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Victorian government to invest $1.5m towards Australia’s first AI accelerator

The Victorian government has announced it would contribute $1.5 million to the establishment of Australia’s first multimilliondollar accelerator and investment fund for Artificial Intelligence (AI) scaleups.

The new accelerator program will establish an AI internship program, run community-focused AI events and create over 75 new jobs through Boab AI and participating AI scaleups over four years.

Backed by LaunchVic, Victoria’s startup agency, Boab AI, in partnership with Artesian, Victorian universities and Artesian’s international partner programs will unlock millions of dollars of private sector capital to help high growth AI scaleups.

Artificial Intelligence uses data to build systems that simulate human intelligence processes.

Minister for Innovation, Medical Research and the Digital Economy, Jaala Pulford said the investment will help position Victoria as a leading destination for AI technology in the Asia-Pacific region.

There are more than 300 AI startups in Australia – including 65 in Victoria – applying AI in sectors ranging from health care and medicine to transport, agriculture, recruitment and construction.

Melbourne start-up Helfie.AI has developed a low-cost skin cancer check which applies data to an image sent from a smart phone to calculate a risk profile and prepare the picture for a doctor’s diagnosis.

Another company, Bundoorabased OutOfBox Solutions, developped cloud-based Alfie tool provides automated image analysis that can be used in the agriculture sector to help control feral animals and protect native species.

As part of the new accelerator and investment program, set to be rolled out by the end of the year, Artesian will invest a minimum of $8 million of private sector capital in 32 AI scaleups – with a minimum of $300,000 for each scaleup that graduates from the Boab AI program.

Artesian will also establish and raise a new venture capital (VC) fund with a target of $50 million to provide ongoing investment support for AI scaleups.

LaunchVic chief executive Dr Kate Cornick said Victoria has the strong foundations to support a growing AI ecosystem with many of our dominant tech sectors providing a great opportunity for AI integration.

“Overall there is a lack of general awareness as to the huge potential this sector presents in terms of problem solving to the broader community. The new program will ensure Victoria is competitive and forward looking,” she said.

Artificial Intelligence is projected to become a major global market, adding $15 trillion of value to the world economy by 2030 and generating 161,000 new jobs.

The new accelerator and investment program will be rolled out by the end of the year.

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AMGC reaches 2000 members

The Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre has welcomed its 2000th member.

Tasmanian manufacturer Seasol is a family-owned manufacturer of organic liquid seaweed and environmentally friendly fertilisers.

The business was founded in the 1970s selling a single product made from kelp.

Proudly Australian owned and made, Seasol has since grown its operations and now employs 60 staff, manufacturing product from its Victorian headquarters for domestic and international markets including the United States, Malaysia, India, South Africa, Vietnam, Singapore, Mauritius and New Zealand.

Seasol’s CEO Alick Osborne said the company hoped to tap into AMGC’s extensive industry knowledge of advanced manufacturing and explore opportunities to collaborate with area experts.

“We all hear about advancing manufacturing, but we really wanted to learn more about how,” he said.

“We aim to enhance Seasol’s Melbourne-based industrial additive manufacturer, Titomic, has appointed Dr Andreas Schwer, the inaugural CEO of Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI), to the position of executive chairman.

Schwer, who boasts a 25-year career in the global defence, manufacturing, and aerospace industries will bring a wealth of experience to Titomic.

Schwer said he was honoured to accept the role and looks forward to leading the company to capitalise on its considerable opportunities and add shareholder value.

“I believe Titomic’s industrial scale metal additive manufacturing and sustainable, green technology has tremendous commercial potential to take metal manufacturing industries into the efficiency and productivity and respond more quickly to market demands while leveraging the trust we’ve built with our customers locally and abroad.”

Seasol understands the importance of continuous improvement with significant resources committed to research and development (R&D).

The evolution of the brand’s product portfolio allows for commercial farming, home-garden and horticulture sectors to choose from a broad range of liquid and solid fertilisers to increase crop and pasture yields while improving the company’s growth and performance.

AMGC managing director Dr Jens Goennemann said Seasol was a welcome addition to the network.

“We welcome Seasol to AMGC’s network and we look forward to working with them to advance their business – unlocking productivity, quality and workforce skills gains along the way,” he said. “Personally, I have been a Seasol customer for years, and let me tell you – the grass is greener on my side.” future,” he said.

