Australian tech news in January 2024 covered items including: funding for Australian critical minerals research; the Humboldt undersea cable project connecting South America to the Asia Pacific; Australian gravity-based energy storage; Canberra’s links to Japanese space debris laser technology; and many more.
Click through for a snapshot of New Zealand tech in January 2024.
SNA’s other editions: Asia’s tech news, daily (via LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter/X); and our Indo-Pacific technology newsletters, weekly.
Also available:
Critical technologies, quarterly across Q4 2023
Australian Signals Directorate Cyber Threat Report 2022-2023
- Australia’s privacy watchdog launches privacy inquiry into how China’s TikTok harvests personal data, and whether it is being done with consent
- Australia: An overview of the country’s alternative-proteins sector, with plant-based meats potentially capable of Au$3BN in domestic sales
- Podcast: Female Startup Club interviews Australian skincare brand Naked Sundays founder
- Australia: Gov’t assigns $22M in grant funding for 3 critical minerals research projects aiming to develop ‘knowledge, technology and IP on critical mineral extraction and processing’
- Australia: 11 universities selected to participate in Startup Year pilot, delivered via the Higher Education Loan Program with students able to access a STARTUP-HELP loan to support participation
PwC 2024 Artificial Intelligence for Business Predictions
- Australia: SparkLabs Cultiv8 agri-food tech accelerator opens applications for sixth cohort, seeking 10 solutions ranging from early-stage founders to growth-stage startups
- Australia: Lander & Rogers law firm opens applications for 7th LawTech Hub accelerator program for legal-tech startups
- Australia: Getmee education-tech firm gains funding $2.5M total with AI-driven English language coaching, building on white-label approach and international enterprize-level customers
- Google to help with Humboldt undersea cable project between Chile and Sydney, linking South America with the Asia Pacific and boosting access to the global digital economy
“Australia welcomes this new trans-Pacific cable connecting Australia and Latin America for the first time, supporting the growth of digital and economic ties,” federal communications minister Michelle Rowland said.
- Australia: Afiyah Islamic finance startup adds to solutions with launch of a Shariah-compliant self-managed superannuation fund product, seeing growing opportunities in the sector
- Australia: A brief intro to Metakosmos, focused on next-gen spacesuit tech and a recent selection for the New South Wales Space Research Network’s Seed Project Program
Real Madrid Next Accelerator for Asia 2024
- Evolution of a scam: “…’Hi Mum’ was a text message, and this has now evolved to become a phone call [generated by AI] that a person will receive pretending to be from a family member that is in distress”
- Australia: Reserve Bank, Dep’t of the Prime Minister & Cabinet, and Federal Police among 62 gov’t entities that had data stolen during 2023 Russia-linked hack of 4TB from contracted law firm
- Australia: 4.95MW Bell Bay Solar Farm in Tasmania is now online, with 16000 solar panels targeting the generation of enough renewable electricity to power the equivalent of 1000 homes
- South Australia’s Allied computer maker to assemble Google Chromebook laptops for two SA high schools in Australian-first partnership with Google
- Australia’s Green Gravity prototyping utilizes NVIDIA Omniverse simulation for ‘digital twins’, aiming to refine gravity-based energy storage methods focused on disused mines
World Economic Forum Quantum Economy Blueprint – January 2024
- Australia: Lygon, blockchain firm backed by ANZ, CBA, Westpac, IBM and Scentre Group to digitise bank guarantees using blockchain tech, has gone into liquidation with debts of $14.3M
- Australia: Element Zero raised $10M with zero-carbon minerals processing tech, using renewable energy
- Australia: Fashion, fast food and entertainment companies struck by the latest wave of ‘credential stuffing’ cyber-attacks, using customer details from one hack to fuel others
“In what is colorfully termed a ‘brute force’ attack, hackers use bots to test millions of username and password combinations on different websites until they find a match. It’s easier and quicker than many people realize.”
“It is happening more often because the barrier to entry for would-be cybercriminals has never been lower. The dark web is readily accessible and the resources needed to launch attacks are available to anyone with cryptocurrency to spend and the will to cross over to the dark side.”
