The Australian Defence Science and Universities Network (ADSUN) has been expanded to include the Northern Territory, bolstering Australia’s Defence research and innovation ecosystem.
The introduction of Charles Darwin University in the Northern Territory to the Queensland Defence Science Alliance (QDSA), will help to foster Defence-focused collaboration across the nation.
Chief Defence Scientist, Professor Tanya Monro AC, highlighted that the collective of five state and defence sponsored nodes will connect Defence with researchers and industry to aid the development of emerging technologies.
“Australia has world-class researchers and an innovative small and medium enterprise base,” Professor Monro said.
“ADSUN provides Defence with a better understanding of what technologies are being developed by our universities and allows Industry and the research community to form a better understanding of our priorities.”
Through the network, Defence can signal priorities at the early stage of research and work with researchers, Australian small and medium enterprises and start-ups to develop solutions that can ultimately become capabilities acquired for the war fighter.
“By co-locating senior scientists from Defence Science and Technology Group in ADSUN, we can collaborate to foster new ideas through the development cycle, or leverage emerging commercial technologies for dual-use,” Professor Monro said.
The Defence Industry Development Strategy recognised ADSUN’s critical role connecting Industry with the Defence innovation system, to further sovereign Defence capability development.