1,720,978 research outputs found
Innovate and prosper: ensuring Australia's future competitiveness through university-industry collaboration
Full text linkExecutive summary
The continuation of Australia’s economic growth is under threat. In order to sustain the levels of prosperity we have previously experienced, we have to build on our competitive edge in key industries to remain globally competitive. Alongside these developments, Australia’s higher education system is under increased pressure to become more productive and develop courses that address employability. Innovation represents the most reliable and sustainable solution to transition into a high value, high wage economy. Yet Australia ranks 29th out of 30 in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in terms of the proportion of large businesses and small to medium enterprises (SMEs) collaborating with higher education and public research institutions on innovation.
This report acts as the next level of detail to publications such as the Department of Industry’s Boosting the Commercial Returns from Research report and the Business Council of Australia’s Building Australia’s Comparative Advantages, which have highlighted Australia’s poor performance in collaborative innovation.
We present five recommendations that are a call to action to universities, industry and Government to take the necessary steps to build an innovation economy. They are not a call for additional funding from Government, rather a more effective way of using our existing resources. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) have engaged with leading figures from industry, including the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group), and partnered with the ATN to develop this five point action plan for Government, the university sector and industry 5 that will provide incentives and impetus for collaboration.
Our recommendations include:
Rebalance the national research agenda to underpin Australia\u27s economy and future prosperity
Create incentives for university-industry collaboration
Train researchers for diverse careers
Enhance career mobility between industry, academia and government
Provide incentives for co-investment in research infrastructure between universities, industry and state and federal government
Each recommendation contains a number of practical strategies for consideration by Government, universities and industry. The hope is that the report will encourage dialogue between the three groups and prompt bold policy changes in the coming 12 months and beyond.
 
Higher education student visa systems
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Australia’s student visa system is more complex, more costly and more prescriptive than its international competitors, threatening to permanently derail the nation’s 3rd largest export industry unless urgent action is taken by Government to simplify the current system.
Research released by the Australian Technology Network of Universities (ATN) provides clear evidence that Australia’s Higher Education Student Visa System is uncompetitive compared to the UK, the United States, Canada and New Zealand.
This report provides a brief overview and comparison of higher education student visa systems in five countries, with a view to making recommendations as to how the Australian system can be modified in specific relation to higher education students in Australia in view of practice elsewhere in comparable countries.
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Targeting a low-carbon university: A greenhouse gas reduction target for the Australian technology network of universities
No full text© 2010, Springer Berlin Heidelberg. The Australian Technology Network of Universities (the ATN) is an alliance of five Australian universities, from each Mainland State, that collaborate on issues and concerns of shared interest. In February 2009, the ATN committed to reduce its aggregate greenhouse gas emissions to 25% below 2007 levels by 2020. This ambitious target was the culmination of more than a year of technical analysis and political negotiations. The target is supported by a comprehensive emission reduction strategy that prioritizes energy-saving measures and adoption of low-carbon energy sources. This paper outlines the technical and strategic analysis used to decide on the target. In addition, the paper draws out insights from the negotiations between the five universities. The circumstances of each university differed with respect to the greenhouse intensity of the local electricity supply, projected growth, and the extent of previous action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The negotiations sought an equitable approach to address these differences, building on the principle of contraction and convergence. The ATN approach is a possible model for other university partnerships. Further, the political and technical challenges that emerged provide insights into the challenges that other universities need to overcome in responding to climate change
Defence science and innovation: an affordable strategic advantage
Full text linkOverview: Australia’s neighbours in the Asia–Pacific are building high-quality science, technology, engineering and mathematics research capacities and infrastructure. As a consequence, Australia’s technological advantage in the defence domain is eroding. To recover that advantage, our policy should be to make the most of the knowledge, capability and capacity in Australia’s civilian science and innovation sector.
