Australia’s technology headlines in July of 2024 captured items and issues across a range of industries and technologies. These included: Quantum technologies news, both around partnership with Japan and with domestic quantum tech developments; foreign influence concerns around Australia’s internet-facing tech; the pros and cons around developing a sovereign Australian artificial intelligence LLM; discussions around partnership with SpaceX, allowing the firm space-launch basing in Australia; and many more.
Plus: Asia’s Tech Newsletter, Weekly >
Indo-Pacific Space and Earth Conference – Australia in November
- The 2nd Australian Space Week is set for July 22-26 in Adelaide, a showcase of technologies, innovations and more in the space ecosystem / full item
- Australian National University inks agreement with Japan’s Fujitsu for a new quantum research facility ‘with ambitions to build an onsite quantum computer’ / full item
- Generative artificial intelligence: “Australia’s Gen AI adoption rate is among the lowest in the Asia Pacific, suggesting we risk being left behind.” / full item
- Asian-Australian Startups Roadshow Competition’s 2nd edition is set for July 30th at Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship in Melbourne / full item
- Australia: Cicada x Tech23 deep tech event is set for August 7th in Sydney, gathering and celebrating the best in Australian science, innovation, and technology / full item
- Australia: Hyzon, US hydrogen fuel cell specialists, to quit Australia as sales of battery electric commercial trucks climb / full item
- Download: ‘Financial Scams Report – An Assessment of Scams in East Asia, in Australia, Hong Kong & Singapore’ from the Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime / full item
- Antler Australia unveils 7 tech startups receiving overall pre-Seed funding of $1.575M working on solutions in e-commerce, education, regulatory compliance and more / full item
- Australia: eSafety Commissioner gives ‘net firms 6 months to draft online child-safety rules covering app stores, websites, search, game and social media platforms / full item
- Download: ‘Meeting the AI Skills Boom’ from the Tech Council of Australia / full item
- Australian Competition & Consumer Commission and the Treasury Department to develop obligatory anti-scam code to ensure that ‘net companies safeguard consumers / full item
- Australia: Jigspace maintains growth with new $4.4M fundraise, looking to further develop augmented reality services / full item
- Australia: A quick look at 4 startups that between them raised over $20M in the week to July 12th / full item
- Australia: Xccelerate24 program from x15ventures, venture-build arm of CommBank, opens applications for Australian AI and data startups / full item
- Australia: E-waste processing startup, Sircel, secures $5M, in part to boost solar panel processing, likely to become one of the largest e-waste streams / full item
- Australia: A comprehensive audit of all internet-facing tech used by Commonwealth agencies is to take place in light of concerns over foreign interference and foreign influence / full item
- Australian Space Week is set for July 22-26, alongside the 17th Australian Space Forum, featuring showcases, seminars, networking and more / full item
- Australia: Charges laid against individual who ran a fake Wi-Fi access point during a domestic flight, capturing personal data and credentials from other travelers / full item
- The 2nd Australian Space Week is set for July 22-26 in Adelaide, a showcase of technologies, innovations and more in the space ecosystem / full item
- Australia: NSW Space+ Program grants program launches, in part aiming to showcase Australian space-tech to international stakeholders in 2025 / full item
- Available now: ‘Money Laundering in Australia – National Risk Assessment’ from AUSTRAC / full item
- Australia: IIF – Invest Inya Farmer – co-op, an investment platform allowing individuals to back agricultural assets like crops and livestock and get a share of the profits upon sale / full item
- Australia: 4 startups raised a total of $123.6 million in the week to July 19th – here’s a quick intro to each / full item
- Australian Federation Police Association supports establishment of one-stop portal for victims to report AI deepfakes to the police, following Attorney General’s June legislation / full item
- Australia: $8M Bio Innovation Hub formally launched at La Trobe University’s Melbourne campus, offering lab facilities to early-stage companies looking to commercialise research / full item
- 2 of 2 – Australia doesn’t need sovereign AI: “…unable to create a globally competitive AI sector — and has not created AI models that can serve as the foundation for multiple analytical uses…” / full item
- 1 of 2 – Why Australia needs a sovereign AI model: “Australians should be able to use an LLM without sending data and intellectual property to foreign countries or companies…” / full item
