Qld innovation gets $27 million boost: Bligh

Boggo Road Ecosciences Precinct: More than $27 million funding for range of ground-breaking research projects - including almost $6 million for climate change-related research projects - was announced today by Premier Anna Bligh and Tourism, Regional Development and Industry Minister Desley Boyle.

The announcement, made at a start of construction event at the proposed Ecosciences Precinct at Boggo Road, included a new $15 million state-of-the-art research facility.

• A $2 million Smart State Innovation Projects grant will go to a team led by Dr Andrew Ash from the CSIRO to investigate the current ability of our towns and cities, industry and governments to adapt to forecast climate change conditions.

“The project will assess how prepared our infrastructure is, our urban design, emergency services, public health, energy production and supply, and primary industries – to see how ready we are and what we need to improve - both at State and community levels,” she said.

The Minister said that Dr Ash’s team would partner with the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change and South East Queensland’s universities and that the research would place the State to the forefront of climate change technology.

• A further $1.95 million in Innovation Projects funding will support the Queensland-China Alliance in Nanomaterials for Clean Energy Technologies.

“The Alliance is a partnership between the University of Queensland and the Chinese Academy of Sciences through its Institute of Chemical Physics at Dalian and its Institute of Metals Research at Shenyang,” Ms Boyle said.

“Led by Professor Max Lu from UQ’s ARC Centre for Functional Nanomaterials, the Alliance aims to develop innovative materials, based on nanotechnology, to underpin emerging technologies in clean coal, hydrogen production and fuel cell efficiency.”

• Almost $1.9 million in Innovation Projects Funding for the Smart Forests Alliance Queensland to pursue critical research into growing hardwood plantation trees faster.

The Smart Forests Alliance Queensland partners the University of the Sunshine Coast with the Queensland and Northern Territory departments of primary industries, the CSIRO, and two national timber companies: Integrated Tree Cropping Ltd and Forest Enterprises Australia Ltd.

Meanwhile the Premier added that a $15 million from the Innovation Building Fund would go towards the construction of a new purpose-built multi-storey facility enabling researchers to drive innovation in Queensland’s manufacturing industry.

She said the University of Queensland, would partner with the CAST CRC, CRC for Advanced Composite Structures, Polymers CRC and ARC Centre of Excellence for Design in Light Metals to develop the Queensland Centre for Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacturing.

“The facility will allow these partners to come together, supporting them to develop new innovative approaches to R&D solutions,” Ms Bligh said.

Ms Boyle said that they would be able to work on a range of current and emerging issues in manufacturing using metals, polymers and/or composites.”

“It’s expected to dramatically improve the ability of the Queensland manufacturing industry to compete at a global level.”

The other recipients of Innovation Projects Fund grants announced today are:

• The Advanced Manufacturing Centre for Queensland Defence Industry Capability Development at CAST Co-operative Research Centre at UQ ($1.8 million);
• The University of Queensland for a Korea-Australia Bio-Product Alliance research project into technology that converts leftover parts of sugarcane into bio-chemicals, including a type of biofuel considered more powerful than ethanol ($1,407,688)
• CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research for a collaboration with Gold Coast Marine Aquaculture to farm Elite Giant Tiger Prawns ($500,000)
• The continuous press forming project at UQ in partnership with licensee Australian Tube Mills to develop a new machine to form flat metals into shapes ($405,000);
• Smart Environmental Monitoring and Analysis Technologies development at UQ ($1.149 million);
• Integrated Information Services for Smarter Collaborative Water Management at UQ in partnership with Microsoft ($720,000);
• Mesaplexx Pty Ltd at Brisbane Technology Park to develop microwave and material designs to enhance performance of wireless communications systems in partnership with the CSIRO and the Australian National University ($771,470); and
• St Andrew’s Medical Institute to develop and trial a fully-integrated, web-based clinical governance information system ($986,445)

The Innovation Projects and Building Funds are part of the Queensland Government’s $300 million Smart State Innovation Funding program, which aims to build world-class research facilities, attract top-quality scientists to Queensland and stimulate cutting-edge research projects.

A new round of innovation funding will be opened in the near future.

Media contact for Minister Boyle: 3224 2007 or 3225 1005

Media contacts for scientists:
- Smart forests Alliance Queensland: Associate Professor Helen Wallace:
tel 07-5430 1228, mobile 0402 863 036
- Adapting to Climate Change in SEQ: Dr Andrew Ash, tel 3214 2346
- Queensland-China Alliance in Nanomaterials for Clean Energy Technologies Professor Max Lu: tel 3346 3828, mobile 0402 892 799
- Innovation Project fund recipients based at UQ: Fiona Kennedy, tel 3365 1384
- Mesaplexx Pty Ltd: Chris Burnett, tel 3147 8888
- St Andrew’s Medical Institute: Yasmine Gray, tel 0414 448834
- Korea-Australia Bio-Product Alliance: Professor Lars Nielsen, UQ, tel 3346 3986
- Elite Giant Tiger Prawns project: Dr Nigel Preston, CSIRO Food Futures Flagship, tel Owen Craig 0409 030 708, and Gold Coast Marine Aquaculture General Manager, Nick Moore, tel 5546 1361