Government boost for industry links

Industry

The University of Adelaide's collaborative links with industry have been further enhanced with three university researchers receiving $500,000 worth of State Government funding.

Professor John Carver, Head of School of Chemistry and Physics, and Professor Jesper Munch, Professor of Experimental Physics, were awarded $250,000 to establish "The Defence Photonics Cluster" as a partnership between the University of Adelaide, the Defence Science and Technology Organization (DSTO) and the South Australian defence industry.

Another project, "Value-adding South Australian lamb", and led by Dr Zibby Kruk, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Agriculture and Wine, has also been awarded $250,000 over the next three years.

Both projects were funded through the Premier's Science and Research Fund.

Professor Munch said the cluster would enable collaborations between the university and industry for the purpose of increasing business opportunities, research and education in defence photonics.

"The vision of the Defence Photonics Cluster is to generate an internationally recognized strength in defence photonics in South Australia, which will form a nucleus for further growth in photonics and its applications," Professor Munch said. "In particular, it will maximise the benefit of the very significant increase in local photonics capability which has resulted from the recent appointment of Professor Tanya Monro to the DSTO Chair of Photonics at the University of Adelaide."

Dr Kruk said one of the exciting things about the value-adding lamb project is the collaboration between university research groups, Regency Institute of TAFE and industry.

"Private company Wanderribby will develop the project's feeding and marketing systems, the university will conduct the analytical work and the Regency Institute of TAFE will carry out the taste testing trials," Dr Kruk said.

"We aim to develop a healthy lamb product with enhanced flavours via dietary manipulations. This has the potential to significantly increase profit for the SA sheep and lamb industry by developing branded products as well as opening the possibility of targeting new markets," Dr Kruk said.