STEM
HARNESSING A NEW CAREER VISION
Being based at Adelaide’s Lot Fourteen puts the Australian Institute of Machine Learning in a prime position to dovetail with the innovation hub in exciting new STEM-focused careers
The future is now at Adelaide’s Australian Institute of Machine Learning.
And – to help secure its cutting-edge position in the years ahead – there’s nothing Dr Kathy Nicholson and Professor Simon Lucey would love to see than more of South Australia’s smartest minds come through its doors.
It’s the only way, they say, of remaining at the global forefront of the burgeoning artificial intelligence sphere, which is today moving out of the pages of science fiction and into real-world applications.
Being based at Adelaide’s Lot Fourteen – in the repurposed former women’s health centre building at the corner of North Terrace and Frome Road – puts the AIML in a prime position to dovetail with the innovation precinct in exciting new STEM-focused careers.
Dr Nicholson joined earlier this year as operations manager of the institute, which was established through “generous” funding from the University of Adelaide and the State Government two years ago. She believes the close alignment means computer science students with an interest in sectors such as space, defence, agriculture and medicine will virtually be able to see their careers being created around them.
Machine learning is fundamental to AI, involving the study of computer algorithms to “teach” computers through example. Among projects being tackled at AIML, computers are essentially being taught to detect and identify individual objects in photographs or video – research that could see applications as far-reaching as helping autonomous vehicles get around safely or to facilitate tasks such as grape picking.
“Australia is not going to succeed in this space unless we have educated people to drive ideas forward,” Dr Nicholson says. “We need to create an ecosystem that enables and encourages our young minds to stay and contribute to Adelaide’s growth. By partnering with Lot Fourteen, AIML students see real world examples of how machine learning and AI are disrupting our technological workforce. By partnering with industry and encouraging local internship we’re actually helping create that workforce locally. That’s definitely part of our vision.”
AIML co-director Professor Simon Lucey says encouraging more primary and secondary school students into STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – subject streams will be key to “maintaining excellence” in the area.
Also a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Adelaide, he recently returned to Australia to settle in Adelaide with his young family after six years in the US, where he taught at the world-renowned Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
During this time he also worked for an autonomous vehicle company for three years as a principal research scientist, gaining valuable industry experience and perspective.
Professor Lucey says it is important to harness the “excitement around the technology” to inspire people to consider STEM subjects in their learning pathways.
“Australia needs more PhD (students) in computer science. We have to engage and build and get them early. We have to get them excited about the opportunities and the science … and let that passion transcend from the primary school years through to high school and university. We want the future PhD students of 2030 to start thinking about it now. We want them engaging now and thinking about their jobs.”
Professor Lucey says it is important to foster an “economy and community of ideas” in Adelaide and to be pro-active in the sector.
“I think that’s what’s exciting about Lot Fourteen – there’s room for commercial entities and educational entities co-located in the one area. It seems obvious, but if you look around the world, there’s not many places doing it. Lot Fourteen is very unique for Australia ... there are not a lot of places with the ability, the forethought, or the nous to go and do what the SA Government did. So hat’s off to them, and we have to pay back that trust and really create that ecosystem that generates up entrepreneurship and opportunities.
“It is the future. And if want to have a say in how the future is panning out we need our young people involved in STEM. That’s where the pipeline starts – none of this happens unless we get the STEM stuff right in Australia from the start.”
Dr Nicholson says the establishment of the AIML showed great foresight in a country that’s traditionally been ahead of the curve when it comes to developments in technology.
“The state government and the university (of Adelaide) identified that we had to be part of the game – and if we weren’t we were going to be left behind,” she says. “Therefore they saw the incentive to set up this institute, which is flourishing – we went from 20 members two years ago to 130 members today.”
Dr Nicholson says Australia has a huge reputation in the knowledge space, with the creation of wi-fi and CSIRAC – one of the first computers built in the world, in 1949 – among the nation’s list of credits. “We have been hitting above our weight for a very long time but we don’t celebrate that and push it through to our kids as much as we should.”
It’s also important to redress the gender bias by encouraging more girls to become involved in STEM subjects at an early age.
“The boys just go like moths to the fire – or to the computer game or whatever else – but the way girls engage is often more subtle, and somehow, despite the best intentions of parents and teachers we are still leaving them behind,” Dr Nicholson says. “It’s changing, but we still have a long way to go, especially in this field.”
Professor Lucey says if properly harnessed, the accuracy and efficiency of AI-assisted technology can deliver many benefits.
“Sometimes we get fearful, especially in western cultures, of this dystopian future of AI – the whole ‘they’re coming for our jobs and we’re going to get beaten by robots’ and that sort of thing – but AI has so many opportunities for good.
“I can’t see, for example, AI replacing a radiologist any time soon – but I can definitely see a radiologist that’s using AI replacing a radiologist that doesn’t. So in terms of enhancing productivity – and basically being able to use humans in more efficient and better ways – is so important for Australia because our demographics can benefit so much from it.”
