UTS Tech Lab: a new way to bring both industry and academia together
This article was first published on PACE on the 17th December 2018
Associate Professor Ray Kirby, director, Tech Lab Operations, FEIT, The
University of Technology Sydney tells PACE how industry and
academia can complement each other.
The collaboration between industry and academia has been an ongoing topic
of debate for decades. Australia has well-regarded research emerging from
different fields but ranks last globally when it comes to businesses
collaborating on innovation with higher education or research institutions.
Another report revealed that Australia’s gross domestic product (GDP)
could increase by $8 billion over the next 10 years, if Australia reached just
the OECD average for collaboration between industry and academia.
Meanwhile, the NSW Innovation and Productivity Scorecard released last
month noted that, while NSW leads Australia in terms of research collaborations
per institute, there is scope to improve collaborative research efforts in NSW
and nationally.
The opening of the University of Technology Sydney’s Tech Lab in
September is a step in that direction. Led by the UTS Faculty of Engineering
and Technology, the purpose-built, $65 million facility covers 9,000 sqm in the
Sydney suburb of Botany, in close proximity to a major new technology and
innovation precinct recently announced by the NSW government.
Tech Lab is a unique research facility in Australia, where academics and
researchers from diverse fields work in tandem with industry and government to
develop innovative solutions for the world of tomorrow, taking new technologies
from early readiness to commercial viability
The facility is designed to deliberately disrupt traditional university
approaches to undertaking research. Tech Lab seeks to build consortia to work
on projects under the Internet of Things (IoT) theme, housed within its diverse
laboratories.
Tech Lab aims to work with a wide range of companies, from big to small,
including working with startups to continue to build on Australia’s research
strengths. It brings industry and academia together to deliver the most
technologically- advanced products and services. This will provide growth for
businesses and jobs for the students and the wider community. Created to
nurture collaboration and partnerships with industry and government, Tech Lab
features an open plan design, both in its lab spaces and its activity-based
workspaces. This encourages collaborative work and interaction between
researchers and specialists. Work and meeting spaces are available so external
partners can work alongside UTS researchers.
IoT is a strategic research focus for Tech Lab, linking together the
multidisciplinary research strengths within its walls to foster a new capacity
for technological impact in countless arenas. The multidisciplinary nature of
the facility strategically links research strengths from numerous areas of
engineering and IT. The lab leaders at Tech Lab are experts in their fields,
and provide research direction using state-of- the-art facilities. Tech Lab
capabilities span but are not limited to: civil and environmental engineering;
mechanical and mechatronic engineering; software, electrical and data
engineering; systems; management; and leadership.
Tech Lab will offer R&D projects, consultancy, contract work and
short courses. It is equipped with state- of-the-art capabilities that include,
among other things:
- computational
intelligence and brain-computer interface (CIBCI) lab;
- multimedia lab;
centre for autonomous systems (CAS) lab; - centre for
electrical machines and power electronics (CEMPE);
- photonics;
- acoustics lab;
- large-scale
structural testing facility;
- material characterisation
and service life performance lab;
- geotechnical
laboratory;
- X-labs;
- and laser
doppler vibrometry lab.
Partnership is at the heart of Tech Lab’s philosophy and the facility is
focusing on creating robust applied research collaborations between academia,
industry and government, in
spaces where people can meet, generate ideas and make them happen. Spaces are
also available for contract and consultancy work, and for external partners to
explore and upskill in new and developing technologies.
Tech Lab has already welcomed organisations such as Sydney Water, which
will work with the facility in robotics and smart sensing in pipelines, as well
as Nokia, which will run training courses out of the facility. Tech Lab is also
in discussion with many other companies interested in working with UTS in the
new facility, especially in areas such as smart cities, IoT, and advanced
manufacturing.
Tech Lab will not only help Australia draw closer to countries with
strong traditional research collaboration cultures, such as Germany, Canada and
Singapore, but leapfrog other nations in innovative approaches to skill
building and cross- disciplinary problem solving.
For more information about how academia and industry can best work
together, then join us at the Research Innovation and Commercialisation Summit 2019.