January 2024

UniSA launches new scaleup pathway for space startups

The University of South Australia’s Innovation & Collaboration Centre (ICC) and Australian Centre for Business Growth (AuCBG) have joined forces to offer space startups a fully funded scaleup pathway on top of a $10,000 equity-free acceleration stipend. Supported through South Australian Government funding, companies that graduate from the ICC’s six-month Venture Catalyst Space accelerator program and other space companies ready to scale, are now eligible to apply for the AuCBG’s six-month Growth Ramp scaleup program to take their business to the next level. South Australian Deputy Premier and Minister for Defence and Space Industries Susan Close says the new space scaleup offering amplifies commercial viability for companies and their technology once exiting the Venture Catalyst Space accelerator program. “Space startups are shaping the future space economy and bringing incredible new technologies to life,” says Close. “Through the Venture Catalyst Space program, South Australia is ensuring that we have a mechanism to harness emerging talent with these innovative companies revolutionising the way we use space, while fostering a culture of collaboration across the space ecosystem. “Now with the addition of access to UniSA’s Growth Ramp program, we will be able to support businesses to scale up their operations; a key activity as our space ecosystem matures.” Since 2018, Venture Catalyst Space has supported 36 space startups. Program alumni have collectively raised more than $31 million in declared additional investment and gone on to create more than 220 new space jobs. The tailored program is one of a handful worldwide that specialises in developing commercial space ventures, supporting participants via equity-free funding, industry mentorship, business development support, access to university resources and a bustling startup community. The new space scaleup pathway is a game changer, explains ICC Deputy Director Craig Jones, creating even greater scope for space companies to achieve sustainable, long-term […]

It’s time to get smarter about cybersecurity in the manufacturing sector

Article by Leon Poggioli, ANZ Regional Director at Claroty In the last decade, digital transformation has completely changed the way many of Australia’s industries operate, with the manufacturing sector being no exception. Advancements such as automation and the integration of IoT devices and other cyber-physical systems throughout production, packaging, and other essential operations have revolutionised the manufacturing process. While these advancements have brought exceptional benefits, they have also led to a significant increase in cybersecurity risks. Whether it’s ransomware infections halting assembly lines, rogue insiders remotely altering settings to compromise production or other types of attacks that exploit security weaknesses in cyber-physical systems (CPS), the rate of cyber-attacks has continued to increase as the industry becomes more and more connected. The ultimate goal of a manufacturing cybersecurity strategy is to protect the CPS on which production availability, integrity, and safety rely. To achieve this, manufacturers must look beyond traditional IT security tools, which are often inadequate at protecting complex environments with a mix of legacy operational technology and modern IT. The key challenges in manufacturing cybersecurity The prevalence of legacy systems Much of the technology that manufacturers rely on today is decades old. It was never designed to be connected to the internet, nor withstand any form of cyber-attack – as this simply wasn’t a risk when it was introduced. As a result, patching security vulnerabilities in this technology is a complex and time-consuming task, which often requires operational downtime. And, because manufacturers’ profits have always been tied to uptime, many companies don’t bother patching at all. After all, downtime hinders productivity, and productivity underpins profitability. As a result, even some of the most successful manufacturers in the world are operating with unpatched legacy systems laden with vulnerabilities that threat actors have their eyes on. The use of proprietary protocols Legacy […]

Rio Tinto to drive development of Australia’s largest solar farm at Gladstone

Rio Tinto will drive development of Australia’s largest solar power project near Gladstone, after agreeing to buy all electricity from the 1.1GW1 Upper Calliope Solar Farm to provide renewable power to Rio Tinto’s Gladstone operations. The agreement will bring more renewable power into one of Australia’s most important industrial hubs and marks another step towards Rio Tinto’s climate goal of halving its global Scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions this decade2. If combined with more renewable power and suitable firming, transmission and industrial policy, it could also provide the core of a solution to repower Rio Tinto’s three Gladstone production assets – the Boyne aluminium smelter, the Yarwun alumina refinery and the Queensland Alumina refinery. Under a new power purchase agreement (PPA) signed with European Energy Australia, Rio Tinto will buy all power generated from the Upper Calliope solar farm for 25 years. The plant will be built and operated by European Energy, at a site about 50 kilometres south-west of Gladstone, pending development and grid connection approvals. Once approved and developed, Upper Calliope would have the potential to lower Rio Tinto’s operating carbon emissions by 1.8 million tonnes per year. Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm said “This agreement is a first important step in our work to repower our Gladstone operations and illustrates our commitment to keeping sustainably powered industry in Central Queensland. “The task remains challenging, but we have a pathway to provide the competitive, firmed power our Gladstone plants need and we are continuing to work hard with all stakeholders, including the Queensland and Australian governments, on getting there. “Competitive capacity, firming, and transmission, are critical to developing a modern energy system that can ensure more large-scale renewables development in Queensland and help guarantee the future of Australian industry.” Once approved, construction of the Upper Calliope […]

