Boosting Australia’s manufacturing industry

The Morrison Government is funding research focussed on improving the domestic manufacturing industry and creating a high quality workforce for the sector. 

Minister for Education Dan Tehan said the Morrison Government was providing $4.9 million to fund world-leading research and product development in critical areas of manufacturing such as thin nanostructured films and thick coatings. 

The Australian Research Council Training Centre in Surface Engineering for Advanced Materials led by Swinburne University of Technology was launched today. 

Mr Tehan said the training centre’s placement of early career researchers into key industry partners would result in job creation and a high quality workforce in manufacturing. 

“This centre will be an innovator for the manufacturing of biomaterials, graphene layering, high temperature coatings and laser metal deposition for materials repair,” Mr Tehan said. 

“A strong local manufacturing industry is vital to our future prosperity because the sector creates jobs and drives economic growth. 

“The research done by our universities can lead to the development of new products and innovations that drive job growth, business opportunities and productivity gains. 

“In the coming years, universities will be front and centre of job creation, job growth, and productivity improvements in this nation. 

“If we get this right, the productivity improvements the sector can deliver will be worth $2.7 billion to GDP per annum.” 

The ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centres scheme fosters close partnerships between university-based researchers and other research end-users to provide innovative Higher Degree by Research and postdoctoral training, for end-user focused research industries that are vital to Australia's future. 

More information about the ARC Training Centres program is available on the ARC website.