The adoption of Industry 4.0 technology could add $74 billion in value to the Australian economy and create over 80,000 new jobs by 2030.
The rapid growth of digital and advanced technologies presents a tremendous opportunity for Australia. These high-value, high-complexity enabling technologies and associated skills have broad cross-sector applications and global export potential, with many advanced manufacturing capabilities in the energy resources supply chain sharing common fundamentals with those in other industries, such as mining, agriculture, and space.
Leveraging these cross-sector strengths and skillsets is an effective way for domestic businesses to achieve scale and will accelerate the pace of capability development in Australia’s manufacturing sector.
Through collaborative lighthouse projects, innovation funding, digital test labs, innovation hubs, technology clusters and deployment pathways, NERA is championing Australia’s emergence as a key player in the development and manufacturing of advanced data analytics, robotics and automation technology, while encouraging Australian businesses to realise the benefits of digital transformation.
Below are some examples of collaborative projects and initiatives that are supporting Australian businesses to realise the benefits of digital transformation and continuing to drive a globally competitive supply chain.
Through this project, Perth-based Robotic specialists Nexxis are assisting industry to transition towards a safer future by developing the world's first EX-rated robotic crawler that can perform confined-space and hazardous inspections so that humans don't have to.
NERA is collaborating to support the development of a new high-speed, low-cost metal 3D printing technology specifically for the oil and gas industry, which can operate around 1,000 times the speed of conventional metal 3D printing at a fraction of the cost.
NERA is supporting the commercialisation of Australian technology through a world-first field trial. CSIRO's Vesi™ technology has the potential to dramatically improve the accuracy of groundwater monitoring activities relating to in-situ recovery (ISR) operations.
NERA has partnered with The University of Queensland Centre for Natural Gas and industry operators to commercialise leading research that will improve the accuracy of the resource models used in the Coal Seam Gas (CSG) industry, contributing to more cost-effective resource planning.
Together with METS Ignited and Bankwest, NERA is proud to be a Foundation Member of the WA Data Science Innovation Hub (WADSIH), which connects industry to universities, ensuring the transfer of knowledge across various sectors impacted by digital disruption.
The University of Western Australia's Industry 4.0 Energy and Resources Digital Interoperability (ERDi) Test Lab is a globally unique facility, established to help enable the widespread adoption of digital Industry 4.0 technologies into the production and processing of Australia's energy and resources.
GeneratER is a collaborative program supported by NERA, JTSI and Industry, and designed to stimulate the energy resources supply chain by identifying genuine operational challenges for the sector and using an open-source process to fast-track adoption of local technology solutions.
The QuantumTX program strengthens capability and collaboration across Australia in technologies that bridge the mining, energy, agricultural and defence sectors, providing some of Australia's technology innovators with industry mentoring, facilitated market engagement, profile raising and introductions to new sector networks.