Remaining robust and resilient: A CISOs top six recommendations for 2024

By Yubico’s Chad Thunberg 2023 saw a whirlwind of challenges – both old and new – but we also realised many opportunities to become more secure and stay ahead of evolving information security threats. As expected, it was another challenging year for information security as organisations continued looking for ways to stay ahead of hackers. We saw an increasing amount and complexity of phishing attacks overall, driven by a major trend throughout the year making a significant impact: AI-driven phishing. Phishing remains the most prevalent attack method due to its relatively low cost and high success rate, and the implementation of AI now only furthers this problem. Across the board, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in attacks targeting businesses, governments and consumers using phishing to social engineer individuals to provide their credentials, identity information, and subvert legacy multi-factor authentication (MFA). A major reason for this is highlighted in Yubico’s recent survey which found 91 percent of people still rely solely on a username and password to secure their accounts. In order to be more secure moving forward, collectively we must do better overall and move away from the reliance on passwords and other weak forms of authentication, towards modern, phishing-resistant MFA. In 2023 we also saw many attacks spearheaded by the increased amount of information attackers have about specific vendors in the supply chain and employees within companies. The information enables attackers to provide sophisticated pretext, understand relationships and even communication styles. Due in part to the success and impact that these types of attacks have had, we’ve seen governments in Australia, the U.S., Europe and around the world increase their focus on ways to increase the security of businesses, citizens and the government entities. The U.S. government specifically is showing signs of losing patience with the commercial sector’s inability to keep attackers […]

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Nickel Producer enhances quality of ore calcination through kilns

Société Le Nickel (SLN), part of the Eramet Group, is the world’s largest producer of ferronickel. Pictured is one of the five furnaces managed by Rockwell Automation’s FactoryTalk Analytics Pavilion® software. Image copyright: Société Le Nickel (SLN), part of the Eramet Group. Characterised by the ability to resist corrosion at high temperatures and its usefulness as an alloying element, nickel plays a critical role in a host of industry sectors ranging from aerospace and chemical to electrical and automotive. Société Le Nickel (SLN), part of the Eramet Group, is the world’s largest producer of ferronickel. The 140-year-old company also produces manganese, lithium, and titanium which are critical for the manufacturing of batteries, paint pigments, and wind turbines among other products. Processing ores is a complex activity requiring the stable control of the rotary furnaces’ temperature profile and automating operations across different operating ranges. Feed ore introduced into the rotary kiln undergoes calcination as it travels through the length of the furnace. If the calcined product is not at a high enough temperature, product quality is compromised. Heat is distributed across the furnace with air being supplied for combustion to occur. If there’s too much air supplied, more fuel needs to be burned to maintain the same product temperature, thus decreasing energy efficiency. Excess oxygen must be minimised to a safe level to reduce operating costs and greenhouse gases. Legacy system lags SLN was using an expert system, an existing fuzzy logic controller, designed to automate the operation of the furnace. However, the company faced several challenges with the legacy system, particularly with varying ore content and variable heating values leading to temperature spikes and frequent electrical trips. Trips were being caused by high product temperature, which compromises both the quality of the product, and the integrity of the […]

Oil and gas dominates future major resources projects driving economy

Australia’s oil and gas industry has emerged as the dominant driver of nation-building new resources projects, creating new jobs and attracting billions of dollars of spending in Australia. The Australian Government’s Resources and Energy Major Projects (REMP) 2023 report said 12 oil and gas projects accounted for $36 billion of investment (46.5 per cent) of the $77.4 billion pipeline. Lithium and iron ore each represented $7.2 billion (9.3 per cent) worth of committed projects, gold accounted for $6.6 billion (8.5 per cent) and coal was behind $4.6 billion (5.9 per cent) of ventures. Australian Energy Producers Chief Executive Samantha McCulloch said the results showed how critical the oil and gas industry was to the national economy. “Australia’s oil and gas continues to power the national economy, creating jobs and delivering billions of dollars of investment, much of it into regional communities,” she said. “The pipeline of new gas projects highlights the importance of policy settings and regulatory certainty to unlock investment in new supply. “With Australia facing energy shortfalls on both coasts, new gas supply is urgently needed to avoid blackouts and put downward pressure on prices while securing future economic benefits.” According to the report, only one new oil and gas project reached a final investment decision in the 12 months to November 2023. Ms McCulloch added: “The pipeline of mining and critical minerals projects will also rely on natural gas supply, with AEMO forecasting resource projects will add a further 23 TJ/day to gas demand in Western Australia by 2026.” The report also found growing interest in hydrogen projects but with only three out of 76 planned projects reaching the committed phase in 2023, representing a capital expenditure of $234 million. Ms McCulloch said: “Natural gas combined with carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) is today the most […]