WINE
RECORDING THE FUTURE
Technology and tradition are joining forces to protect one of South Australia’s most prestigious industries
South Australia has established a global reputation for producing some of the world’s most respected fine wines. It’s a reputation the state’s premium winegrowers are deservedly proud of – but one that is under threat. Counterfeit wine is big business. In China alone, it is estimated that more than 40 per cent of all wine sold is fake, with fraudsters swapping out labels for those of premium producers. Experts estimate that, by 2022, this scam will cost the global wine industry more than $4 trillion. It’s also happening here in Australia. Late last year, 600 tonnes of Langhorne Creek shiraz was taken to the Barossa Valley on a series of trucks and passed off as Barossa shiraz, netting the fraudsters a $600,000 profit; while shiraz from the Riverland was also passed off as Barossa shiraz.
These practices have a lasting impact. “It affects the reputation of local winemakers and Australian winemakers, and the Barossa Valley as a brand,” says EnTrust co-founder David Travers. “If you’re having a special event and are buying a really nice bottle and it’s not that wine, then everyone gets ripped off and the consumer loses trust in the product.”
As a fifth-generation farmer in the Clare Valley, Travers understands the importance of preventing fraud and protecting South Australia’s reputation. His family owns a number of vineyards in Clare and has been selling grapes to wine companies including Kilikanoon, Treasury, Penfolds, Hardys and Sevenhill Cellars for 160 years.
Together with Jeff Grosset, owner and founder of Grosset Wines in the Clare Valley who was instrumental in introducing the screw cap to the wine industry more than 20 years ago, Travers in 2019 launched a three-month trial of an innovative technological solution to wine fraud. Backed by $50,000 in prize money as winners of the Premier’s Blockchain Innovation Challenge in Adelaide in March last year, the trial involved embedding supply chain information in the wine bottle’s screw cap which tracks the product every step of the way from vine to bottle to confirm its authenticity.
“We ran the trial from February to April this year and had about 15 companies participating,” Travers says. “We built a small app which allowed wineries to use a smartphone and online platform to follow their produce. We collected about 250,000 litres of wine in various parts of the data set so it gave us the chance to do some analysis.”
The trial proved a success, catching the attention of the dairy and beef industry. Since then, the technology has developed apace. “We started out trying to stop fraud and that is still very much part of our focus – but, under the hood, the engine room of this is about empowering farmers to take control,” Travers says.
That engine room is a new system called Entrust, which the Premier launched in September. The beta technology, which is currently out for testing in the market, features a hashgraph embedded in the lid which timestamps location – helping eliminate not just fraud but also the endless paperwork involved in farming. “Most farmers keep their records in a notepad in the ute glovebox, written on the whiteboard or at the back of the filing cabinet – it’s just a mess,” Travers says. “We‘re working with a hashgraph which is immutable. So if I’m in the vineyard and sending my fruit to Kilikanoon, it records the location I’m in and the time I send it and stores all the information I need in the cloud.”
It’s game-changing technology which can revolutionise the wine industry in South Australia – the only challenge is convincing the old guard to change their ways. “The area of agriculture, especially wine, is so slow to adopt new technology,” Travers says. “My 83-year-old dad has an old Elders’ notepad which is infamous in the farming community. If you explain this is just like that notepad – you just put it all in there and it’s there for you – you can help them to overcome the fear of something they don’t understand. It’s a little barrier they have to get over but once they see how simple it is … ”
While the wine industry mulls it over, the dairy and meat industries have jumped on board. “We’re hoping to do an alpha trial with 15 dairy producers, which is the whole of the dairy industry in South Australia,” Travers says. “They’re keen to be the first in Australia to do it, so we’re hoping we can get that deal up and running before Christmas as well.”
The versatility of the technology in its adaptability to all areas of farming makes it a significant timesaver for busy farmers. “In Clare and other parts of Australia, if you’re a farmer you don’t have one commodity – you might have two or three or five,” Travers says. “If you’re growing grapes in Clare, you’ve probably got hay and grain as well. So the idea is that eventually we’ll create a universal agriculture supply chain software trust, so as a farmer I can sell my products to the market and record everything in my smartphone.”
Travers and Grossett’s standing in the wine industry adds value to the technology. “Jeff has been making wine for 40 years, my family has been farming for more than one-and-a-half centuries here in SA, so we understand the thinking behind it and are just adopting what we do now to this,” Travers says. “We understand it intuitively whereas firms from outside the industry don’t have that knowledge and experience.”
BUSINESS
READY, SET, GO FOR BUSINESS
South Australia offers a range of exciting and innovative ready-made investment opportunities for venture capitalists looking to expand their business portfolio
Exciting new investment opportunities are set to increase South Australia’s global business footprint and secure future prosperity for the state and its workers.
