Media Release By Cooperative Research Australia
Minister for Science and Technology, the Hon Melissa Price MP, and Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction, the Hon Angus Taylor MP, announced that the SoMAC CRC would receive $69.9 million in Australian Government funding which will leverage more than $189.3 million in cash and in-kind from 36 partners. This will strengthen Australia’s composite manufacturing industry and solve its major challenges while generating thousands of new jobs.
A collective investment of $154.4 million in funding grants will be awarded to three major industry-research partnerships under Round 23 of the CRC Program, which brings together industry researchers and the community to translate research into economic, social and commercial outcomes.
The SoMAC CRC’s vision is to transform Australia’s established composite technologies capability into sovereign leadership, creating a world-class, highly automated, digitally enabled, network of designers, manufacturers, and service providers.
“The SoMAC CRC will unlock significant potential in Australia for the development, use and manufacturing of high-performance composite materials,” said CEO of Cooperative Research Australia Jane O’Dwyer.
“It is a CRC that has the potential to accelerate an Australian industry, creating new opportunities and jobs, and translating Australian research capacity into real economic benefit for the nation.
“In driving that industrial transformation, the SoMAC CRC will also seek to create new career paths in STEM, with a strong commitment to creating new opportunities for women in the sector.”
The CRC brings together an enviable consortium of partners and team under the leadership of Chair Designate Dr Abby Bloom, interim CEO Dr Andrew Beehag and bid leader and Research Director Designate, Director of ARC Training Centre for Automated Manufacture of Advanced Composites (AMAC) at UNSW, Professor Gangadhara Prusty.
“Congratulations to the whole team who developed the bid. Round 23 of the CRC Program has been marked by the high quality of applications and an incredibly competitive field.”
Image Credit: www.cooperativeresearch.org.au