Hydraulink trendsetter doubles commitment with Bayside Brisbane franchise

Martin Smith, left, with the Hydraulink team including partner Andrew Schuler (fifth from left) and Hydraulink Bayside’s Andrew Richardson, (sixth from left). One of the pioneers of the Hydraulink hose and fittings organisation in Queensland has backed the success formula of the of the expanding national network by taking up a neighbouring franchise, in the Bayside district of Brisbane. Martin Smith – who has more than tripled the size of his existing distributorship in Brisbane North over the past nine years – has joined with his business partner Andrew Schuler to extend the range of Hydraulink services available to Bayside businesses seeking the same world standards of safety, compliance, cost-efficiency, and operational uptime. “Brisbane North already has major resources in Brisbane, with a strong engineering home base, established contractors, and a fleet of six vehicles giving 24/7 service. This will be further expanded with more vehicles and resources to back the local knowledge of Hydraulink Bayside’s Andrew Richardson, who is widely respected in the area,” he said. Hydraulink hose and fitting services are used by machinery ranging from forklifts and trucks, through to major civil engineering, primary industry, construction, logistics, manufacturing, warehouse, materials handling, and heavy machinery including tractors, graders, scrapers, bulldozers, diggers, and cranes, including wheeled and tracked equipment. The Hydraulink network – trading under the corporate signature “Best Under Pressure” – now includes 150 service points throughout Australia priding themselves on high ongoing standards of training and product, extensive machinery knowledge, and being able to deliver uniformly high standards of work across single businesses and machines, through to multiple sites and machinery fleets. Queensland Experience Martin Smith has long Queensland experience with the Hydraulink network and the opportunities for its can-do franchise operators, who are selected for their knowledge, enthusiasm for customer service – and willingness to continuously […]

DECO Australia powered by renewable energy

DECO Australia, family-owned Australian manufacturer of timber-look aluminium building products, has proudly announced the successful completion of the company’s solar panel installation project at its manufacturing facility in Minto, Southwest Sydney. The addition of over 950 solar panels further solidifies DECO ‘s commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainability. The newly installed solar panels will bring DECO’s total solar energy capability to over 500 kilowatts and will provide enough energy to power approximately 60 per cent of the company’s operations. That’s equivalent to powering approximately 100 average-size homes per year or planting over 10,000 trees. “DECO has always been committed to improving our carbon footprint and we are thrilled to further invest in our renewable energy program through the installation of these additional solar panels.” said Richard Hamber, General Manager of DECO Australia. The additional 400 kilowatts generated by the new solar panels will specifically contribute to powering two of DECO’s largest production lines, resulting in a substantial reduction in the company’s overall carbon emissions. This initiative aligns with DECO’s dedication to providing cleaner, greener building materials, addressing the growing demand from specifiers, builders, and end-users for sustainable products. “Reducing environmental impact is a strategic focus for DECO and we understand that it aligns with our customers priorities too. Manufacturing lower carbon products is not merely a preference; it has become a necessity for those specifiers, builders and homeowners who are making conscious decisions to source greener building materials and products for their projects.” said Hamber. This latest sustainability initiative from DECO represents a significant investment for the company and showcases their commitment to a cleaner industry. With ever changing building codes, like the introduction of the NSW Government’s ‘BASIX Material Index’ in October this year, DECO remains committed to reducing the embodied carbon of their building materials and supporting the industry’s […]

Graphene Manufacturing Group commissions modular graphene production plant

Graphene Manufacturing Group Limited has commissioned its cutting-edge natural gas to graphene production plant in manufacturing facility at Richlands. The facility is based on the GMG plasma technology with which the Company’s existing production plant has been making graphene for over five years, however this new plant is built in a modular fashion which can allow more production units to be installed as the sales of Company’s products grows. GMG expects to be able to install at least an additional 20 graphene production units in the Richlands manufacturing facility with most of the supporting infrastructure for these additional production units already installed as part of this initial project. Details of the new modular Graphene Production Plant: Technology is based on GMG’s self developed plasma technology which splits natural gas into graphene and hydrogen gas. The production plant’s automation allows for repeatable graphene quality, higher plant reliability and lower operator time. The graphene production technology has been developed internally by GMG staff and continuously optimised over the past five years to be able to make the different graphene required for GMG’s end products – including THERMAL-XR(R) and G(R) LUBRICANT and Graphene Aluminium Ion Battery. The Company expects that Graphene production from both its existing plant and this newly started up plant will be adequate for production. The expected final cost of the facility is approximately AU $2.9 million – which also includes the infrastructure for other future modular production units. More production units will be installed as required for the Company’s sales. The modular plant can be built in various locations around the world, for example in North America where natural gas cost is low and abundantly available, significantly reducing the cost of the graphene. At scale the GMG graphene production process will produce large amounts of hydrogen. GMG’s Managing Director […]

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January 2024