Redcentre to promote ANU CRC
An ANU-based research centre has begun a push to consolidate links with the outside world by joining a newly established technology access network known as the Photonics Redcentre. A successful bid to join Redcentre was submitted by the Australian Photonics Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), ANUTECH, associated universities including the ANU, and small to medium enterprises. The CRC - the work of which will be the initial focus of the Redcentre - undertakes advanced research on optical telecommunications systems which involve the control, transfer and storage of information using photons - the basic particles of light. "The primary role of the Redcentre is to provide small firms with rapid access to the multi-million-dollar knowledge and technical resources of Australia's research-based universities and institutions," national manager of Redcentre, Terry Polkinghorn, said. "Its industry focus will be on small to medium enterprises, as these firms often contain the ideas, but lack the resources and funding to move to commercial reality," he said. Professor Barry Luther-Davies, of the Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, said he was pleased the university will be the site of one of only three Redcentres in Australia. He said the university would gain from the additional research and development business brought in by Redcentre. "ANU will benefit from doing research on a profitable basis and increased contacts with industry, which will lead to further contracts in the future," Prof Luther-Davies said. "ANU is distinguished from other universities by the wide-range of resources that it can bring to bear on a problem." Prof Luther-Davies said those resources were being under-utilised and Redcentre will help fill this gap. "Universities are good at problem solving, and industry has experience in product development. The Redcentre will provide a way of combining these resources and skills synergistically - producing more than the individual parts could separately," he said. "The Redcentre network can bring together fast-track development, industrial design and manufacture with a significant reduction in overheads," Mr Polkinghorn said. An example of this was the rapid development of a forensic light source. From brief to working prototype, the whole project was completed within six weeks. "This was quite remarkable and would have been impossible without the networking abilities of the Redcentre," Mr Polkinghorn said. With Redcentres also based in Sydney and Melbourne the launch of the Canberra division completes the national consortium established with a grant from the Technology Support Centre's scheme funded by the Department of Industry Science and Tourism. Julian Lee