A new research hub which will bring together more than 400 researchers from four key disciplines was recently opened by Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr.
The $90 million New Horizons Centre, located at the Clayton Campus of Monash University in Victoria, will soon be home to research teams that will tackle and address the challenges of future manufacturing, modelling and simulation, biological engineering and renewable energy.
The Centre, which is a partnership between CSIRO, Monash University and the Australian Government, is a two-hectare facility that will house new teaching and research laboratories, purpose-built to be a collaborative environment for the researchers.
“It will no doubt be a dynamic place to be,” says CSIRO on their blog.
“It will put an incredible array of specialised equipment in the hands of over 400 creative and gifted researchers, driving the innovation necessary for Australian manufacturers to remain competitive and locally and globally connected.”
Senator Kim Carr says the Centre is a vital piece of research infrastructure for Australia.
“This centre represents a new approach – bringing university and CSIRO researchers together on a global scale to work in large teams on both blue sky and applied research,” Senator Kim Carr said in his media release.
“These research teams are working at the very edge of discovery and will break new ground with their findings – we will see rapid product development, new forms of drug delivery, new materials, micro-engineered robots – the possibilities are endless.”
The Manufacturing Innovation Precinct, Australia’s first precinct from the Industry Innovation Precinct Program which is part of the $1 Billion Plan for Australian Jobs, will also be headquartered at New Horizons, ensuring the link between advanced manufacturing research and Australian industry.
According to the media release the Australian Government has invested more than $2.1 billion in national, collaborative research infrastructure, mostly under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy since 2008. It announced a further $185.9 million from 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2015.
