Boosting its support and commitment to national research and innovation, the government has announced funding of $16 million to strengthen 10 existing research infrastructure projects at the leading edge of science and technology.
Minister for Education and Training, Senator Simon Birmingham announced the funding at the University of Adelaide which includes support for upgrades to national high performance computing to support world leading climate modelling, a state-of-the art scanner for large animal research, and upgrades to advanced nano fabrication to support bio-implantables and organic electronics.
Funding has been made available under the government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) Agility Fund that is helping to drive innovation by supporting leading edge national research infrastructure projects vitally important to Australia’s economic future.
Minister Birmingham said the projects being funded will strengthen the NCRIS network and continue to support researchers and end users of research such as business and industry to achieve greater innovation across the economy.
Today’s announcement comes as the Expert Working Group, led by Australia’s Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel AO, begins public consultations on its work towards developing the 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap.
Information on the National Research Infrastructure Roadmap is available at:
https://www.education.gov.au/2016-national-research-infrastructure-roadmap
A full list of projects funded under the NCRIS Agility Fund is below:
|
NCRIS Project |
Lead agent |
Application |
Amount |
|
Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Research Facility |
University of Sydney |
Upgrade of flagship instrument suite Ensure technology offerings are maintained at the cutting edge to continue to generate world-leading research outcomes. |
$1,450,000
|
|
Australian National Fabrication Facility |
ANFF Ltd |
ANFF National Packaging, Integration and Calibration Platform Replace infrastructure to support advances in bio-implantables and organic electronics. |
$1,405,900
|
|
Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network |
University of Melbourne |
Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Enhancement Project Replace hardware which is essential to improve the built environment. |
$700,000 |
|
Bioplatforms Australia |
Bioplatforms Australia Ltd |
Advancing Australia’s Genomics Capability Replace old instrumentation to enable unprecedented biological insights for almost all sectors of life science. |
$2,000,000 |
|
Heavy Ion Accelerators |
Australian National University |
Restoring High Voltage Accelerator Performance Replace components to improve and restore accelerator performance. |
$259,000 |
|
Integrated Marine Observing System |
University of Tasmania |
Integrated Marine Observing System Infrastructure Replace monitoring infrastructure for necessary, urgent and high priority needs. |
$1,330,697 |
|
National Computational Infrastructure |
Australian National University |
Sustaining the National Computational Infrastructure: a Strategic, Integrated Investment Urgent augmentation of supercomputing capability. |
$7,000,000 |
|
National Imaging Facility |
University of Queensland |
Replacement of the Flagship Instrument MRI scanner at the SAHMRI Large Animal Research and Imaging Facility Purchase a replacement scanner for the only purpose built large animal research facility. |
$900,000 |
|
National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources |
University of Melbourne |
Australian Research community clouds Augment the Australian BioSciences Cloud to incorporate the Australian Ecosystems Science Cloud and the Australian Marine Sciences Cloud. |
$508,000 |
|
Translating Health Discovery into clinical applications |
Therapeutic Innovation Australia Ltd |
Translating Health Discoveries into Clinical and Commercial Outcomes Replace infrastructure to comply with recent modifications to international standards and improve the development of novel therapeutics. |
$685,000 |