It is no secret that QDSA has had a huge first year. As we work to forge inroads that connect Queensland’s brightest minds in research and industry with government and Defence, it is vital that we travel to the regional hubs that house them. These site visits allow research facilities to showcase their capabilities so QDSA can facilitate and encourage connections and access to funding opportunities.
With this in mind, the QDSA team embarked on a 4-day tour of North Queensland during the first week of December. A lively visit provided great insight into sovereign capabilities right on our doorstep and highlighted many new possible collaborative opportunities for the region.
The result will be new connections and access to a wealth of resources throughout 2022 for many of the organisations we met with.
James Cook University expertly arranged the tour with logistics in the current climate, proving a difficult challenge!
As well as the QDSA team, the tour was attended by representatives from all 7 QDSA Member Universities, State Government representatives, the Defence Innovation Hub, ARMHub, TASDCRC, Qld AI Hub, and many industry members.
Jeremy Anderson, Associate Director, QDSA, had this to say about the extremely successful tour:
“This activity demonstrates the QDSA working together to connect Defence with Universities and Industry in Queensland. The capability of James Cook University and Central Queensland University is very impressive. The networking during the trip will pay dividends as we continue to work together as an alliance to form collaborative partnerships and respond to Defence projects with consortium bids.”
Here are some highlights from our December 2021 North Queensland Tour.
Day 1 – James Cook University and Lavarack Barracks
We hit the ground running with Day 1 taking us to several locations and events.
The first stop was a tour of and a fascinating presentation by researchers at the Australian Institute for Tropical Health & Medicine (AITHM), Townsville.
Next, we were invited to attend a tour of Lavarack Barracks and Army Combat Training Centre, including a demonstration of current technologies and training by soldiers from 3 Brigade.
A very busy day was concluded with a cocktail evening at the Lavarack Barracks Mess, hosted by QDSA.
Day 2 – Northern Advantage Business Breakfast, Australian Institute of Marine Science and more
As we began to acclimatise to the unique North Queensland weather, Day 2 of the North Queensland tour provided many more opportunities to showcase sovereign capabilities in the region.
Townsville Enterprise hosted the Northern Advantage Business Breakfast, highlighting key areas of investment and projects occurring across North Queensland in 2022.
The business breakfast was followed by a site visit to the Australian Institute of Marine Science, where we enjoyed a fascinating tour of their Reefworks facility. Reefworks is a suite of secure marine technology test and evaluation facilities open to industry, government and academic innovators.
The afternoon saw us touring 5 Aviation Regiment in Townsville and an interesting look into the world of Chinooks and MRH-90 Helicopters.
Our final stop in Townsville was the headquarters of Cubic Defence Australia. Here, we took part in an information session at the only defence prime to have their headquarters located in Townsville.
After a very eventful day, the team headed back to their accommodations to prepare for the next leg of the tour – Cairns.
Day 3 – James Cook University Cairns, HMAS Cairns and Central Queensland University Cairns.
Now halfway through our North Queensland tour, the QDSA team and tour delegates travelled to Cairns.
Day 3 began with an information centre at the Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine (AITHM) at James Cook University Cairns campus and JCU’s Ideas Place.
We were so impressed by the scope of available resources in North Queensland, and each day as we toured and learned more, we were encouraged by the potential for innovators and start-ups in the region.
We got to enjoy a change of scenery were treated to a tour of HMAS Cairns.
Finally, CQ University Cairns welcomed us to their facilities, where briefings by Advance Cairns and then State Development also taught us about the exciting Marine Precinct upgrades that Defence Jobs Queensland plans.
Day 4 – Cairns Marine Precinct, and HMAS Brisbane
The final day of the QDSA North Queensland tour was spent in beautiful Cairns. The weather showcased the region perfectly and
We headed out to the Marine Precinct Shipyards for a comprehensive tour hosted by Austal, Norship and Tropical Reef Shipyards. All three of these companies play a significant role in Cairns’ shipbuilding and repair industry, and it is inspiring to witness such a great collaboration.
The timing of our tour was fortunate to also be at the same time that HMAS Brisbane was docked at Cairns. This allowed us to tour the ship as the final event on our tour.
North Queensland – A Beautiful Playground for Innovation and Research
The QDSA North Queensland tour was an important event in our calendar that required a great deal of planning, logistics and clearances. David Lynch from James Cook University was the chief organiser, and our team takes their hats off to David’s mammoth effort in creating such an informative event that ran like clockwork.
Here are some of the comments received from attendees:
“QDSA’s tour accelerated ARM Hub’s defence engagement, knowledge and collaboration exponentially. It’s great for North Qld that has now focussed all our efforts on meeting identified opportunities.”
Associate Professor Cori Stewart – Chief Executive Officer, Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Hub
“One of the best tours of my career, thank you QDSA your work is sincerely appreciated in supporting Defence and Australian Research and Industry.”
Kevin Hernan – Deputy Director, Defence Innovation Hub
“The organisers did an outstanding job at herding the cats and dealing with all the little issues that appeared. Furthermore, they modified schedules to take opportunities of varying events as well as catering to all the questions and general enthusiasm of the crowd. This was an outstanding event and has generated many a bridge that will go a long way to meeting the QDSA’s objectives. I look forward to similar gatherings in the future.”
Professor Allan Paull – DST Chair for Advanced Hypersonics, The University of Queensland
Tours such as this are key in creating and building the connections and collaborations needed to grow sovereign capability in Queensland.
All attendees benefited from the experience, with many surprised by the incredible capabilities and facilities in the region that they had previously been unaware of.
QDSA wishes to thank all attendees and organises for their contribution to the tour.
QDSA Upcoming Events and Opportunities
QDSA has many upcoming events and opportunities, with more being added each week. Want to find out what is on the horizon? Check out our News section on our website here or subscribe to our e-newsletter here.
For real-time events and information, be sure to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
QDSA Upcoming Events and Opportunities
QDSA has many upcoming events and opportunities, with more being added each week. Want to find out what is on the horizon? Check out our News section on our website here or subscribe to our e-newsletter here.
For real-time events and information, be sure to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
The Queensland Defence Science Alliance (QDSA) is a university-led initiative to grow and connect an agile Defence innovation ecosystem, leveraging Queensland’s strengths, to deliver trusted solutions to meet Defence requirements.
