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The focus of the Defence Innovation Hub Conference earlier this week was the success stories of Australian SMEs that have benefited from the government’s $200 billion investment into Defence.
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The Defence Innovation Hub has so far awarded nearly $150 million of contracts as part of a decade-long investment from the federal government, with 85 per cent of these contracts awarded to small businesses.
The latest success stories for that initiative being Textron Systems, CyberOps and AVT Australia, which received nearly $9 million of contracts earlier this week.
"When we were elected in 2013, we knew Australia’s defence industry had far greater potential to deliver cutting-edge defence capability," Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price said during the Defence Innovation Hub Conference.
"We also knew that small businesses would drive this.
"To unlock the potential in the industry — to grow the industry — we had to make it easier for small businesses to succeed."
The government has committed to investing around $640 million until 2026 in maturing and developing technologies from the early science stages into the engineering and development stages of the innovation process.
The Defence Innovation Hub facilitates innovation activities from initial concept, through prototyping and integrated testing, with development of innovations procured falling into four distinct phases, depending on the innovation's maturity level:
- Phase 1: Concept exploration phase
- Phase 2: Technology demonstration pPhase
- Phase 3: Prototype system phase
- Phase 4: Integrated capability development phase
The Defence Innovation Hub specifically seeks proposals aligned with the following six capability streams:
- Intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, electronic warfare, space and cyber;
- Key enablers;
- Land combat, amphibious warfare and special operations;
- Air and sea lift;
- Maritime and anti-submarine warfare; and
- Strike and air combat.
During her speech to the conference, Minister Price highlighted the various success stories for companies focused on the above capabilities, such as Sypaq and Carbon Revolution, which have won contracts to support the ADF in their own areas of expertise.
"I want you — I want Australian businesses — to be part of the future," Minister Price said during her address.
"I hope you enjoy today’s conference, and I hope you make new connections and find new inspiration to improve our military’s capability. We’re relying on you to do just that."
Submissions for proposals are judged on the following criteria:
- Suitability (The extent to which the proposed innovation could further the effectiveness of a Defence capability, enterprise, or technology challenge);
- Feasibility (The extent to which the proposed innovation will be able to be developed and adopted with relevant defence systems, from a technology perspective);
- Timeliness (The anticipated time frame that the proposed innovation would require to realise a positive impact on Defence capability); and
- Contribution to Australia's defence industry capability (The extent to which the proposed innovation has the potential to improve or contribute to Australia’s defence Industry capability and capacity).
Over 200 jobs have already been created due to the investment's from the Defence Innovation Hub.