This special report analyses current and prospective Australian science, industry and defence science and innovation policy
Shining the Light On Australia’s Brightest: 25 years of the Australian Technology Network of Universities
No full textThis is the story of how the Australian Technology Network of Universities was established, its journey, the role of its visionary leaders, and successes over the past 25 years of advocacy. Several key moments in the timeline need to be noted, recognised and, therefore, placed in print. In November 2023, on the eve of the 25th anniversary, Frank Coletta sent me an email, enquiring if I was available and interested in writing a story on the ATN group. As someone who has been employed in Australia’s higher education for the past 35 years, I had no hesitation, this piqued my interest, so I told him yes that same day. I usually write commentary pieces which draw insights from history, past performance, and provide a view towards the future. The story that is now published emerged from a couple of conversations with Frank and Luke Sheehy (now at the helm of Universities Australia) and is largely drawn from material which I retrieved in December 2023, using the Factiva database. I retrieved newspaper stories about ATN and developments in higher education published in Australia’s mainstream media between 1996 and early December 2023. During the holiday period, I read all those stories and then I sat down and wrote most of this story in the summer months of 2024. I also conducted extensive web searches of information about ATN and group advocacy in Australia’s higher education. Truth be told, the public evidence is, at best, patchy, partly because websites tend to be updated and information that is deemed outdated is removed. To deepen our understanding of the changing environment of Australia’s higher education, preserving the evidence of activity is crucial. Over the years, I have been exploring the proliferation of university networks and the extent to which universities seek to establish and belong to networks. Being a member of an alliance is a key means to influence public policy through lobbying, advocacy on policy matters, and the provision of expertise. In Australia’s context, there are four national networks, all of which emerged during a period of turbulence within the national umbrella organisation. Each of those networks was established to influence public policy and derive outcomes to the benefits of their members. Over the past 25 years, Australia’s higher education has undergone significant policy reviews and the ATN has worked to ensure the best possible outcomes for all. I hope that the perspectives presented in this story will contribute to the development of policy and inform debate as well as improve practices regarding Australia’s higher education.</p
Design of mesoporous ZnCoSiOx hollow nanoreactors with specific spatial distribution of metal species for selective CO2 hydrogenation
No full textIn heterogeneous catalysis, the precise placement of active components to perform unique functions in cooperation with each other is a tremendous challenge. The migration of matter on micro/nano-scale caused by diffusion is a promising pathway for design of catalytic nanoreactors with precise active sites location and controllable microenvironment through compartmentalization and confinement effects. Herein, we report two categories of mesoporous ZnCoSiOx hollow nanoreactors with different metal distributions and microenvironment engineered by the diffusion behavior of metal species in confined nanospace. Double-shelled hollow structures with well-distributed metal species were obtained by adopting core@shell structured ZnCo-zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF)@SiO2 as a template and employing three stages of hydrothermal treatment including the decomposition of ZIF, diffusion of metal species into the silica shell, and Ostwald ripening. Additionally, the formation of yolk@shell structure with a collective (Zn-Co) metal oxide as the yolk was achieved by direct pyrolysis of ZnCo-ZIF@SiO2. In CO2 hydrogenation, ZnCoSiOx with double-shelled hollow structures and yolk@shell structures respectively afford CO and CH4 as main product, which is related with different dispersion and location of active sites in the two catalysts. This study provides an efficient method for the synthesis of catalytic nanoreactors on the basis of insights of the atomic diffusion in confined space at the mesoscale. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]
Reports, silences and repercussion: wondering about the ballistic biography of the Leichhardt gunplate
Full text linkWafer-scale fabrication of ultra-thin silicon nanowire devices
No full textWe present a robust wafer-scale top-down process for the fabrication of locally thinned-downed silicon nanowire (SiNW) devices. The fabrication is based on electron-beam lithography in combination with a two-step tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) wet etch. We optimized the etching profile of the TMAH process on siliconon- insulator using isopropanol additive and temperature regulation, yielding very low and controllable etching rates and enabling the formation of ultra-smooth silicon morphology. The optimized TMAH etching process was confined using photolithography to the middle sections of silicon nanowire channels to achieve localized step-etching of the nanowires. The thinned silicon nanowires were addressed via metal contact lines in the final step of the fabrication. Preliminary currentvoltage characterization in liquid demonstrated a p-channel field effect transistor behavior in depletion mode with a very high output current and negligible contact resistance. The proposed process provides an alternative route for reliable and reproducible fabrication of ultra-thin silicon nanowire devices
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