A $45 million partnership between universities and CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, is supporting the advancement of unique capabilities in precise manufacturing, thanks to the Australian Government’s Trailblazer Universities Program.
CSIRO’s Lab22 is Australia’s centre for innovation in metallic additive manufacturing and provides a range of equipment and technologies for industry use and production.
Assistant Minister for Education, Senator Anthony Chisholm, visited the laboratory in Melbourne last week to speak with the experts spearheading the project’s specialist equipment about the importance of university and industry partnership moving forward.
“Developing Australia’s sovereign capability will make our manufacturing more sustainable and will create new job opportunities for the industries of tomorrow,” said Assistant Minister Chisholm.
“The Trailblazer Program forms part of the Albanese Government’s key focus area of investing in manufacturing – because we want to see our local economies strengthened, increased innovation from our universities and an uptick in jobs for those with the skills to make things here in Australia.”
Technology at Lab22 includes:
- The Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Trailblazer’s PX100 Digital Metal Binder Jet System which will provide cost competitive alternatives to conventional metal manufacturing and support high volume metal production.
- The Innovative Launch, Automation, Novel Materials, Communications and Hypersonics (ILAuNCH)'s Nikon SLM-280 2MA (Laser Powder Bed Fusion) which can create lighter, faster and more robust space components making space missions more affordable and efficient.
- The Defence Trailblazer’s Robotic Additive Manufacturing Cell which is a flexible and highly adaptive system supporting large format 3-D printing and prototyping for defence and many other industries, including space applications.
The $370.3 million Trailblazer Universities Program supports 6 national priority areas in domestic manufacturing including critical minerals, defence, food, space and renewables and waste recycling.
The program aims to bring in approximately $648 million of co-investment from industry and deliver net economic benefit that is worth billions.
To find out more, visit the Trailblazer Universities Program.