Prior to his role at SAMI, Schwer was Chairman and President of Rheinmetall International – Rheinmetall AG. He also held roles of CEO of Combat Systems and executive board member of Rheinmetall Defence overseeing the units of Combat Platforms, Weapons & Munitions, Protection Systems, and Propulsion Systems.

Schwer also has 12 years of experience at Airbus in executive roles across the defence, space and helicopter divisions.

Titomic’s managing director and founder, Jeff Lang, believes Schwer’s professional experience will lead Titomic towards a strong future.

“Andreas’ extensive professional experience in the global defence and aerospace sectors facilitates

The Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre recently welcomed Tasmanian family business Seasol into their network.

Established in 2015, AMGC is a not-for-profit, industry-led organisation established by the Australian Government to support the development and growth of advanced manufacturing strong opportunities for Titomic to become a dominant player in the USD$4 trillion metals manufacturing industry for a greentech future,” he said.

Schwer said he was delighted to be joining the board of a company that’s starting to make its presence felt globally, as demonstrated by the sale of two Titomic Kinetic Fusion systems to a global defence manufacturer, as well as reaching agreements with companies of the calibre of Boeing, Airbus, and Thales.

Schwer has a Dipl.-Ing in Aerospace Engineering and a PhD in System Modelling and Numerical Optimisation, both from the University of Stuttgart, and a Master of Science in SystemEngineering from TU Delfi

in Australia.

Through its initiatives, the network has contributed to a significant and measurable uplift in jobs, revenues and skills across the

Titomic appoints new executive chairman

Australian manufacturing industry. (The Netherlands).

Titomic recently announced the appointments of Mr Dag W.R. Stromme, a former managing director of Morgan Stanley, and Mr Humphrey Nolan, an experienced leader in the global industrial and distribution industries.

Dr Andreas Schwer will lead Titomic.

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University of Sydney students develop prototype PPE

A transdisciplinary student team from the University of Sydney (USYD) has created a prototype of a reusable face shield, demonstrating how to turn university resources into a rapid manufacturing solution to respond to medical emergencies, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

In collaboration with the USYD’s Charles Perkins Centre X-Lab, a 240-student laboratory space with laser cutting technology, the team has developed and scaled an industrial process that can ramp up quickly to

The contract will enable QinetiQ to embed its personnel alongside Defence.

manufacture reusable face shields.

The group is called Project APPEAR, led by PhD candidate Luke Gordon, and supported by the Research office in the University’s role as legal manufacturer. The main idea being that it can provide personal protective equipment (PPE) when needed but stands down when not required. An added benefit is that the design of the equipment is flexible, durable and relatively cheap – meaning it also solves the issue of single-use/throw-away plastics in many hospitals for the shields used over face masks.

The face shields being trialled, based on an open-source design by Online Laser Cutting, have been created in collaboration with Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and St Vincent’s Hospital clinicians through the students’ connections and working relationships. The project work is being done on a voluntary basis; a grant application has also been made to extend the project. The team is proceeding with registering the shields with the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

“Our collaboration has resulted in a reusable, rapidly manufacturable face shield that can help protect our frontline healthcare workers from aerosols – or airborne pathogens, as demonstrated during COVID-19,” said Gordon, from the Faculty of Medicine and Health and Biomedical Engineering graduate in the Faculty of Engineering.

“Working across faculties, with the local health community and our industry partners, we have demonstrated that our agile university-based research unit can create a rapid manufacturing solution for the provision of local hospitals during medical emergency.”

Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Research, Professor Laurent Rivory, said a number of the students including Luke Gordon came from the university-led multi-institution “CoVida” ventilator project, announced by Premier Gladys Berejiklian recently, which had an oversupply of volunteers. The students came up with the idea of APPEAR as a way to develop a healthcare solution that was relatively simple and cost-effective.

“We view this as a very educational experience for these students even if the context of having the University as device manufacturer is somewhat unusual in the sector,” Rivory said.

“The coronavirus crisis is a good stimulus for us to innovate and push the boundaries across the board, including as we try to contribute in areas other than the leading COVID-19 research we are also conducting.”

As part of this multidisciplinary project, the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering’s FABLAB and the School of Architecture, Design and Planning’s Design Modelling and Fabrication Lab have provided their laboratories, laser cutters, expertise and 3D printing technologies to aid in rapidly prototyping many iterations of face shields to ensure the updated design meets requirements across a range of hospitals and healthcare specialties.

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