- Aviation/Aerospace Australia Leadership & Excellence Awards nominations are open for individuals, teams and companies across these sectors and including the Australian space sector
- Australian Securities & Investments Commission to examine details of Blockchain Global bitcoin company’s collapse following Guardian Australia investigation reveals director links to series of failed crypto schemes
ASPI: Australia’s semiconductor manufacturing moonshot – securing talent
- Telstra’s global arm, Telstra International, partners Trans Pacific Networks consortium to build and operate subsea Echo Cable to connect the US to Singapore
- High-capacity undersea link connecting Sydney & Melbourne to New Zealand’s Invercargill is planned, connecting with planned Invercargill hyperscale data center
- Australia: Flinders University launches Graduate Diploma in Entrepreneurial Growth, integrating with Federal Gov’t Startup Year program
- Australia: CSIRO Next Generation Graduates Program to fund more than 160 postgrad students in emerging technologies, quantum and AI with dedicated opportunities for regional students
- Australia: A quick intro to 3 startups that collectively raised $36M in the week past, working on solutions in health-and-wellbeing, skincare and AI-driven water infra management
Australian Cybersecurity Strategy 2023-2030
- Australia: Web domains administrator auDA proposes police training to raise knowledge of roles and responsibilities across telcos, ISPs, web hosts, cloud operators, DNS systems, devs and more
- ICYMI: ‘The Australian Framework for Generative AI in Schools seeks to guide the responsible and ethical use of generative AI tools in ways that benefit students, schools, and society…’
- Australia: A brief intro to Sydney-based Hullbot, developer of autonomous underwater drones for boat hull cleaning and hull mapping
- Australia: CSIRO opens applications for ‘Innovate to Grow’ program, seeking startups and SMEs working on solutions in digital health and medical technologies
- Australian Space Agency seeks expressions of interest for discussions on niche Australian technology capabilities, with submissions closing February 14th
Australian AirSpace Awards 2024 / Nominations now open
- Aus-NZ tech startup, Aquila, completes successful test of ground-based photonics system for wireless drones charging potentially paving the way for non-stop flight
- An overview of the bitcoin ETF space, focusing on readiness in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates
- An intro to Japan’s EX-Fusion, working on ground-based laser systems to destroy space junk, building on 2023 partnership with Australia’s EOS Space Systems for debris detection and laser test site
“In October, EX-Fusion signed a memorandum of understanding with EOS Space Systems, an Australian contractor with technology for detecting space debris. EX-Fusion has announced its plans to install a powerful laser system at the EOS Space Observatory near Canberra.”
- India’s Tata Consultancy Services partners Australia’s Macquarie University to launch TCS GoZero Hub, a research and innovation centre focusing on a net-zero future
- Available to download: ‘The Quad and Submarine Cable Protection in the Indo-Pacific – Policy Recommendations’ from the Stockholm-based Institute for Security & Development Policy
Indo-Pacific Studies Center
New Zealand: January 2024
- New Zealand’s Futureverse partners Ready Player One author to launch Readyverse Studios, aiming to integrate major IPs into the metaverse
- New Zealand: Daisy Lab scales up production of precision-fermented protein alternative, an animal-free powdered whey protein made using yeast cultures
- New Zealand-Ireland startup, Marama Labs, secures €1.75M with technology for complex liquid analysis in winemaking, allowing refinement of production processes
Orbiting Now / Satellite orbit data
Indo-Pacific Tech news: Daily
- Indo-Pacific tech, daily on LinkedIn
- Asia’s tech news, daily on Twitter / X
- Asia tech news daily – Facebook
Note: Our mobile app is offline due to the ongoing breakdown of Twitter/X. The app will be back, much-improved and with broader functionality, late in Q1 of 2024.
SharePass: Confidential information sharing
Weekly Asia Tech newsletters
In the January 23rd newsletter:
South Korea’s semicon mega-development,
India-Argentina lithium mining,
Singtel adds Starlink for maritime use,
India’s quantum technology moves,
Huawei adds Changan and JD for OS growth,
Google backs Pacific Connect undersea cable…
● January 23rd newsletter on LinkedIn
● January 23rd newsletter on Substack