- Australia: Proposed Cyber Security Act would mandate that Australian businesses and government entities must disclose ransomware payments, or face fines / full item
- Australian Crypto Convention is set for November 23-24 in Sydney, featuring speakers from government, finance, technology and beyond / full item
- SpaceX is in talks with Australian and US officials around landing and recovering Starship rocket off Australia’s coast, possibly a first step toward a bigger presence in the region / full item
- Australia’s Northern Territory Gov’t and Japan Organisation for Metals and Energy Security ink 2 MOUs to boost critical minerals and energy cooperation / full item
- Australia: Gilmour Space rocket developer and satellite launcher to launch a suborbital flight test service in Australia for commercial and defence customers requiring hypersonic speeds / full item
- Australia: 4 space research projects received $18M funding as part of the $230M University of South Australia-led iLAuNCH Trailblazer program / full item
- Australia’s SmartSat CRC joins with New Zealand Gov’t to bring 4 joint research projects under Australia-New Zealand Collaborative Space Program / full item
- Australia: An intro to NanoCube Health, using nano-robots to diagnose and treat pancreatic cancer, with devices backed by AI-driven software / full item
- Australia: ‘State of AI in Australia’ survey results are now available from V2 Digital, providing 12 data-driven insights / full item
- Australia’s Nourish Ingredients lands collaboration with Fonterra dairy giant to speed development of dairy products with fats produced via fermentation, boosting non-dairy ingredients / full item
- Australia: WA Gov’t applications are now open for 10 selected WA startups to attend SXSW Sydney in October / full item
- Video: A visual workflow overview of Australia’s Hadrian X bricklaying robot in action / full item
- Australia: Hadrian X bricklayer robot commences US evaluation trials in Florida, building directly from 3D CAD layouts and using after-construction adhesive rather than mortar / full item
- Australia: Tech In Gov Conference is just 3 weeks away, July 23-24 in Canberra – 150+ speakers, 200+ exhibitors, themes across AI, cybersec & more / full item
- Australia: Canberra’s GRIFFIN Accelerator applications close July 10th, a program connecting ambitious Canberra founders with experienced local mentors / full item
- The 17th Australian Space Forum is set for July 24th & 25th in Adelaide Convention Centre / full item
- Australian gov’t CSIRO research agency to trial AquaWatch in California, delivering satellite data-driven water quality forecasting in partnership with US universities and gov’t / full item
- Australia: 20 startups to share in near $1M funding under first round re-launch of NSW gov’t MVP Ventures program / full item
- Australia: Indigenous-led First Australians Capital hits first close on Catalytic Impact Fund with $20M in commitments / full item
- Australia: Samsara Eco raises $100M Series A with enzyme-based plastic recycling, with sights on a new commercial facility in SE Asia / full item
- Australia’s Space Machines Company inks Launch Service Agreement with NewSpace India, government company under Indian Space Research Organisation, for SMC’s next sat launch / full item
- Australia: Channel Seven YouTube page hacked to play looping video of AI-generated Elon Musk telling viewers to invest in cryptocurrency / full item
- Australia: National Australia Bank’s NAB Ventures backed Zodia Custody, an institution-grade crypto and digital assets safekeeping platform, joining Standard Chartered and others / full item
- Australia: Government considering options around ensuring Meta platforms continue to publish news content / full item
- Australia is to establish a new ‘cable connectivity & resilience centre’ for Pacific Islands nations, looking to provide tech assistance and training across the Indo-Pacific / full item
- “South Korea is too strong a force in military-technology development for AUKUS to overlook. Adding it to the security partnership would also bolster stability in East Asia.” / full item
Australian Crypto Convention – November 23 & 24 in Sydney
Asia’s Tech Newsletters: July 2024
- July 31st 2024: Indonesia cyber force, TSMC & Germany, Singapore semiconductors, Japan Space Strategy Fund…
On LinkedIn and on Substack - July 24th 2024: China’s socialist LLMs, Pacific Islands cybersec, 1nm semiconductors, 30K staff for Huawei R&D centre…
On LinkedIn and on Substack - July 17th 2024: Samsung chips, China space issues, Vietnam digital economy, Malaysia Silicon Island, Bangladesh-Huawei…
On LinkedIn and on Substack - July 10th 2024: Indonesia EV batteries, India semiconductors, Australia space-tech, China smart-car cloud, AU-JP quantum…
On LinkedIn and on Substack - July 3rd 2024: Huawei & Peru, Indo-Singapore subsea cables, China’s G60 mega-constellation, Korea’s $12BN semicon fund…
On LinkedIn and on Substack
