Australian Research Council grant to provide future fibres boost

Deakin University has welcomed the announcement by the Federal Minister for Education Christopher Pyne of a $4.7 million grant from the Australian Research Council (ARC) for Deakin to establish an Industrial Transformation Research Hub (ITRH).

The future fibres hub will build on the success of the $34 million Carbon Nexus facility at Deakin University's Waurn Ponds campus and draw together the expertise of six industry partners, along with the CSIRO and six international higher education institutions.

Deakin's Vice-Chancellor Professor Jane den Hollander welcomed the announcement.

"This further validates Deakin's strategic objectives of developing jobs, investments and business opportunities for the future in both research connections, and teaching and learning," Professor den Hollander said.

Deakin's Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Lee Astheimer said the hub will accelerate the transformation of Australia's manufacturing industry to a vibrant future fibre-oriented sector.

"The hub will build on a decade of strong relationships with our partners that has seen the growth of new industries in the Geelong region," Professor Astheimer said.

"It will also provide a fertile environment for training the next-generation of industry savvy research leaders.

"Today, natural fibre production alone adds over $4 billion in gross value to the Australian economy annually."

The bid for the ITR Hub was led by Professor Xungai Wang, Director of Deakin's IFM and globally recognised expert in fibre materials, and draws together six industry partners, along with the CSIRO and six overseas higher education institutions.

"Developing the next generation of materials is very important for Australia and internationally," said Professor Wang. "The IFM has a major focus on future manufacturing and helping Geelong and Australia to make the transition to high value added advanced manufacturing."

Mr David Marino, CEO of Quickstep Holdings Ltd - one of Deakin's partners in the Hub - said he was delighted to have the opportunity to consolidate Quickstep's relationship with Deakin and other partners in the hub.

"The initiative builds on our 14-year R&D partnership with Deakin and will assist us to continue developing technologies that allow us to be internationally competitive," Mr Marino said.

"Our partnership with Deakin is allowing us to leverage the world class expertise and resources at Carbon Nexus and meet the exacting standards of our customers, particularly in the automotive and aerospace industries."

One of only four hubs across Australia to be awarded funding, the ITRH will be based at Deakin's Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM) and will focus on developing novel fibre technologies to facilitate more sustainable, advanced manufacturing of fibre materials and products.

Activities will centre on advanced carbon fibres, nanofibres and high performance novel fibres, as well as high-value added applications of fibre materials.

Project partners

Deakin's Australian partners, contributing an additional $3 million towards the Hub, are: HeiQ Australia Pty Ltd, Cytomatrix Pty Ltd, Carbon Revolution Pty Ltd, Quickstep Automotive Pty Ltd, Ear Science Institute Australia Incorporated / Ear Science Centre, Draggin Jeans Pty Ltd and CSIRO.

Deakin's international collaborators are: Tufts University; the University of Oxford; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland; Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology; and the University of Southern Mississippi. 

The Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM)

Deakin has been active in promoting fibre-related commercial ventures at Deakin's Waurn Ponds campus, including innovative carbon fibre wheel manufacturer, Carbon Revolution, advanced composite manufacturer, Quickstep, the world leading short nanofibre manufacturer HeiQ Australia and medical scaffold manufacturer, CytoMatrix. The co-location of these partners on the Waurn Ponds Campus creates real synergy and momentum in seeding the transformation of Australia's future fibre industries.