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Innovative Australia

Australians are people with innovative ideas and vision. This is reflected in the international success Australia has enjoyed in many areas, and in its reputation for excellence in science, telecommunications, education and sport.

The Australian Government is firmly committed to supporting Australian innovation and excellence. ‘Backing Australia’s Ability—Building our Future through Science and Innovation’ is a new package totalling $5.3 billion over seven years from 2004–05; it continues and strengthens the successful 2001 ‘Backing Australia’s Ability’ program.

This new package represents an Australian commitment to pursue excellence in research, science and technology—supporting basic research, applying that research to current and future challenges, turning great ideas into commercial products, and developing the skills of our children to ensure a new generation of scientists.

Did you know?

Taking advantage of world-class research facilities, around 200 core biotechnology companies operate in Australia—more per capita than in the United States.

Global climate concerns

Australia also responds innovatively to global concerns. It is a smart, capable partner in the global search for breakthroughs in carbon sequestration and has committed $500 million to the Low-Emission Technology Development Fund to support industry-led projects to demonstrate low-emission technologies.

Australian medical innovations

In 1915 two Australians produced Aspro, a high-grade aspirin product that dominated the international market.

In 1926 a Sydney doctor invented the original heart pacemaker.

In 1941 penicillin was extracted and refined by a team led by Australian Howard Florey. It was successfully trialled on humans and went into production in time to aid casualties in the Second World War.

In 1961 two Australians built the first ultrasound scanner.

In 1979 Professor Graeme Clark invented the cochlear implant, designed to help the hearing-impaired and profoundly deaf.

Relenza, the world’s first anti-influenza drug, was developed in 1996 and approved for release in Australia in 2000. It is now sold in more than 51 countries.

In 1998 a team of scientists developed the Solarscan, which can quickly detect cancerous sunspots.


Australian science fighting greenhouse emissions

The Liquatech Hybrid Coal and Gas Turbine System generates electricity from waste coal and gas. Developed by the Australian Government’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in collaboration with government and industry, the turbine system generates electricity from a combination of waste coal not suitable for normal power generation and methane gas that would otherwise have polluted the atmosphere. The system works by burning the waste coal and methane in a kiln to produce hot air that is then passed through a heat exchange unit to drive a gas turbine, which generates electricity.

The system was developed as part of an Australian project to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from coalmines by 75 per cent. The technology could be of great value in countries that still rely heavily on coal-fired power stations.

Australia’s scientific heritage

Robyn Williams

More than 60 000 years ago, attracted by smoke storms over the horizon, people pointed their boats south towards Australia. Could they have been related to the newly discovered second species of humans from the archipelago now called Indonesia? This first display of marine engineering is six times more ancient than the introduction of agriculture in Mesopotamia and twelve times older than the pyramids in Egypt. Once established in a hostile landscape, these original Australians maintained the longest continuous technological culture in human history.

Europeans arrived at the beginning of the 17th century, some of them by accident as they became wrecked on the reefs of Western Australia, marooned by the current. Buccaneer William Dampier came in 1688 and 1699 and did some pioneering botany. His specimens are preserved in Oxford and the premier of Western Australia would quite like them back. The French, inspired by Napoleon Bonaparte, and the British, led by Captain James Cook and Joseph Banks, placed Australian natural history, including astronomy, foursquare on the world registry. During the 19th century came the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney (1816), the Australian Museum (1827), the University of Sydney (1852) and the University of Melbourne (1855).

Science and technology were essential to underpin agriculture, mining and public health in such an unusual land. Contact with European science was excellent, despite the ‘tyranny of distance’. Roentgen’s discovery of X-rays in 1895 reached Adelaide only a year later and enabled William Bragg to examine his son Lawrence’s broken elbow by means of the first diagnostic X-ray in the world. Both father and son went on to win the Nobel Prize for physics. Lawrence, the youngest laureate ever, invented the entirely new field of molecular biology.

Such achievement demonstrates the highest standards in research. Australian scientists have revolutionised the diagnosis and treatment of ulcers; developed a remarkably effective bionic ear; set the benchmark for solar technology; found a gene that triggers flowering in plants; and isolated the key ingredient in smoke that causes regrowth in a range of flora, including crops. Astronomers have opened up the southern skies and even plan giant telescopes for Antarctica; the tracking stations that were crucial in bringing the world Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon 35 years ago are still vital for missions to the planets.

Environmentally, Australia faces its biggest challenges, in tandem with other nations in our region. Preserving the Great Barrier Reef and other magnificent reefs in the west, preventing salt from poisoning the soil, saving the immense biodiversity of Australia’s forests and restoring the fisheries are absolute priorities today.

There is bipartisan support for a brain-based economy and the need for innovation. Industry is being encouraged to increase its support for research and development. Universities are becoming more entrepreneurial and have opened campuses outside Australia. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), a unique national organisation for research, has grown the links between its laboratories and industry and has nominated flagships to focus its energies.

Increasingly Australians are realising that all jobs in the 21st century require a background in science and that nature continues far beyond national boundaries. Our future, in other words, is a scientific one, global in its reach. This is entirely in tune with Australia’s origins both European, three hundred years ago, and further back in the distant beginnings of humanity.

Robyn Williams has been a science journalist since 1972 and a broadcaster with the ABC Science Show since 1975.

Australia’s Nobel Prize winners

Snapshots of Australian innovations

Space pictures

In 1969, an Australian radio telescope in Parkes, New South Wales transmitted the first pictures of the moon landing to the world.

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Australia’s distinctive polymer banknotes with their vibrant colours and transparent security window

Polymer bank notes

Australia was the first country in the world to introduce a circulating series of polymer banknotes. These notes have, as a major security element, a distinctive transparent window, as well as a range of other printed security features. In addition to their enhanced security, in Australia the notes last four times longer than the paper notes they replaced. At the end of their life they may be recycled for use in a variety of plastic products.

Nanotechnology

Australia is a leader in nanotechnology. In 1987, Australian scientists produced the world’s first nanomachine, a device so tiny that its parts are the size of molecules. The biosensor machine can be used to run medical checkups from within the body, analyse pollutants or power minute computers. Now AMBRI—a Sydney-based biotech company—is commercialising a biosensor machine that will help doctors and pathology labs radically cut the time it takes to make a diagnosis.

Landmine detectors

Australia is leading the way in developing technology to detect unexploded ordnance and landmines. Minelab Electronics is an innovative electronics company based in Adelaide, South Australia that designs and develops metal-sensing technology. Minelab detectors are used by 44 countries around the globe as well as by the United Nations and other humanitarian organisations.

Crop production

Two Australians discovered the gene that determines when plants stop their vegetation growth and start flowering. The Flower Switch (FLC) Gene discovery can increase the production of the world’s crops and improve the nutritional value of crops in the world’s poorest countries.

Ultrasound scans

Australians developed the ultrasound scanner in 1961. The technology is used all around the world to detect the size, position and sex of an unborn child in the womb. This technology replaced harmful X-rays and delivers more accurate information about an unborn baby’s health.

Mining technology

With such a long history in mineral and petroleum exploration and extraction, it is not surprising that Australia is a great innovator in mining technology services. Australian companies develop about 60 per cent of the world’s mining software and lead in exploration assessment and mineral processing technologies, mining equipment, and scientific analysis technologies. Australian innovations include the world’s first automatic system for mapping the minerals in drill cores, new methods of mine site rehabilitation and the first integrated two-way mine emergency communication system.

Underwater computer

In 1993, the world’s first underwater computer was used to record data while conducting ocean research. It was invented by the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

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Last update September 2005