Through the Department for Trade and Investment’s Invest In South Australia campaign, the state is offering a number of investment-ready business projects covering key economic growth sectors such as tourism, food, wine and agribusiness, health and medical industries, space, energy and mining. “South Australia is ideally placed for growth, where our future-focused industries have access to collaborative innovation hubs, a low cost of doing business and an enviable lifestyle,” Minister for Trade and Investment Stephen Patterson says. “Our government is focused on driving investment into our key growth sectors by creating an attractive, thriving business ecosystem.
“Having ready-made investment projects featured on the Invest in SA website makes partnerships easy, streamlined and accessible – particularly during a time when international travel and face-to-face business is restricted. It enables potential investors from all around the world, ease of access to all the things they need to know about navigating the South Australian business landscape.”
Current ready-made investment opportunities include:
Cellr: first press project
Cellr, a connected packaging solution company, has re-engineered the wine lid, using radio frequency identification (RFID) and near field communication (NFC) to create track and-trace, direct-to-consumer engagement and product authentication.
“As the product goes through the supply chain and gets scanned, the producer gets information back which then engages the marketing platform,” says Cellr director and co-founder Chris Braine. “It can be done anywhere in time and it’s all about geolocation: so if you’re in the US and scan the bottle of wine, you might be entering a competition to win a surfboard; in the UK it might be an umbrella.
“It’s about customising that journey. A bottle of wine traditionally is just a bottle of wine – the label does all the talking. We have the new message in a bottle effectively, so when you scan either the lid or the label, you start an engaged journey in which the producer can speak to the consumer effectively.”
With 50,000 labels ready for deployment, the focus is on pushing to have the lids manufactured at speed – and finding innovative companies keen to make an early investment. “We’re looking at investments of between $50,000 to $100,000 and have a cap of 150 investors at the moment,” Braine says. “The brand gets access to a wine marketing team based in SA, so it’s a bit of an ROI campaign: not only do we deploy the technology but also the campaign activity to go with it, so it’s this whole bundle with a bow on top.
“We’re now chasing those key investors to come along and get the party started.”
invest.sa.gov.au/projects/first-press-cellr
Carina Biotech: cellular immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer
A spin-out from the Co-operative Research Centre for Cellular Therapies and Manufacturing, Carina Biotech is using advanced technologies to empower the immune system to fight cancer. The technology works by generating a chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell, a normal immune cell that is supercharged to locate and powerfully attack the cancer cells.
“It’s a very efficient cancer-killing machine,” says Dr Deborah Rathjen, CEO of Carina Biotech. “There’s no limit at this point in what kinds of cancers can potentially be developed for. There are already some CAR-T products marketed for the treatment of blood cancers; the treatment of solid cancer types like lung, breast or prostate cancer have had a few more challenges in terms of generating these supercharged CAR-T cells. But Carina has been able to overcome a number of the challenges by engineering the T cells in a pretty special way so they can track the tumour and activate once they have reached their target.”
The company is currently at pre-clinical testing, and is targeting going into clinical trials within the next 12 months. It is seeking direct investment and licencing/partnership opportunities. “As we move closer to clinical development, next year we will be launching our series A offering where we will be looking for investors for the clinical development of two of our CAR-T therapies,” Dr Rathjen says. “We’re focused on playing a big role in a future that sees cancer being defeated.”
CH4 SA: zero methane agriculture
Part of the US-based CH4 Global, this project aims to use disruptive technology to revolutionise not just the farming industry but the world.
The technology involves developing a red seaweed (Asparagopsis armata and Asparagopsis taxiformis) aquaculture business to produce feed for ruminant animals (cows, sheep, goats and camels) that has been proven more than 85 per cent effective in reducing methane emissions from these animals.
“The seaweed is a protein which replaces a range of other bioactive and effective compounds farmers feed to their animals, but in the process of interrupting that methane production activity in the stomach, it allows the cow to retain more energy, so a meat cow will make more meat and a dairy cow will produce more milk,” says Dr Adam Main, general manager, CH4 SA. “So it’s a healthier animal and it has a return on investment for the farmer.”
The company has been granted the first global licence to sell the two species of Asparagopsis with the purpose of reducing methane in ruminant animals, and is now running land-based aquaculture systems with full life cycles of the seaweed species, as well as planning offshore 1ha trials within the Port Lincoln and York Peninsula regions this summer.
Currently at stage two, it is seeking capital expenditure, joint venture partners and off-take customers. “We’ve been working with the DTI to get word out, as well as seeking investments globally, and we’re just about to launch our second strategic round for $US10 million,” Dr Main says. “We’re looking for parcels of $US1 million to close out that round before Christmas. In addition, we’re also in the process of looking for innovative ways of getting debt financing going forward.”
invest.sa.gov.au/projects/zero-methane-agriculture
