ManuFutures
Advanced manufacturing in Victoria received a significant boost with the opening of ManuFutures at Deakin’s Geelong Waurn Ponds campus on 16 April.
The $13 million industrial innovation and accelerator hub for start-up and established manufacturing businesses was officially launched by Vice-Chancellor Professor Jane den Hollander AO and Minister for Regional Development Jaala Pulford.
ManuFutures is a purpose-built facility within the Geelong Innovation Precinct at the Geelong Waurn Ponds campus that offers tenants access to Deakin’s industry-focused research expertise and cutting-edge technology, not to mention unique collaboration opportunities.
ManuFutures provides a clear win-win for the university and its nine tenants, which include FLAIM Systems , HeiQ Australia Pty Ltd (which recently partnered with the Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM) on a revolutionary new textile treatment to prevent fabric pilling), and Conflux.
For tenants, there’s easy access to Deakin’s leading research centres and faculties at Waurn Ponds, including the Centre for Advanced Design in Engineering Training (CADET), IFM, the Institute for Intelligent Systems Research and Innovation (IISRI), the Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute (A2I2) and the new Institute for Health Transformation Systems.
And in a win for Deakin students, each tenant is committed to providing practical learning opportunities for undergraduate and postgraduate students.
In her remarks on opening day, Professor den Hollander highlighted FLAIM Systems, which partners with Deakin donor and technology provider Dimension Data, as a great example of the ManuFutures vision.
“FLAIM Systems is a company borne from Deakin University research at the Institute for Intelligent Systems Research and Innovation, now partnering with global systems integrator Dimension Data to create world-leading firefighting training technology soon to be launched in the US,” Professor den Hollander said.
“FLAIM Systems perfectly showcases ManuFutures’ vision to embrace the fusion between teaching and learning, cutting edge research, industry engagement and commercialisation, so that advanced manufacturing in regional Australia can flourish with real world outcomes.
“This emphasis on industry collaboration and innovation goes to the heart of the valued relationship shared between Dimension Data and Deakin University, and it is very satisfying to see FLAIM Systems today taken from an idea in a laboratory to propagation in the real world.”
