innovation. The package, the biggest ever, covers a vast range of scientific disciplines, public policy areas and commercial sectors. This funding will advance scientific boundaries, increase European competitiveness and help solve societal challenges such as climate change, energy and food security, health and an ageing population. Around 16,000 participants from research organisations, universities and industry, including about 3,000 SMEs, will receive funding.

The 2008 Australian R&D and Intellectual Property Scoreboard has been released today. This landmark report benchmarks Australian companies based on their innovation performance.

In summary, the scoreboard shows Australian Business Research and Development spending at 1.3% of GDP, still well below the OECD average of 1.6%; but gaining ground.

 A combination of alternative energy and computational modelling developed by CSIRO in collaboration with Horticulture Australia Limited (HAL) and the Australian Prune Industry Association has cut energy requirements by 60 per cent in some areas of food processing.

Australia and Europe will increase cooperation on international research projects covering everything from energy to nanotechnology to ICT, thanks to recent high-level meetings with key European Commission officials.

Following the eleventh Joint Science and Technology Cooperation Committee meeting held in Sydney last month, the Australian Government has agreed to provide $750,000 over the next 12 months to pursue agreed research outcomes.

The funding is from the Government’s International Science Linkages program.

In 2009 the Go8 commissioned market research to examine the attitudes, perceptions and experiences of Australia as a destination for study at the Higher Research Degree level. This backgrounder highlights some of the positive aspects of the Australian experience.

The top five aggregated strengths of Australia as a research destination were: Australia’s multicultural society, the friendly and welcoming nature of Australian society, the quality of Australia’s universities, the safe environment and the research culture.

The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Innovation has tabled its report on Australia’s international research collaboration.

Australians who are serious about losing weight are being asked to help CSIRO develop a web-based diet management program.

Australian scientists have presented key findings at an international Alzheimer’s disease conference this week. Their major focus is on early detection and discovering why the disease progresses.

Australian and French researchers will be working together to fight neurodegenerative diseases, like Parkinson’s disease, thanks to funding through the 2010 French-Australian Science and Technology (FAST) Program.

In total, Australia and France will work together on 14 new cutting-edge projects ranging from screening tools for new generation antibiotics to new water treatment techniques.

Australian researchers will help prevent collisions between satellites and space debris thanks to funding from the Australian Space Research Program (ASRP).

Four new projects will receive a total of $13.8 million, allowing our researchers to work with their scientific peers in the USA and Europe, including on the development of an automated laser tracking system.

Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr announced the successful ASRP Round 2 applicants at the same time as opening Round 3 of the program for new applications.

EU-funded researchers have helped develop an early warning system that will protect vulnerable communities from tsunamis and avoid future terrible losses of life such as that suffered in Indonesia and Sri Lanka in December 2004, when an estimated 230 000 people were killed.

A teleoperated shiploader designed to remotely control the loading iron ore is being trialled by Rio Tinto at a port in the Pilbara.

Two hundred of the world’s top minds in plant oil research are gathering in Australia next week to share their research into how renewable plant-based oils can be engineered to replace industrial oils that have traditionally been manufactured from petroleum.

CSIRO is partnering with China United Coalbed Methane Corporation Limited (CUCBM) on a A$10 million joint demonstration project that will store 2000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) underground in the Shanxi Province and extract methane for use as an energy source.

CSIRO has signed a global licensing agreement for its patented RAFT technology. Reversible Addition-Fragmentation chain Transfer (or RAFT) technology is an elegant and powerful polymerisation process that has given rise to a new branch of polymer chemistry.

A more flexible approach to the expansion of protected area systems could ultimately protect much more biodiversity for the same budget according to a new paper in the scientific journal Nature.

Innovation in Industrial Research, a new book from CSIRO Publishing, is a hands-on guide for Australian scientists, managers and students.

After 10 years of careful breeding and research, scientists have developed what could be the world’s most perfect prawn.

They make you itch and they are hard to find but scientists have got the body louse well and truly in their sights.

The first international conference held in Australia to discuss the science and options for adapting to climate change begins on the Gold Coast on Tuesday 29 June.

In today’s issue of Science, CSIRO astronomer George Hobbs and colleagues in the UK, Germany and Canada report that they have taken a big step towards solving a 30-year-old puzzle: why the “cosmic clocks” called pulsars aren’t perfect.

The world's deep ocean researchers – scientists whose field of interest extends into the uncertain world below about 2000 metres – met in Hobart this week to discuss deep ocean changes, their causes and their implications.

Collaboration between the European Union and Australia in science and technology was further enhanced at the eleventh Joint Science and Technology Cooperation Committee (JSTCC) meeting hosted by the Australian Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research held in Sydney on 7-9 June 2010. Australia and the European Union have a long history of productive research collaboration, underpinned by a treaty-level science and technology agreement signed in 1994.

“We cannot build a knowledge society if we don’t invest in it,” says Robert-Jan Smits, the new Director-General of the EU’s Research Directorate-General. He promises simplified procedures for researchers granted EU funding and greater internationalisation of European research.

The value of rivers and wild food resources to Aboriginal people is the focus of new research that will help transform water management on Cape York in northern Queensland.

The European Commission has launched Scientix, a new web-portal targeted towards teachers, researchers, policy makers, local actors, parents and anyone interested in science education. Scientix will give access to teaching materials, research results and policy documents from European science education projects financed by the European Union and by various national initiatives. The new platform will facilitate regular dissemination and sharing of news, know-how, and best practices in science education across the European Union.

The European Commission this week brought the largest-ever delegation to Australia for the 11th Joint Science & Technology Cooperation Committee (JSTCC). 14 Commission Officials and several scientific experts visited Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra to take part in Senior Officials Meetings on Science & Innovation.