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A South Australian university and a defence and satellite communications business are leading the charge to establish a space industry-focused co-operative research centre (CRC).
The University of South Australia and Nova Group have put the call out to Australian businesses to participate in establishing a bid for a research centre, dubbed the SmartSat CRC.
Under the current vision for the SmartSat CRC, the research centre would be a collaborative effort that will provide enhanced connectivity, navigation and monitoring capability of Australia and its resources by solving major satellite system and advanced communications challenges.
The CRC is being hailed as an opportunity to create new businesses and exports to grow the state and national economy through the application of advanced space technologies and space related data.
Currently, the Australian space sector employs in the order of 9,500-11,500 people and produces an annual revenues of $3-4 billion. This represents 0.8 per cent of the global space economy, yet Australia has a 1.8 per cent share of the world’s total economy and only 8 per cent of Australia’s space revenue is generated from exports. The imminent Review of Australia's Space Capability says this suggests the Australian space sector is underperforming.
This CRC is currently considering research within the fields of advanced communications, intelligent satellite systems, earth observation data analytics and space regulatory and policy environment.
Research in these areas would not only impact defence but also a number of priority sectors for Australia, including agriculture, mining, and transport.
Companies looking to register their interest can find out more here.
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